Latest reviews from La Mesa

“Bolt has a small, no frills taproom. A couple TVs were showing sports and there is a jukebox available, giving this place a casual, neighborhood watering hole vibe. The hoppy beers have a new-school, West Coast approach and are executed very well. There's a small menu of food including some pretty tasty Baja tacos. I had a great time here.“

NachlamSie 1108 days ago

“The place is very cool, old brick buildings, one for sour one for clean, with a nice courtyard in between. Service was great, although a little weird it was only one bartender splitting the load between both bars. Selection was impressive, lots of different variety, but to be honest, they were all average to sub par in my opinion. Great space, and obviously there is some funding behind it, but maybe they need to have less stoner moments and work on quality a little bit.“

jbruner 1608 days ago

“Not a great place for beer. Some singles are available, so it's worth checking out from time to time. Seem to have really cut back on their beer selection in the past year. Prices aren't great on singles. Some of their sales on packs are pretty good though. I only go to pick up a few singles.“

mjg74 1891 days ago

“Came here on 26.11.2018. Cool place with two bars - one for sour beers and one for nomal ones and in the middle a nice outside are. The sour beer bar opened only a few weeks ago and for sure would have been Ben’s preference. Had a great Red Czech Lager and a very nice red sour. They have at least 20 beers in the two bars. Service was very nice and gave me a short tour through the brewery.“

Schlenkerla 1991 days ago

“Quite usual liquor store exterior with a small aisles filled with huge amount of beer. Great selection of American and international brews. Quite a lot also in cold. Decent prices. No 12 oz singles though. Definitely worth a stop.“

rosenbergh 2161 days ago

“Kind of an uninspiring selection. I’m sure visitors will find new and interesting stuff, but as a local, it seems like every time I stop in they have just the same old stuff. If you’re nearby, I guess it’s worth a stop in, but there are better bottle shops in San Diego Country.“

blipp 2573 days ago

“If you’ve ever beer to a BJs anywhere, you know what you’re getting into. Kind of like an Applebees or any other generic chain restaurant, but with beer. My mother-in-law like going here, so we come for dinner a few times a year, and it’s always fine. The beers are fine, the food is fine, the service is fine.“

blipp 2573 days ago

“This is one of my "local" breweries, located about a 8-10 minute drive from my house. It has an outdoor/beer-garden type set up, with limited bar seating and plenty of picnic tables. The beers are fine, nothing crazy good, but usually nothing bad either. Food trucks are common -- you can check the schedule on their website to see if anyone is there. They typically have bands on the weekends, and they do trivia on Wednesday evenings. Small TVs, and wifi. Dog and kid friendly. Oh, and all the beer is gluten reduced. A decent place to have close by, though probably not anything worth going out of your way for if you are visiting.“

blipp 2573 days ago

“This is a serve yourself beer bar and arcade and it’s awesome. Around 40 beer taps (as well as about 4 wine taps, 1 or 2 cold brew coffee, and 1 or 2 kombucha), and the taps rotate pretty frequently. An awesome place to go with a group, or just to tick beers. You get a wristband and can pour as much or as little as you want, so pretty ideal for sampling/ticking. I stop in about once every 3 or 4 weeks, and can reliably get at least 10 new ticks at each visit, if not more.“

blipp 2573 days ago

“This is officially my local pub; probably about a 5 minute walk from my house. Really got lucky having this so close... just a great local spot, both for a weekly check in to see what’s new, and as a place to bring visitors. The set-up is a pretty standard neighborhood pub/restaurant, with seating both in and outdoors on a little patio. 20-25 draft lines, most of which rotate relatively frequently. They do little mini tap-takeovers with the local San Diego County brewers, so the rotation stays pretty fresh. Taster pours and half pours are available. Food is just good straight forward BBQ with no frills. Nothing fancy or anything, but really solid beer food. Prices are generally pretty cheap, especially during happy hour. Not something that would be considered a "destination" place, especially in San Diego county, but if you find yourself in the neighborhood it’s absolutely worth a stop.“

blipp 2788 days ago

“This is a brewery tasting room with a pretty awesome outdoor beer garden. Indoor seating is also available. Live music and food trucks are frequent. Kid and dog friendly as well. Prices are very reasonable -- $1.25 to $1.75 for a flight sized pour, and pints between $4 and $6. Beer quality is good, though I guess not quite "world class." No duds, though, and at the price point I definitely left feeling I got my money’s worth. It can get pretty packed at peak times, and it seems like a relatively hip place to hang out for young families. Definitely a chill place that I’ll end up hitting frequently due to it’s location about a 5 min drive from my house. Visitors should note that this is about a 2 minute walk from the Bolt Brewing tasting room, which is also a worthwhile stop.“

