Brewery Guide: Allied Gardens, Grantville & Mission Valley
The center of San Diego (from a freeway-interchange perspective if nothing else), Mission Valley draws locals and tourists alike with its multitude of hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and Snapdragon Stadium. Visitors can find plenty of spots for local beer, either in the valley or a pair of nearby inland communities.
ALLIED GARDENS
Good Pressure Brewing
7559 Mission Gorge Road, San Diego, CA 92120
Founded in 2025 by the executive director of the San Diego Brewers Guild, Good Pressure Brewing is a neighborhood-focused brewery that has won over denizens of Allied Gardens as well as residents of nearby communities, including Del Cerro, Grantville and Mission Valley. Rather than chasing trendy beer styles, this business endeavors to offer an ever-present portfolio of core beers made up of tried-and-true styles: West Coast and hazy IPAs, a Pilsner and flagship blonde ale. Those year-rounders can be enjoyed in a cozy taproom or an expansive back patio that’s well suited for families and large groups.
GRANTVILLE
Citizen Brewers
5837 Mission Gorge Road, San Diego, CA 92120
A one-of-a-kind business in a county awash with craft breweries, Citizen Brewers is a brew-it-yourself facility where the owner works with clients at any skill level ‒ from award-winning homebrewers to individuals who have never brewed before ‒ to create custom beers. This includes everything from fermentation to packaging and even development of special labels. Customers can be as involved in the process as they want by bringing their own ideas to the table, or opt to work from a catalog of ale and lager recipes Citizen Brewers has amassed since opening in 2015.
MISSION VALLEY
BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse – Mission Valley
Hazard Center, 13780 Frazee Road, San Diego, CA 92108
The Mission Valley location of a Santa Ana restaurant chain dating back to 1978, BJ’s does not brew its beers in the county, but offers a wide variety of house ales and lagers along with a menu headlined by deep dish pizzas. Other edible offerings include shareable appetizers (wings, pot stickers, mozzarella sticks, nachos), soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers, and composed entrées, including fish and chips, jambalaya, salmon and ribs. For dessert, Pizookies (warm ice cream-topped chocolate chip cookies).
Gravity Heights – Mission Valley
525 Camino De La Reina, San Diego, CA 92108
The second coming of a Sorrento Valley brewpub founded with the assistance of AleSmith Brewing’s original owner and brewmaster, this stylish restaurant has a contemporary feel and an eclectic menu blending Baja, Mediterranean and American comfort vibes. It also features a full bar and beers brewed at its progenitorial pub, including a hazy-heavy assortment of IPAs contrasted by light-bodied lagers and ales, including an award-winning amber that’s actually a British-style bitter.
Novo Brazil Brewing – Mission Valley
Mission Valley Mall, 1640 Camino Del Rio North, Suite 341, San Diego, CA 92108
The largest location of South Bay-based Novo Brazil Brewing is sited in an 8,000-square-foot corner spot in Mission Valley Mall which previously housed a Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery. There, 60 taps are hooked up to a wide-ranging array of the company’s beers, cocktails and fruited probiotic beverages from its sister brand, Nova Easy Kombucha. Venue value-addeds include an upscale-casual menu infused with Brazilian flair, over 100 feet of LED video walls and a 3,500-square-foot patio with fire pits.
Oggi’s – Mission Valley
2245 Fenton Parkway, San Diego, CA 92108
Commuters on the San Diego Trolley’s Green Line can choose to disembark at the Fenton Parkway Station and take a short (less than a block) walk to this bar-and-restaurant, an extension of San Clemente-based Oggi’s. Located in the Fenton Marketplace, it features a lengthy, casual menu stocked with pizzas, sandwiches, wings and snacks prime for sports-spectating along with a broad spectrum of house beers brewed by the company’s sister business, Left Coast Brewing.
Puesto Cervecería
Puesto – Mission Valley, 5010 Mission Center Road, San Diego, CA 92108
When the owners of a local family of Mexican restaurants took over the brewpub formerly operated by Gordon Biersch in 2019, they made sure to retain the services of its longtime brewmaster. Known throughout San Diego as the county’s foremost lager expert, he shifted the application of his masterful techniques from German-style beers to Mexican-inspired lagers, providing a line of high-quality offerings to pair with Puesto’s menu of creative, high-end ceviches, tacos, enchiladas and more. All of the above can be consumed indoors or on a shaded outdoor patio.
San Diego Brewing Co.
10450 Friars Road, San Diego, CA 92120
Opened in 1993, San Diego Brewing Co. has been a fixture in the local brewing scene for decades, but has reached unprecedented heights under current management, which took over in 2023 and promptly overhauled the brewpub’s interior layout and design, menu and house-beer program. The latter includes a line of IPAs named for five hike-able peaks at nearby Mission Trails Park, as well as a particularly popular light lager called Beat LA, which provides ideal refreshment for those watching the Padres or San Diego FC on one of the venue’s many flat-screen TVs.