The 2021 San Diego Untappd Beer Festival: Our Guide
September 29, 2021
BEER FESTIVALS ARE BACK! We’re beyond excited to be attending Untappd Beer Festival in San Diego this weekend. Our enthusiasm is so high that we’re going to not one, but *two* sessions. (We’ll have our Tums on standby!) Before this festival, we thought we’d write up a bit of a preview guide— not only to help others plan for Untappd Beer Festival, but also ourselves. It’s been over a year and a half since our last in-person festival, so we’re a little out of practice.
First off, drink a lot of water! That’s the most important piece of advice. There will be a lot of high-ABV (and very delicious) beers being poured this weekend. Drink as much water as you can, and make sure you eat something. After all, there’d be no bigger shame than drinking all of this amazing beer only to not remember the next day what you had.
Next, it’s important to try to single out the breweries you believe will have the biggest lines. This festival is absolutely stacked with terrific breweries, so if you want to skip the big lines, you will have myriad tremendous options. That said, occasionally, there’s a hyped brewery or two you’ve been dying to try, and if you want to make sure you get a sample, you’ll need to target them early. Without further ado…
BREWERIES WE THINK WILL ATTRACT THE BIGGEST LINES
Every beer festival we’ve attended with Horus on the guest list has one thing in common: long, long lines for Horus. Horus is exclusively for VIP ticket holders, so if you’re a VIP and you want some of these hard-to-find stouts, either race to the booth ASAP or prepare to wait.
Half Time is going to have an absolutely stacked table, but it’s the DDH IPA from Other Half and fruited sours from Mortalis that are sure to cause their line to wind through the stadium.
Drekker Brewing and Tripping Animals
Fruited sours are all the rage, and Drekker and Tripping Animals are by far and away two of the best fruited sour producers on the planet. With the sweet smoothies they have in tow, the lines will follow.
This great (pun intended) brewery from Portland is bringing a triple IPA, a thick pastry stout, and a barleywine, all 10% ABV or higher. Oh, and their fantastic Blueberry Muffin sour. Get there early or be ready to wait.
The Bruery always brings the heat at festivals. Need proof? They’ve won the People’s Choice Award at two of the last six Firestone Walker Invitationals. And they’re bringing, among others, Big Blue Stacks, a 19.5% blueberry pancake Black Tuesday variant. Run, don’t walk, for that pour.
This fruited hard seltzer company boasts a whopping 4.44 on Untappd. Though hard seltzers aren’t usually my vibe, I’ve got to say… that Pina Colada Smooj is preposterously tasty. Anyone who’s into hard seltzer will be parked at this table.
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Once you’ve decided on a couple of breweries you’ll try to hit early to avoid longer lines later, it’s time to move on. Long lines are fine to wait in a few times… but there will be *plenty* of elite beer being poured throughout the park. You should take a look at the festival map and make a plan for which breweries you’d like to prioritize. Festivals always go by in a flash, and you don’t want to miss one of your most highly-anticipated breweries.
We’d like to make some recommendations of breweries we’ve either been to or enjoyed immensely at festivals past. Here are some we’re especially excited to revisit this weekend.
TEN BREWERIES WE RECOMMEND
This Garden City, Idaho brewery blew us away at 2019 Great American Beer Fest. Their barrel aged sour already has our mouth watering, and don’t be surprised if their hazy IPA ends up as one of the best of the fest.
We were blown away by their DDH Couch Kush’n IPA at home— so much so that we recreated the can art (perfect execution, I must say). We’ve yet to try their stouts or sours, so we’re beyond excited to get further acquainted with DankHouse.
I did some brewery hopping in Portland, Maine this summer, and Definitive was one of the best, if not the best, brewery we went to. Particles was my favorite hazy of the trip— and it’ll be pouring this weekend. They also make terrific fruited sours, for those interested.
This Santa Cruz craft brewery is one of my favorite in California. Haze heads are likely already familiar… but their pilsners, west coast IPAs, and fruited sours are just as impressive. No pour list available yet, but regardless of what’s pouring, we’ll be there.
