The Beer Company is a small capacity brewpub situated smack in the middle of Downtown, among the lost tourists, the seedy drifters, the psychotic homeless and commuters waiting for the No. 30 bus. It is also a few blocks from the Gaslight District and its many purveyors of depravity. The venue is of moderate size with a sports bar vibe to it: noisy, semi-crowded, with a U-shaped marble bar amid cushy booths lining the Broadway Street side. As noted, Beer Company offers seven house beers, one of which is a pleasant stout, along with a few dozen guests. In addition to the stout, I quaffed their nice Elimination IPA and a Wyatt Earp Red Ale. (Earp lived in the Gaslight District at one point in his later life.) The food was the usual pub grub and was served by attractive and efficient, if indifferent, servers. That said, it was the second official stop during my recent SDBW 2012 trip. On to Number Three....

Urban brewpub near Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego. Sportsbar atmosphere with nice decor. 20 or more beers on tap, mostly their own. They were serviing a great BA stout the last time I visited. Food is typical brewpub fare. Good place for a beer lover.

Great friendly staff with great local San Diego beers. Love the bar with 20+ taps with bottles in refrig. and with growlers. Brewmaster Sonnie pulled out personal stash of Manhatten Project. Sweet and smooth Love this place

Modern brewpub with lots of seating and a big bar. They do do flights for $6 for 4 glasses of their own brews of which they have 8-9 of. I ordered 2 rounds of flights, but they wouldnt let me have them both at once... odd. Didnt try their food, but the menu looks impressive with a real restaurant menu.

Big open bar downtown with some nice house beers. They hold some beer tastings upstairs two, which is pretty cool. A little over the top with the TVs but overall a pretty good place that is doing some quality, if not ground-breaking SD beer.

Big sports bar feel. Nice service. They have about 6 of their beers on tap and they were pretty well made. I would go here for a game but not as a beer destination. Food looked very good but again sports bar esk’.

Happy hour 3-7 Monday thru Saturday. Large stone top oval bar with view into brewhouse and of street corner. Numerous city bus stops nearby. Numerous plasma TVs with silent sports. Background music swamped by crowd noose. Tall tables and padded booths at ground level, raised side room seating also. Brick interio with wooden beams and dark brown ducting. Kitchen to rear. Crowded for happy hour, mostly guys. 7 house beers, extensive food menu of appetizers, soup/salad, burgers, pizza, sandwiches, pasta and specialties of beef, chicken and seafood. Bartenders (female) with above average looks but below average response times to fill an empty pint glass. Management priorities?

Decent selection of their own beer and a few guest beers. Decent food and service, plenty of TVs to watch the game.