Get Stoned – Slow Food and No Fizzy Yellow Beer
We have been fans of Stone Brewery and their knock you in the face with flavor beers for a while now. So the new Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens immediately made the top of our to-do list for the San Diego area.
Stone likes to be different and even considered to be some very arrogant bastards when it comes to their beer. So of course, nothing about the Bistro & Gardens is average.
First thing you can’t miss is the out-of-the-way location…And I say out-of-the-way because it’s in a non-descript business district yet it was crazy packed! This isn’t just the next hot spot in a trendy neighborhood; this is more a pilgrimage of cult followers (and a few curious cats looking for a good buzz). The parking situation was a bit tricky. It was a challenge to find regular parking much less a spot large enough for our RV. We ended up locating a shopping center about 2 miles away, parking the RV, disconnecting the car and driving back over to Stone!
Once we were finally in, we were greeted with a long line for beer, a beautiful open-air patio and a one-acre organic beer garden. I don’t know if it was all the anticipation, the heat or the ambiance but that first beer was oh so sweet on the lips!
There are no TVs and its 100% smoke-free indoors and out! After a walk through the garden and learning of their commitment to “slow food” we forced ourselves to stick around for dinner.
Slow Food is the absolute opposite of fast food. It’s all about using locally produced veggies and natural meats (no crazy chemical enhancers or petri dishes involved. You know… real food. Come to find out Stone is the largest restaurant purchaser of local, small-farm organic produce in San Diego County.
Here are a few of my favorite stone statements about slow food: “We do this not just for the simple principles of freshness and sustainability, but also because fresh, local and organic tastes better. It’s also better for you and the world in which we live. It does cost more, and our prices reflect some of that reality…..we have sworn off all things mediocre, NO MATTER HOW POPULAR. We do not serve any industrial adjunct beers (aka “fizzy yellow beers”) as they do not represent the best in beers in our opinion. Instead of generic orange-colored cheese varieties, we select flavorful artisanal cheeses. We are 100% high fructose corn syrup free, as we don’t think that ANYTHING that uses cheap sold-by-the-drum sweetener tastes as good as food and drink that’s made with actual real, natural sugar. No, we’re not health nuts, we’re quality nuts! The fact that actual real food is better for you than the “food-like” substances that folks commonly eat is beside the point. Or is it?”
That pretty much sums up exactly how we feel about food and beer and wine and well, I think you get the idea. So back to the experience.
One of the best reasons for visiting any brewery is the chance to sample lots of different beers and a few that might be limited release or only sold at the brewery. So, of course, that’s exactly what we went for. The vertical epic was like Christmas in a bottle! It was lovely and definitely epic, until I remembered it was a limited release and almost sold out (we purchased the last bottle in the restaurant, and the last 2 bottles in the store…Now it’s really SOLD OUT J).
The food was creative, well prepared and…I’m not even going to attempt to give you super accurate information on the food… because my memories might be slightly skewed. By the time dinner was over, I wasn’t qualified to operate heavy machinery much less give a proper description of anything I had eaten…but the photos look yummy and Jason swears the taste matched.
Speaking of heavy machinery, our waiter was super nice and didn’t want us taking off without seeing the brewery. So we got a quick private tour! Maybe he was just trying to ensure a good tip, either way, we were happy to take him up on the offer…and goof around a little in the process.
Obviously we loved it and if you are anywhere near the area; it’s a great place to spend a sunny afternoon. However, if you plan on eating we suggest making reservations to avoid the long wait!
If you haven’t ever had a Stone beer before, make sure to read Brian’s You’re Not Worthy post.
If you’re passionate about putting good stuff into your body give us your take on Stone, Slow Food or Craft Beer in the comments below…we’d love to hear your two cents. Cheers!
Disclaimer – Stone didn’t pay us to write this, heck we didn’t even ask for a free dessert. We love slow food, quality craft beer and good people looking out for Mother Nature.