blipp 2789 days ago

“has it been that long ago? Go here! This place has all the best picks!“

Sickboy282 2984 days ago

“Decent tavern in La Mesa. We went here for Hangar 24 Pugachev during SDBW 2015. That beers was great, but there were other interesting beers too on the 26 taps. Food was really good, we had a burger and a sandwich. Could be worth the detour, especially on events like this.“

rlgk 3106 days ago

“What a cool place, as others have said, it is right off the 8 freeway, a hodge podge of old buildings and shipping containers. We were staying close to La Mesa, and this was the closest brewery. Was there on a Wednesday which is trivia night, and the food truck was some guy making grill cheese sandwiches out of his F150. Beer was good, with a nice variety of what they make. Place was busy and people looked like they were having a great time, a real neighborhood place. Overall a true San Diego experience.“

larryLSB 3134 days ago

“Une brasserie qui fait dans les styles de soif, souvent très bien exécutés, située dans ce qui semble être une ancienne cours à scrap. Leur Kristallweizen est particulièrement adéquate.“

Marheb 3176 days ago

“Une des sélections les plus folles de San Diego, rien de moins. Assez bric à brac mais avec un peu de temps et de flair, la récolte sera fertile.“

Marheb 3242 days ago

“Visited May 23, 2015.

This is a really nice setup and could be a fun place to hang outbut whats more noteworthy here is the location. It’s comical really. The place is a barn like structure hidden behind some trees on the freeway offramp. We exited I-8 and were sitting right in front of it at the stop sign and didn’t see it. Of course we were looking for an street address and not actually looking at the buildings, otherwise we would have seen the kegs out front. What’s equally funny is how this whole neighborhood is set up. It’s circled by a one way street. So when you get off the freeway you can only go right (if you’re heading west on 8) and if you pass by your stop you have to go around the block and try again. We did one lap looking for the place and then another lap to get back to the freeway. The patio area, which is the entire public area, is outdoors and enclosed by a tall fence. They’ve used a couple of shipping containers for the cold storage and the bar. They’ve done a really nice job with this place. They have a number of wooden benches and a couple of bar seats. In the one corner is an easy up which serves as their stage for shows.

They had 9 beers on CO2 and a nitro tap during our visit and another had just blown. The beers are just decent but interesting to try since they have several pale ales and several variations of their wheat beer. Not often you see a krystalweiss on tap. The mango Weiss was my favorite followed by the citra pale ale. It was nice to see that they successfully (relatively) made a pilsner. Prices were high on tasters but that was to be expected. They don’t serve food but they do have food trucks from the sounds of it.

We got a bit of a history lesson from the bartender. The original Bolt Brewery opened in a small building in Fallbrook of all places in 1987 (I think). They were the first San Diego area brewery, a year or two ahead of Karl Strauss. The story the bartender told differs slightly from what the website says. The bartender says they had money issues since at the time the brewer/owner was only 19 years old. The website just says that they were ahead of their time. Not surprising that a brewery in Fallbrook may not be a huge success (though there is one there now). In any event the owner is still in charge of this location. Also, they claim that this is the first ever brewery in La Mesa.

Anyway, cool place, average beer. I’m not sure I’ll be making the trip often. “

t0rin0 3272 days ago

“It’s close to my pad, so that’s a good start. Went there on a Saturday afternoon and it was fairly busy. The beers were good, though not outstanding. There was a mackin’ taco cart there and the atmosphere was refreshing in that it wasn’t a bunch of beardos on bikes sniffing their tulip cups all afternoon. Good time and I bet they’ll expand that beer lineup in quick order.“

Bartzilla 3364 days ago

“Really cool patio. It apparently used to be a junk yard. Very beer-garden-ish. Service was friendly. In all honesty, the beers were terrible. I had the Citra pale ale and couldn’t finish it. The coffee stout faired slightly better, as did the pilsner, but none were really enjoyable. Hope the beers get better, because all other facets seem to be in place.“

Naven 3394 days ago

“Beer wonderland. Go on a payday, because you are going to buy plenty.“

Naven 3694 days ago

“We strive to be the best bottle shop in San Diego! We offer all the newest, most exclusive beers we can get our hands on at the BEST PRICES in town. On the outside we look like your average liquor store, but when you come in you will see we are everything BUT average. Come in and see what all the buzz is about. Cheers! Follow us on Instagram for all the latest craft beers @PalmSpringsLiquor “

