Lightning Brewery

Was on my list to visit for many San Diego trips, but finally came here on 18.2.2016. Typical industrial estate brewery outlet, which has not moved during the last 10 years. Very good and friendly service. Although we came before the opening hours they served us. Very much appreciate the breweries clear vision. They have stayed committed to German style beers while the whole area has become IPA crazy. The pilsner is world class and the Weissbier very good as well. I am very happy we finally made it and visited this good brewery. To have good lagers and pilsners is important for the SD area, therfore Lightning is an essential player in the local beer scene.

This off-the-beaten-path craft brewery now has Cellar 3 as a neighbor, both being tucked neatly in the Poway Business Park. There are a few tables inside and a small patio for enjoying beers in 4-ounce tasters or pints. Two sizes of growlers are available and there is a double door fridge for bottled options. The service was friendly.

Dans un coin industriel de Poway comme c’est souvent le cas. La portique de dégustation est vraiment de base et les bières sont au mieux correctes mais en général médiocres et plutôt astringentes.. Dommage parce qu’on trouve leurs produits un peu partout, ça m’aurait donné une bonne option de Pilsner ou de Kolsch.

Found a groupon for the place, so thought we’d give it a try. They had a good selection of their own beers, even a couple of barrel-aged versions. Parking was tough, not a lot of spots available. No chairs inside, so the thinking was they wanted you to have a couple and move along. The beer selection was good, nothing outstanding. Glad we made the trip, scored a couple of free pint glasses.

Type. . . . . . . . . . ..Brewery Warehouse Tasting "Room"
Level. . . . . . . . . . .Medium
Location. . . . . . . .Poor, Middle of Poway
Prices. . . . . . . . . ..Token System
Tap Selection. . . .8+ House Beers
Bottle Selection. .Full House Lineup
Samplers. . . . . . ...Yes
Full Pours. . . . . . .No
Beer Level. . . . . ...Decent to Poor
Food. . . . . . . . . . .None
Food Level. . . . ...N/A
Staff. . . . . . . . . . ..Friendly
Growlers. . . . . . ...Probably
Noise Level. . . . ..Medium
Décor. . . . . . . . . ..Actual Brewhouse Space
Good for Kids. . ..No
Parking. . . . . . . ...Private Lot
WiFi. . . . . . . . . . ..Unknown
Cash Only. . . . . ..No
Recommended. ..Maybe
Comments: There is no tasting room to sit or chat, it’s just a cattle call into the middle of the actual brewhouse where you stand around with plastic taster cups that you pay with via prepaid tokens. Some BA specialty stuff takes more than one token. Beers were anywhere from okay to poor. Lots of specialty one-offs seems to make this place a fun stop every once in awhile if you are a big ticker. But their normal stuff is bottled, so you don’t need to come all the way out here. Funny thing is their motto is "Better Beer Through Science" or something like that, but a lot of the beer was lacking brewing science.

Back to the old-style of tasting in San Diego. Come into our brewery, stand among the hardware, and taste our beer. Lots of interesting brews. They leave the comfort zone of San Diego beer in a really good way.

Tucked away in a business park. Small place but quite a few beers on tap. Most of them are available in bottles, too. Beers ranged from bad to interesting to halfway decent. The brewer and staff were friendly and helpful. A cool place.

Really small place. You can only get tasters of the beers. The people were really nice and friendly. The beers themselves are marginal in my opinion for the SD area. They are reasonably priced. I’m sure I’ll stop by again.

This is a production only site and they do a great beer. Sure glad I got to stop here and try the brews. They are very passionate and super nice. If you get a chance stop on by.

I like their beers--Ionizer Lager in particular--but have mixed feelings about their people. Some of them are nice, but one gal who works there is a nasty, snippy bitch. It’s close to home, so that’s a plus--but the folks at Green Flash down the road are a lot nicer!