A Whisky Lover's Guide To San Diego

December 27, 2024 –––––– Larry Olmsted, , , ,

“America’s Finest City” is a nickname San Diego earned in large part for its famously good weather and beaches. But for whiskey lovers, its downtown, especially the Gaslamp neighborhood, is a hotbed of standout bars. The city is also famous for its locally beloved happy hours, so ingrained that virtually every watering hole joins in the fun. Establishments have specials from late afternoon and/or early evening on weekdays and in some cases weekends.

San Diego’s airport is less than 10 minutes, without traffic, from downtown where parking is scarce. Readily available rideshare services are your best bet.

Make Aero Club Bar the first stop on your way to the Gaslamp or the last stop before you depart; there are over 1,000 whiskies to choose from.

Day One

The Horton Grand Hotel opened in the Gaslamp District in 1886, and catered to celebrities from Wyatt Earp to Babe Ruth to President Benjamin Harrison. Today it’s a reasonably priced historic hidden gem, full of 19th-century antiques—and most recently, bar and restaurant Salt & Whiskey. It offers a light breakfast menu, so start your day with an egg sandwich, overnight oats, or whatever else strikes your fancy.

Cutwater Spirits is the region’s best-known distillery, with tours starting at noon. Its signature is canned cocktails, but they also make whiskeys, most notably Devil’s Share bourbon and rye. One-hour distillery tours include a choice of five tasting flights, but only the $25 Whiskey Lineup includes whiskeys, quarter-ounce pours of Cutwater rye and bourbon and Devil’s Share American whiskey and bourbon. It’s a strikingly modern glass-walled facility, with a standout restaurant where you should enjoy lunch. Cocktails include an Old Fashioned ($13), Manhattan ($14), and a Devil’s Share Sazerac ($20). The food menu is quite varied but the Whiskey Smash Burger, with whiskey-glazed onions, is a weekday lunch special that includes a canned cocktail ($17).

Cutwater is in northern San Diego, about 15 miles north of the Gaslamp Quarter, and two more distilleries producing whiskeys are further north in Oceanside (40 miles from Gaslamp), so if you want more tours and tastings, this would be the best time to fit them in. Pacific Coast Spirits makes triticale and wheated bourbons, American single malt, and corn whiskey, plus other spirits, and has a restaurant and tasting room but does not offer tours. Alternatively, Oceanside Distillers, just a 10-minute drive from Pacific Coast Spirits, does not have food or a tasting room but offers private tours and tastings by reservation.

Otherwise, before happy hour in the Gaslamp, stop at the San Diego Zoo, one of the highest-rated in the world and the most visited in the United States. More than 12,000 animals occupy the 100-acre campus in the city’s green center, Balboa Park. If animals are not your thing, another top-rated San Diego attraction is the USS Midway Museum, featuring the eponymous longest-serving aircraft carrier of the 20th century, which saw action from post-WWII through Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm, and more. It’s celebrating its 20th anniversary as a floating museum in 2024, within walking distance of the Gaslamp Quarter.

Cocktails at Salt & Whiskey Back at the Horton, drop into Salt & Whiskey, where its happy hour special is $2 off signature cocktails. The off-menu local favorite is the Frequent Fryer, created by bar manager Mick Cetera, who calls it a “tiki take on whiskey,” made with apricot, candied mango, simple syrup, and Ancient Age bourbon. There are over 300 whiskies here, and the list tops out at 30 year old Talisker ($425/2 oz.). Cetera created eight tasting flights, from $30-$145, each with three 1-ounce pours, including the Irish ($30) that includes The Sexton, Glendalough Pot Sill, and Connemara Peated.

Most whisky bars are in the Gaslamp, but Seven Grand is in the trendy North Park neighborhood, and its Whiskey Society hosts a visiting distiller every Wednesday and Friday at 8 p.m. It’s a great deal at $25 and includes a welcome cocktail and a four-flight tasting with light snacks. Otherwise, there are close to 900 bottles to choose from, including over 30 private single barrel bottlings, with prices ranging from $7/2 oz. for Old Crow bourbon and Old Overholt rye to Yamazaki 25 year old at $2,500 (1 oz. pours are also available). But the overall value proposition is solid, and there are affordable flights, including one of private barrels (Four Roses 2023 OESQ, Balcones True Blue cask strength, and McCarthy cask strength, $39), plus they have a Suntory Highball draft machine.

Pendry is one of San Diego’s top luxury hotels and has a great restaurant, Lionfish, which celebrates the city’s seafood-focused cuisine in a modern, upscale way. There are multiple raw options, from sashimi, crudo, and tartare to fresh oysters, lots of grilled fresh catch, plus steaks and chops. You can take a table or eat on leather high-back stools at the bar, behind which is an impressive selection of whiskies, including scotch, American, and Japanese, and house cocktails including the Red Eye ($19): Russell’s Reserve bourbon, coffee liqueur, amaro, and orange bitters. With multiple dining and drinking options, the Pendry offers something for everyone.

