A Visit to 32 North Brewing
Last month, on a brief two-day visit to San Diego County to experience beers from various breweries, my two drinking buddies and I, despite having had a lot of beer that day already,* we were still up for drinking more beer and. Since there was still a brewery tasting room still open and nearby, we decided we might as well visit it. Having opened up in the past year, 32 North Brewing is located in an industrial-looking warehouse (as most breweries are in San Diego County). Walking in, one notices a very open space with numerous oak barrels serving as both decoration and pseodo-walls.
When we arrived, it seemed to have a lively atmosphere, especially as there were a dozen or so young professionals playing games near the bar, while the bar, itself, which wasn’t particularly large, had a nice vibe to it. Although we had had a lot of beer that day, we still got tasters of all of their beers on-tap (since I was not particularly sober, my notes are not fully complete, nor are the pictures unblurry).
Flight of all of the beers on-tap
We started off with Passion Fruit (4.1 % ABV), an American sour, which featured a very lovely tartyness and a nice passionfruity nose. Next up was Pennant (5.5 % ABV), a pale ale, which had a nice grassy, somewhat danky character; this was a nice beer. Next up was First Flight Pale Ale (6 % ABV), a pale ale, which was pleasant and some noticeable hoppiness (although I didn’t enjoy it as much as Pennant).
Then, of, course, they had a couple of IPAs, one a regular IPA, with the other having grapefruit added. Nautical Mile (6.5 % ABV), an IPA, tasted quite oniony, which did not impress me, but it wasn’t bad. Their other Nautical Mile (7.2 % ABV), an IPA with grapefruit, made quite the interesting adjustment on the nautical mile and I couldn’t detect the onionyness that was in the regular Nautical Mile.
Board of Beers
Moving on from the hoppy beers, we then had Pack Your Bags (5% ABV), a brown Ale with cocoa nibs, which was a pleasant brown ale. Then we had the Fly By Night (6.5% ABV), a milk stout, which had a pleasant coffeeness with some vanilla. They served Fly By Night on both CO2 and N2O and the latter featured an interesting softness vs the CO2.
While the beers were fine at this brewery, one notices room for improvement, yet it was still good, as I particularly liked the Pennant pale ale and am glad that they also are pouring a sour, which is a welcome change to all of the hops going on in San Diego.
* Having visited Bagby Beer Company, Lost Abbey Brewing, Port Brewing Company, Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, Ballast Point Brewing, White Labs, and Alesmith previously before arriving to 32 North Brewing.
