Miramar – branching out… on a limb

Thyme for Lunch in Miramar -&- Duck Foot Brewery

How lucky can you get? The people on Kenamar Drive- a little side street packed with industrial worksites- get not only Duck Foot Brewing, but a fabulous lunch spot, too. Thyme for Lunch has a menu board featuring breakfast and lunch offerings that can keep me coming back for months, I think, everything looked delicious. With design warehouses, a heating and cooling business and solar company nearby, the brewery and café must be cleaning up.

We picked up a Prosciutto and Goat Cheese Panini with Fig Jam, and California Burritos bursting with both French Fries (a must in your CA burrito) and really good quality Carne Asada.

I tried a different beer on this visit- the Choco Porter with Coffee… yum. Like most porters I’ve had, this was also lighter than the stouts but full and rich. Yum. We also brought home a growler of the Double White IPA for Thanksgiving… you’re welcome, family who will be drinking this with us next week!

I’m glad The Husband spotted Thyme for Lunch last week while we came to Duck Foot, and we both had time to meet up in Miramar to bring our lunches into the brewery. That is one of the great things we learned During San Diego Beer Week 2015- if the brewery doesn’t serve food, there is either a food truck for the crowd, or you can bring food into the establishments. So we did! And it was a great lunch, complete with Vanessa from his work, too. Hi, Vanessa! Great seeing you today!

San Diego Beer Week 2015 #8 Division 23

So, what do you do if you want a second career because you’d like to branch out from the world of construction and engineering? If you live in San Diego, you start a brewery and hire people who have worked with some of the best California craft beer houses, of course! We LOVED this place.

Kellen Smith, Allen Hampton, and Kevin Dougherty have the praise of their regulars, who proudly told us the backstory of Division 23 Brewing. Some of these brew-flies are practically employees said our bar guide, and bona fide employee Alicia. She knows these beers and walked me through the flight of six small tastes. To paraphrase good ol’ Bill, “They may be small, but they are mighty.” (holy cow, that was a LOT of beer!).

Morrisch Meister German Pilsner- if mass market American beers tasted good, this is how they would taste. It’s flavorful.

Barrel Aged Berlinerweisse- amazingly different. Sour. Tastes like an orange grove, no lie- the musty citrus smell. One guy described it like a Chardonnay.

Sour Superintendent Berlinerweisse- it’s the above beer, not barrel aged. And it’s just weird. Whatever happened in the barrel, that’s what put the finishing touch on this beer.

Night Shift Imperial Stout- smell this, it’s coffee. Taste it, heavy coffee. Really full and heavy. Really toasty and sweet.

Change Order Porter- drinking a porter after a stout is like Cabernet and merlot. Cab makes Merlot taste like water to me. Tasting The Husband’s IPA in between helped. I like it.

Bitter Foreman IPA with Fire Roasted Chiles- holy cow you can smell the pepper. Mamacita, this is gooood!!! No bite from the pepper, it’s all flavor and aroma. And it’s an IPA that I like! I know, right?!?

The group that was schooling me about the brews.

Division 23 Brewing is at the top of our list to come back to where we can share beer talk and brew stories with devoted regulars and Alicia. What a great group of people brought together by quality drinks! They really have done it right, here.

SDBW 2015 passport stamping. Had we known about this White Labs Tshirt scavenger hunt last week, we would have played, too. Boo.

San Diego Beer Week #2 Ballast Point Kitchen at Miramar

One of the first beer discoveries that I made (“Hey, I actually like this!) was Ballast Point’s Sextant Oatmeal Stout on nitro, even, so it was extra-creamy good… mmmm. Beer Stop #2 is their new restaurant and meeting place in Miramar.

I like how the menu organizes the drinks for the less beer-savvy people like me. New to me is the Commodore American Stout- a good, strong drink like a punch in the tastebuds strong. It hits your nose with a huge toasted malty aroma that delivers straight into the flavor. Roasty, coffee-like flavor.

He likes my beer... uh oh. — He likes my beer… uh oh.

We both loved it. I wish I liked The Husband’s choice of some super-hoppy brew… citrusy, floral beers smell great but I never like the taste. Boo.

I liked my beer… a lot. But then the two appetizers we ordered to split arrived and really stole the show. Holy cow, whoever made this menu deserves a raise and a half- the menu just changed this weekend and these items should stick around for the next six months.

Do NOT miss the mac and cheese with pork belly! The crispy, fatty pork strip may be only a couple of bites worth of meat but what it lacks in quantity it more than makes up in quality. We also split the duck nachos. More deliciousness! The pickled onions were just the right little tang to go with the bleu cheese sauce and duck.

Great brews, delicious snacks, spacious seating and outdoor area for games and fire pit fun. Thank you Ballast Point people, for getting this sit-down spot to join up with the rest of San Diego’s beer and food fans!