Day Two

Breakfast Republic is a popular Southern California chain with a Gaslamp location that’s perfect for brunch. They have eclectic takes on eggs Benedicts (crab and crawfish, croque monsieur), omelets (shrimp and ricotta, mashed potato and bacon), pancakes (Oreo cookie, churro), French toast (banana split), and regional specialties like shrimp and grits, breakfast jambalaya, and chilaquiles. It’s a fun, hearty way to start your day.

San Diego Distillery is located in a nondescript industrial park 20 minutes east of the Gaslamp. Its tasting room is open only on Saturdays from 1-6 p.m., offering a friendly, intimate experience with a U-shaped bar and about a dozen stools, some worn couches, and draped fabric hung from the ceiling. Whiskeys are displayed in an antique backbar cabinet and all along the bar itself. They do a lot of small-run experimental expressions, a mix of products made here and some contract-distilled elsewhere. They age in specialty barrels and have an extensive lineup distilled from beers. After considering the options, you get a complementary tasting of three products of your choice; most can only be purchased here. One of the most popular is a bourbon finished in peanut-butter stout casks, and a special edition Padres bourbon, blended from four handpicked barrels and bottled at 94 proof, honoring star Tony Gwynn’s 1994 season when he batted .394. If you like quirky distilleries and things you won’t find elsewhere, this is your place.

You can finish the day in the Gaslamp on foot, and the can’t-miss stop is The Whiskey House, proudly displaying its certificate from Guinness World Records proclaiming it the world’s largest whisky list, with about 4,500. “We started with about 300 whiskies and just keep adding, it never ends,” says co-owner Alex Minaev. “We have a lot of international whiskies.” In addition to the usual U.S., UK, and Japan, the list has whiskies from nearly two dozen countries, including Austria, Switzerland, Iceland, Israel, Belgium, Finland, Italy, Brazil, and more. There is an alphabetical guide to U.S. states, and under Independent Bottlers there are two dozen-plus beyond the usual Cadenhead, Signatory, and Gordon & McPhail. They have 10 private cask selections, including Kilchoman ($16) and Japan’s Kaiyo - ($24), all 1¾-ounce pours.

What else could they think of? There are 10 signature Old Fashioneds, including the Smoking West ($16) made with High West Double Rye, Laphroaig Select, burnt sugar, and barrel-aged bitters. It offers three dozen tasting flights, each five half-ounce pours, including a San Diego regional, Indian, and Taiwanese. The Insane Pappy is $599 (Old Rip Van Winkle 10 year old, Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 year old, and Pappy Van Winkle 15, 20, and 23 year olds). The When Money is No Object flight is priced at $699 and includes Heaven’s Door 26 year old Mizunara, WhistlePig Boss Hog, Heaven Hill 27 year old, OFC 25 year old distilled in 1994, and Michter’s Celebration 2010. But if money is really, truly no object, try a pour of Macallan 30 year old Sherry Cask at $1,100. Happy hour features $5 beers with a $1 whiskey shot (Benchmark or Jim Beam Black). There’s also a full menu, and since opening a decade ago, the signature has been the Laphroaig ice cream, which is excellent.

If The Whiskey House was the neighborhood’s only bar it would be enough, but there are several others including Salt & Whiskey, bourbon-centric Whiskey Girl, and your next stop, Barleymash. The owner combined his four passions—sports, music, good food, and whiskey—and created a giant upscale sports bar. A huge, marble-topped island bar with multiple televisions occupies the center, there are tables and booths around it, and in the back a smaller bar where the whiskies are displayed—including those in a revolving whiskey carousel, a carnival ride for rare bottles.

The excellent house Old Fashioned, the Ron Burgundy, uses their current private-barrel bottling, most recently Woodford Reserve, but they’ve also had Elijah Craig, Michter’s, and Templeton rye. The list offers about 200 choices, from $12 for Jack Daniel’s and $14 for Baker’s, Four Roses Small Batch, and Old Forester 1870 to $295 for Pappy Van Winkle 23 year old. Barleymash has one of the most popular—and best priced—happy hours in town, with half-off most whiskies (excluding its Reserve list) and cocktails Monday through Friday from 3-6 p.m.

Chef Kevin Templeton is a local hero who was a winner on TV’s “Chopped” and cooked on “Beat Bobby Flay.” He uses whiskey in his recipes, and you should stay for dinner, which includes gourmet skillet takes on poutine-style topped fries, creative riffs on mac and cheese, barbecue, and larger entrees from red chile and garlic-braised short ribs to mustard-crusted salmon.

Distilleries

Cutwater Spirits cutwaterspirits.com
Oceanside Distillers oceansidedistillers.com
Pacific Coast Spirits paccoastspirits.com
San Diego Distillery sddistillery.com

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A Whisky Lover's Guide To San Diego

Day One

Day Two

Distilleries

Bars & Restaurants

Hotels

Attractions

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