Bay City Brewing – Urban Coastal Destination

Bay City Brewing in Point Loma just turned two years old in August. Co-owners Greg Anderson and Ben Dubois have created an urban coastal atmosphere and some great beers not far from Clairemont, right behind the Valley View Casino Center, at 3760 Hancock St. Visible from the I-8 freeway, Bay City is nestled between San Diego and Mission Bays, always catching a nice breeze from the area where the San Diego River meets the Pacific Ocean. I talked to Ben Dubois at their recently expanded location about beer, their vision, and what’s unique about the brewery. Dubois had finished a full day of practicing medicine, performing three shoulder surgeries prior to our interview. As a long time resident of Point Loma with his wife and three boys, he and Anderson wanted to expand the presence of beer making in the area.

Brewmaster Chris West, formerly of Monkey Paw, is keeping 18 tap lines full in a fairly small operation. The line up can be roughly divided into hoppy, malty and sour categories, and a grapefruit radler on the side. Keeping up the variety has been a challenge they have been meeting according to Dubois. But the variety is key their goal of appealing to a large cross section of beer drinkers, not just the hop-heads and the beer connoisseurs.

Their tasting room is a nice after work destination. When I visited, I saw a small team doing an after-work meeting, certainly a morale building event. The tasting room features both an indoor traditional bar area and outdoor picnic tables, with a clean lay out that makes it easy to walk around. I asked about the reliability of food trucks. Dubois said that he had developed good relations with consistent vendors and wasn’t having trouble. I was there a bit early in the afternoon, but food was ready to serve ahead of the Friday 4:00 p.m. schedule. Carolina Mike was serving bbq chicken, pulled pork, and tri-tip sliders. The sliders were great, especially with the spicy mustard.

Bay City is the official pre-game spot for the San Diego Gulls. They get big crowds before and even during the game. At the start of the season, they will roll out Power Play IPA, a medium strength ale featuring Citra and Azacca hops. Another popular feature is live music on Sunday, typically a one or two person show.

No matter the temptation, I couldn’t sample all 18 beers on tap, but I did catch a good cross section of styles. In the maltier category, Vienna Lager was slightly sweet with caramel and very solid. The Belgian Single had a spicy banana flavor up front with lots of malt backing with a refreshing fizz on the tongue. Sin Ship is a Baltic Porter and an outstanding example of the style. It was full, nutty, hinting of raisins and caramel. It is named after the SS Monte Carlo, a so-called Sin Ship, whose wreck is visible along the Coronado beach. Fiesta Island Pilsner was floral and sweet, more in the German than Czech style. Wired Device is a coffee stout that is creamy and not bitter. It is well carbonated and very smooth drinking.

I tried the two sours and the Grapefruit Radler. The Radler would be great at breakfast, with nice carbonation pulling out the grapefruit and just enough alcohol. The Sour Wheat was a traditional hazy sour that was surprisingly balanced, there was a bit of lemon sweetness. The Sour Brown was the first I had tried the style. The caramel and sour off set each other for a very unique taste.

Bay City Pale Ale is the brewery’s number one selling, flagship ale. It has hop-intensity with citrus bitterness that lingers. Clearly this is a San Diego style beer and a very good one. Murky Was the Case is a hazy IPA. Hazy IPAs seem to be the latest style craze. It had a floral fresh spring flavor and was actually refreshing even if thick. Northwest Double IPA lived up to its name with more resinous hops and toasted malt to balance out the flavor. The City is a nice big IIPA, with a little more pine than other offerings, and a full flavor that hides the higher alcohol content. I was curious about Coffee Pale Ale. It turned out that this malty pale ale with light coffee in the background makes a great flavor combination.

Bay City brewing is centrally located for those who work or live in the urban center of coastal San Diego with a beer variety almost every taste.

The tasting room at Bay City Brewing.  Sour Wheat, Sour Brown, Strictly Business IPA, Coffee Pale Ale