First off, if you've never visited this place, it's a must go. It's gorgeous and has great food and beer. They have gardens to walk through as well as an outdoor bar and then the World Bistro inside. The food at the Bistro is great as well! They have a pairing menu to help you pair their beers as well as local wines with the dishes they serve. (Word from the wise...get the soft pretzels with the stone ground Arrogant Bastard mustard as an appetizer.) If you're not into Stone beer, I'd still suggest to go for the food and their HUGE bottled beer selection. Stone Brewing Co. is the California distributor for a lot of amazing small craft breweries in California so they have a phenomenal selection. They happen to be the main distributor for one of my favorite breweries, Russian River Brewing Co. out of Santa Rosa, California. If you decide to go be sure to get a bottle of Pliny the Elder while you're there, best beer you'll have.
Moving on to the actual brewery, we went on their brewery tour at Stone, which was pretty neat. You pay $3 and get 4 little pours of their beer to sample and they walk you through the brewing area and talk about how all their stuff is made.
These are apparently beer ingredients. We got to eat the malt and it was actually pretty good.
Out tour guide, Justin. He turned out to be kind of a dweeb and I think he hates fun, but he was still pretty informative.
Inside the lovely brewing area. They had a ton of huge vats and barrels and stacks of beer cases. I wish more of my photos of the inside turned out.
Vinnie & Erin
Justin & I enjoying a beer after our tour!
All the fantastic Stone beers on tap in their tasting room/growler fill station.
All in all it was a really rad trip. I you like beer and food and are looking for some new things to try I would definitely recommend that you take a trip to Escondido.
-Juliea