In Chicago, a town filled with fantastic breweries, Marz Community Brewing more than holds its own. Their IPAs are some of the best in town, and Jungle Boogie, which they’re bringing to the festival, is one of the more memorable wheat ales I’ve had in recent memory.
We’ve been fortunate to have had a few different beers from this Bozeman, Montana brewery— and we’ve enjoyed all of them. Both the Grazing Clouds hazy IPA and the Sweets fruited sour were delicious, so we’re excited to try the rest of what they have to offer.
Ghost. In. The. Machine. Every single beer festival I attend, I’m baffled why Parish doesn’t have one of the longest lines, because Ghost in the Machine is one of the great American beers around. And Reve is one of the best coffee stouts around! And both will be at Untappd Beer Festival! Don’t sleep!
The Half Time Beverage booth will be quite crowded, as mentioned before… but be sure to brave the line at least once more to have one of Prison City’s IPAs, which absolutely stand on their own among the best IPAs in New York.
You may know Weathered Souls from their Black is Beautiful collaboration effort— but be sure to try the rest of what they have to offer this weekend. I’m personally looking forward to Habitual Line Stepper, a 16.47% double stout.
We’ve spent some time in Phoenix over the last year, so we’ve become big Wren House fans. We’ll never pass up an opportunity for a fresh pour of Spellbinder, one of the best IPAs in AZ and the gold medalist for best hazy IPA at the 2020 GABF.
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Finally, we wanted to shout out of a number of breweries we’ve heard good things about that we’re very much looking forward to trying for the first time at Untappd Beer Fest. Because while, yes, it’s important to drink some of your favorites, we also love to use beer festivals as an opportunity to discover new favorites. Don’t be surprised if some of the breweries below— or some we didn’t mention!— end up on our list of favorites from the festival.
BREWERIES WE’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO
We love to find lager specialists at beer festivals, because there’s nothing better on a crisp California night than a night crisp lager. (That, and drinking imperial stouts and triple IPAs all day is a recipe for disaster.) Since Art History’s lagers are its specialty, we’re beyond stoked to try them.
Artivem Mead
Misbeehavin Meads
We’re increasingly into mead over the last year or two, so even though we’re The Beer Travel Guide, we certainly aren’t above traveling for mead. I was bummed to miss out on Misbeehavin Meads when I was recently in Indiana, so I’m excited they’re coming to the festivals— and friends in Washington have told us good things about Artivem. Mead will definitely be back on our menu.
Ingenious Brewing
Modestman Brewing
Plan Bee Farm Brewery
Wild Mind Ales
The list of breweries across America we’re excited to try is never-ending, so it’s not a surprise that some that have been very high on our list for some time have still managed to elude it. Fortunately, the four above breweries, all on said list, will be in our cups this weekend.
Around the Horn Brewing
Grains of Virtue Brewing Company
Movement Brewing
Solaris Beer and Blending
There Does Not Exist Brewing
Similarly, despite living in California, our home state is just too huge for us to realistically travel to every new brewery that sparks our interest. The above five breweries have all caught our attention in the past, and we’re psyched to have them all in the same location to try for the first time.
It’s also worth noting that there are a *ton* of great breweries who will be at Untappd Beer Festival— choosing what to feature on this list was really difficult, and I’m sure I’ll second guess some omissions the second I hit “publish.” Go check out the complete pour list here on Untappd’s website, and if for some reason you haven’t purchased tickets yet, do so now before they sell out. Thanks to Untappd for sponsoring such an awesome event— and thanks to everyone reading this! If you see us this weekend, please come up and say hello— it’ll be great to hang out with beer lovers in person at a festival once again. Cheers!
Regarding Horus: “…so if you’re a VIP and you want some of these hard-to-find stouts, either race to the booth ASAP or prepare to wait.”
Good thing I put some aside when I saw you were late for a couple of them! 🙂 It was good to meet and talk to you over the weekend. Hope you had a blast!