PalmSpringsLiq 3736 days ago

“An almost overwhelming beer selection and one of the few places that routinely has Alpine. The owner is very helpful and will make suggestions based on your preferred style. Sometimes there are hard to find beers stashed in the back so you should ask if you don’t find what you want on the shelves.“

satmansd 4051 days ago

“I’ve passed by this store hundreds of times and never stopped in until now. Let me tell you this place has a great selection and solid prices. It was packed with beer seekers when I went inside. I will be returning often.“

mjg74 4202 days ago

“After being new to the area, I used the RateBeer app on my phone and found this place was near by. Went in one day, and was shocked to see this selection in this tiny cramped place, I didn’t even mind how small it is. Ended up leaving with a few bottles that I had been looking for. I definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for something aside from their usual.“

Cbauer26 4208 days ago

“This place is a great find. I’d say a good 50% of the store is dedicated to awesome beers, with many uncharted gems I’ve been curious to try. The staff is knowledgeable and eager to help, should you need it. The standard beer rating labels throughout the shop help keep you in check, if that’s your thing. Word must be getting out as I saw some note-takers there one afternoon. No frills. This is your standard liquor mart on the outside. The inside is mesmerizing. the prices are stupendously lower than most places. Tucked away in a residential neighborhood that must be littered with beer nerds. What a great score. I’m not even worried if word gets out. The sheer volume here pretty much guarantees I’ll never have to worry about walking in and getting a trunk load of good wares.“

Bartzilla 4349 days ago

“Good go-to place if you do not have a small private niche to supply you with a good craft selection. Thankfully, we live in San Diego, and we don’t have to worry about that because there are a lot of great beer shops.“

stinkywinky619 4816 days ago

“If you know your way around craft beers and imports this is a great place, huge selection. Only down side you can´t buy single must get the whole six pack.“

ghawener 4873 days ago

“Good sized store with a lot of beer to choose from. Some pretty good deals at times. They can occasianally get into a rut with the new beer they bring in. Then there are times whn they get a lot of new stuff. Overall I would say this place will satisfy your need for news beers to try.“

mjg74 4953 days ago

“Very good service. Love that most beers are chilled.“

bhightow 5051 days ago

“(Visited 10/2008): This BJ’s location is in La Mesa/Grossmont area in Grossmont Center off I-8.There is plenty of parking around but the plaza is really busy at meal times. The interior is similar to other BJ’s brew houses. The space is very open with high ceilings. The bar is on the right and features several TVs. The rest of the establishment is table seating, with a small patio out front. Lots of mirrors, brick and glass everywhere. The beer selection consists of around 8 BJ’s brews that includes a seasonal or two. The bottled selection is of the Sierra Nevada and Chimay persuasion. As with other locales, this locations offers a sampler of their beers. The beers are average for the most part, with a couple being above average. They had their pumpking beer on tap during my visit. Service was pretty good on a weekday lunch hour. The server was familiar with the house beers and what seasonals were available. BJ’s has a pretty wide menu. I had a chicken sandwich for lunch on this visit and it was pretty good. Overall there are pros and cons to any chain brewpub. Knowing what you are going to get going in can either be good or bad. Despite the shortcomings though, BJ’s is always a decent stop.“

Dogbrick 5085 days ago

“This place is a hidden gem. Almost all the beer here is in coolers. I have found some bottles here that everyone else was out of. Daniel helped me out twice so far and was great. The prices are fantastic. I think they use a basic cost plus model instead of simply raising the prices of the rare stuff. The overall selection is fantastic. It is not a big store but they do have a lot of beer. It does not look like much on the outside or the inside for that matter. I really hate to post the review since I kind of want them to stay hidden.“

gerrick 5113 days ago

“One of the cooler places I have been to in some time. As you walk in, there are two walk-in humidifiers on each side. If you like cigars, they have an awesome selection here. The bar has 24 taps, all of which are dedicated to craft beers. There is several good Belgian beers represented and plenty of locals to choose from. A very nice selection. Service was friendly and casual. There is a cool patio in back where you can smoke a cigar and drink your beer. They have live Jazz on Saturdays. They also sell beer sampler platters, which I thought was genius. Overall, the place is pretty small. Hopefully it wont get too crowded.“

Naven 5123 days ago

“A big box liquor store. The staff is friendly and personable. They frequently stop their tasking to ask if they can help you find anything. The beer selection is better than average. I occasionally shop this location, a good selection of brews but nothing to write home about. The prices on their beers are always fairly priced, but not so the food. They offer snack type foods and some cheese, all of which are somewhat overpriced. Overall: A good store.“

