Bay Park & Morena Brewery Guide

Where a pair of interstates and several coastal thoroughfares converge you’ll find the Morena neighborhood. Small in size yet packed with restaurants, retail and industrial businesses, it’s home to a pair of local beer spots. One is over 30 years old and considered sacred ground by homebrewers and beer enthusiasts alike, while the other is making a fast name for itself with to-style takes on classic European ales and lagers. A similar dichotomy exists in the neighboring Bay Park community, where one of San Diego’s OG brewing concerns continues to evolve, finding itself in good company with a chic outpost from an of-the-moment craft op. These quality combos make a tasting tour of Mission Bay’s southerly expanses as varied as it is delicious.

BREWERIES

Coronado Brewing
1205 Knoxville St, Bay Park

One of San Diego’s longest-tenured brewing companies, Coronado already had 17 years under its belt when expanding onto the mainland, siting a 20,000-square-foot production facility at the end of a cul-de-sac just off Interstate 5. Now over a decade old, it includes a tasting room installed on the brewery floor, providing close-up views of production and packaging activities along with 25 taps’ worth of the company’s beer. Over the past several years that public space has been upgraded to include a kitchen serving pizzas, salads, wraps and apps, all of which are available inside as well as on a dog-friendly outdoor patio glammed up with oceanic mural work featuring the company’s tagline, “keep it coastal”.

Coronado brews for people versus beer nerds, making ales and lagers for everyday enjoyment…especially for people who like hops. While former flagship Islander IPA took gold and helped the company secure Mid-size Brewery of the Year honors at the 2014 World Beer Cup, Coronado has taken its IPAs in a more modern direction. Read: drier, fruitier and less bitter. That stock is highlighted by West Coast models, Weekend Vibes (pineapple, orange, grapefruit flavors and aromas) and Palm Sway (papaya, mango, apricot), both of which medaled at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in 2019 and 2021, respectively. They are augmented by easygoing Salty Crew blonde ale, old-school staples Orange Ave. Wit and Mermaid’s Hoppy Red and seasonal coffee milk stout, Early Bird, the latest iteration of which used maple, cinnamon and vanilla to mimic the flavors of French toast.

Mounted TV screens make Coronado’s tasting room a cozy place to sit a spell and watch a game. And if you’re headed to Petco Park to see the Padres play in person, it’s a fun pre-game spot thanks to the close proximity of the Tecolote Road trolley station.

Pro Tip: Stop in on Brewsday Tuesdays for $5 pints of limited or R&D beers or Draft Thursday when growler fills are just $10.

Deft Brewing
5328 Banks St, Morena

Award-winning homebrewer Mo Nuspl wasn’t shooting for the stars when he got into the beer biz. He was more interested in building a brewery that would remain a relevant part of his beloved community’s makeup for decades to come. Several years in, his Deft Brewing has made good on that goal, working with similarly ambitioned neighbors Lost Cause Meadery and Pizza Cassette to create an artisanal compound connected by a shared outdoor area dubbed The Gärten, where wrought-iron gates give way to a shaded German-style beer garden flanked by hop bines (a source for fresh-hop creations in the fall) drawing beer fans toward the brewery’s tasting room.

While most San Diego breweries offerings are hop-heavy, Deft specializes in Belgian, German, UK and Irish beers. Prowess in those areas earned the company Champion Brewery honors at the 2021 San Diego International Beer Competition. That year, Deft also nabbed a GABF silver for Austere Abbott, a refreshing, floral Belgian singel. On the other side of the spectrum, the nutty, chocolaty Dawn of the Deft Porter is another award-winner, but hardware aside, balance and drinkability are hallmarks of solid session beers like Fear the DeftStar Kottbusser and Rugger Water ordinary bitter. Meanwhile, the robust flavors of Deft’s higher-alcohol offerings are epitomized by the pronounced essence of banana and bubble gum in a tripel called Bruxelles Trip, and the bready, dried-fruit character of a Dusseldorf-style sticke altbier dubbed DoubleDeft Secret.

Densely populated with regulars, Deft is one of the friendliest, homiest tasting rooms in the county. Read: rabblerousing outsiders need not apply. Extra fun’s on tap during Wednesday open-mics, live musical performances on Fridays and Saturdays, and Thursday trivia sessions emceed by Nuspl featuring questions of his own devising. And the good times roll out into the Gärten during Deft’s seasonal events, which include Frühlingsfest  Deftoberfest and a pair of festivals devoted to Belgian and UK beers.

Pro Tip: Though not listed on the menu, Deft offers shandies and radlers, which are made using house beers.

SATELLITES

Harland Brewing – Bay Park
4112 Napier St, Bay Park

In 2020, Scripps Ranch-based Harland Brewing took over a tasting room previously operated by defunct Benchmark Brewing. In doing so, the interiors were modernized and upgraded to include one a brass-topped bar with faucets to match along with hunter-green, button-tufted leather barstools and framed black-and-white photography. That stylishness extends to a lattice-shaded back patio outfitted with succulents, fire features and comfy seating configured into pods supporting spirited convos over Harland’s selection of hoppy ales, lagers, fruited kettle- and smoothie-style sours.

Home Brew Mart by Ballast Point
5401 Linda Vista Rd, Morena

Homebrew supplies were hard to come by and mostly mail-order when this landmark opened in 1992. Local breweries were similarly scarce when a brewhouse was installed four years later under the moniker Ballast Point Brewing. Today, the recreational retail outlet that birthed one of the country’s largest commercial beermaking concerns remains a beacon for amateur fermentationists behind a friendly, knowledgeable staff. Expanded to include a spacious tasting room pouring a vast array of globally inspired ales and lagers, Home Brew Mart also hosts beginner and advanced homebrew classes, plus Thursday-night trivia competitions.