Best Beers on the Bay
“Fermentation may have been a greater discovery than fire.” That insight, from the writer David Rains Wallace, sums up our attitude toward beer: We set out to be a modern inn where friends and family seek the warmth of good company and excellent food. Well, excellent food — and superb beer.
Both of Bay City’s locations (in Point Loma and East Village, San Diego) offer a variety of delectable brews. We always aim to give our customers a high-quality sipping experience, so we’re proud of everything we’ve got on tap. But here are five of our best-selling beers that we feel compelled to rave about:
- Fiesta Island Pilsner
- Jucci Gang Hazy DIPA
- Ron Murkundy Hazy IPA
- Peninsula Lager
- Bay City IPA
Soak in some of our own insights into what makes our beer worth a trip out to see us.
Fiesta Island Pilsner
Chances are, if you’re a San Diegan, you’ve heard of Fiesta Island — a peninsular park located within Mission Bay, south of Pacific Beach, with views of palm trees tallying the horizon. If you’re guessing that this is an idyllic retreat to knock back a pilsner, you’re guessing right.
Meaning Behind the Name
Fiesta Island might be best known for its off-leash dog park. Ergo Frank the Dog, the mascot for our can design, that green-tinted-glasses-wearing terrier with the requisite popped Hawaiian shirt collar. Our love for Frank has moved us to apportion some of the proceeds from this beer to fund a different local dog charity every month.
Beer Profile
You can order a Fiesta Island at either Point Loma or East Village, and if you do, expect a SMASH (single malt, single hop) recipe with 5.4% ABV. In other words, a light beer so balanced and bright that you can drink it anytime, anywhere. Also available in cans for you good folks to take home with you.
Jucci Gang Hazy DIPA
If we were pressed to name the best beer in our rotation, the Jucci Gang Double Hazy might win out. One of the hazy IPAs in our “Fog on the Bay” series, the Jucci Gang is infused with a tropical flare that smoothes out into a pillowy finish.
Meaning Behind the Name
Sip this double IPA and the first thing you may notice is that its hops are juicy, so we felt it was only natural to nod to “Gucci Gang.” That tiger you see stalking the hallway of the high school? That’s the tiger climbing across the can, its spine buckling with muscle, its fangs bared and its claws spread like butcher knives. Talk about hop power.
Beer Profile
Point Loma and East Village both carry this beer, which clocks in at 8.5% ABV. Notes of mango, peach, passion fruit, and sweet orange curb out any hop bitterness and combine into luscious aromas and flavors. Buy it in a can, or order one at our bars, and join the juicy gang.
Ron Murkundy Hazy IPA
Don’t lie — you’ve seen Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. At least you’ve heard of it, right? (Please tell us you’ve heard of it.) In the twenty years since it’s come out, Anchorman has attained comedy-classic status, and we had to name one of our best beers after this local favorite.
Meaning Behind the Name
Anchorman, that mid-2000s throwback to the culture of 1970s newsrooms, when men were, well, delusionally over-inflated with their own self-regard, features Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy, the lead anchor for KVWN Channel 4 in San Diego. The TV station may be fictitious, but the laughs can be beer-gut-splitting. Enjoy this hazy IPA as you watch Veronica Corningstone tell Ron Burgundy his hair is stupid and then throw a typewriter at his head. (He deserves it.)
Beer Profile
Each of our locations sells Mr. Murkundy, a New England IPA with 6.5% ABV that’s tropical and juicy with an undercurrent of mellow bitterness. Stay hoppy, San Diego. (Coming in cans soon.)
Peninsula Lager
Malty, toasty, even biscuity, this delicate yet complex lager originated in Vienna in the 1840s, so it was with gusto that we revived such a classic recipe into the Peninsula Lager, a modern beer that brings a storied amber hop nectar into the present day.
Meaning Behind the Name
We named this lager after the Baja Peninsula, that stretch of land extending southward from California, covered with xeric shrublands and fringed with powdered-sugar beaches famed for their citadels of rocky outcrops. Crack open a can under the cover of a palm tree and put your phone on “Absolutely Do Not Disturb.”
Beer Profile
What does a swirl of Vienna malt, Cluster hops, and German lager yeast add up to? A refreshing 5.0% ABV that pairs well with Mexican cuisine, all-day block parties, and worrying about nothing. Sold at both of our locations — and available in cans.
Bay City IPA
Epic surf. A house party. Another round of volleyball at sunset. These are all sensible reasons to sip on a Bay City IPA, which keeps the usual bitterness of an IPA at bay while pushing the flavor in a more contemporary direction.
Meaning Behind the Name
Pick up a six-pack of the Bay City IPA and you’ll notice that we designed the can with the image of a hop wearing aviators and a battered straw hat. That boardwalk character we named “Mr. Hopfreshing,” because this beer is unlike your usual IPA, which tastes like you just took a hefty bite out of a pine tree. No, this Bay City brew manages to be hoppy yet also smooth and sweet, and golden like dawn waves.
Beer Profile
Don’t be intimidated by a 7.7% ABV. We stand by our word that it packs the power without the punch. Both our East Village and Point Loma locations will serve you this mixture of Mosaic, Simcoe, and Idaho 7 hops, alight with notes of citrus and grapefruit.
Find Your New Favorite Beer
These are all among our best-selling beers, but which beer is the best beer? We’re partial to them all, so come by our Point Loma and East Village tasting rooms to find the one you like best. Another option: Book an event with us, lounge around our outdoor heaters, and try them all while you discover anew the wonders of fire and fermentation.