StefanSD 5183 days ago

“I’ve been going to this store for about a year now and I think is great.It’s like a warehouse of alcohol.Their beer selection beats any grocery and many liquor stores by many miles.Their glassware selection is modest but it dose change up from month to month.Food prices are high but the beer prices are real good.Their service is nice.Overall a good place to start when looking for a good beer.“

grimreaperguru 5205 days ago

“Nice enough place. Big liquor store atmosphere... lots of choices but a sad lack of individual 12 oz bottles. Selection is a little better at other places in town and prices are higher on some things and lower on others. Local/regional selection was exciting for an out-of-towner, but European selection was a little weak (especially compared to PA, OH and MI stores I frequent.) That said, a worthy stop.“

MrBunn 5235 days ago

“great selection of beers from around the world, prices not bad. good range of cheeses to compliment beers. Very helpful staff.“

crashingpig 5333 days ago

“very loud, slow service, greasy food and expensive. Give it a miss.“

crashingpig 5333 days ago

“A nice bevmo with a good selection of micro, and belgians. After going a few times it seems they dont get new stuff. Just the same they always get. So you can check back here monthly and you probably wouldn’t see much change in the rotation. I even went to get Elder, and Blind Pig when every other store already had it, and Bevmo doesn’t carry it. Something about not bieng able to promise cooler space is what I was told by a stock clerk. Decent though for common stuff you might be looking for if you are an out of towner. Best prices too.“

padrefan98 5512 days ago

“One of the bigger BevMo’s in San Diego. Huge selection of beer, lots of micros and Euros. Rarely do they have things that you can’t buy at the other stores. Drive a couple more miles and hit Beverages 4 Less if you’re looking for the hard-to-find stuff.“

trokini 5674 days ago

“Parking really sucks, don’t try coming here on a Friday or Saturday night. That aside, this is a noisy, crowded, trendy place. The food and the beer are really fairly ordinary but you’d never know that by the crowd that hangs out here. The beer is fresh and novel but not great, the food is also very good but not anything to write home about. The place next door (Casa de Pico) however has some of the best Mexican fare in the country. As far as San Diego Brewpub/restaurants I recommend Oggis or Gordon Biersch before this place.“

StefanSD 5943 days ago

“La Mesa location was great. I like the supermarket openness but there were a number of items missing from the shelves where they were apparently sold out or hadn’t been restocked. Fantastic selection and decent pricing tho“

Icommonsewer 6100 days ago

“College hangout. Loud crowded and difficult to have a conversation. decent selection with some house selections I never heard of.“

padrefan98 6249 days ago

“La Mesa location. Fairly enthusiastic staff, perhaps too much so insofar as hoarding local special releases in the back is concerned. Staff not interested in beer is apathetic and efficient if you are lucky. Rather warehouse club ambience, complete with free samples of high margin snack foodstuffs. Excellent selection, nice to see a BevMo not afraid to stock traditional lambics. Prices remind me of buying video games at Toys-R-US as a child, i.e. selection and variety coming at a premium price.“

FoolishMortal 6304 days ago

“Brick, wood and artwork on the walls Comfortable atmosphere for a chain. They had seven house brews on tap with a couple of specialty taps. They have 4 ($4.95) and 7 beer samplers. The service was good and they have decent grub. Although the food seems a bit pricey for what they’re serving.“

Ibrew2or3 6398 days ago

“La Mesa Location. My main spot for bottles around the time they initially opened. Before BevMo there were a couple mom and pop operations that really weren’t too bad. Once this one opened it pretty much blew them away with the selection. I just re-visited and their selection variety is the same or slightly worse than it was back around the time they opened. A little disappointing. This place does deliver on value compared to bottle shops in my home area (Tampa). I bought 8 bombers and a 0.75L for forty nine bones. At home a comparable purchase would have been seventy or more.“

Ibrew2or3 6402 days ago

“I visited the Bev Mo in LaMesa.....what a great place!! The selection or beer at this location was amazing..........They have great German and Micro sections......the staff was very knowledgeable....especially the beer guy Torry.......“

Snojerk321 6437 days ago

“In the Grossmont area their selection is on par with neighboring Cost Plus but well below BevMo. Everything on hand is usually of the craft brew variety. Typically bombers and the odd single can be found. The rest are six and four packs. Nothing refrigerated. Prices are competitive. I’ve not seen any rare type beers but they can have stuff that is in limited distribution which is nice. I’d only get beers here if I was already shopping for other stuff. If on a beer run then BevMo is usually the call.“

Ibrew2or3 6488 days ago

“Real good selection of local San Diego brews and seasonals. Decent import selection with some different belgians coming in from time to time. I go to the La Mesa store about twice a week and there is always something new to try.“

winegarner 6665 days ago

“House brews are nothing worth talking about. Hoegaarden on tap helped out. Can fill up on some nights with a younger crowd. Good pub menu, though not cheap, with the some of the best fish and chips i’ve ever had.“

winegarner 6665 days ago