Tuesday 22nd of May 2012 03:50:37 PM

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Many believe these days that San Diego has become Beer City, USA.
Having spent 20 years in the Pacific NW, I do not concur...but that doesn't mean that San Diego brewers aren't doing their part to advance the craft beer scene.
Latitude 33 Brewing in Vista, a Northern San Diego city between Escondido and Oceanside can stake a partial claim to that "land."
Located in yet another industrial park, Latitude 33 is an open brewery / tap-room offering up 8 different beers complete with a history of each as well as the names; Camel Corps IPA (with a reference to Jefferson Davis) and Pasha's Rye to name but two.
It's all about sailors folks and pirates and what's not to love about those ne'er-do-wells!
Yo Ho, Yo Ho - a pirate's life for me...along with Wheat, Pale and Brown ales...IPA's and Vanilla Porters.
A "Boarding Pass" in the brewery informs imbibers that the 30-35th parallels keep their respective regions warm and dry...where the world's deserts are located. Sailors called them "horse latitudes" which probably stemmed from the English phrase, a "dead Horse" - a term for work owed on advanced payment. In other words, since the seaman had already been paid, he had to do the work...carrying it around like a "dead horse." That advance payment by the way, was supposed to be used to outfit the men with supplies; clothes, tools and other items loosely referred to as "frills and extras" for instead, they blew the money on beer and women.
Perfectly understandable.
Here, at Latitude 33 their Double IPA & Vanilla Porter (named for a soiled dove of the 1880's) were good. However my "mate" and I found all the beers to be aggressively hopped -- a practice that seems to have gotten out of hand in the beer community. So much so that it has become a competition to see who can make their beer the most bitter, the taste be damned!
So if that's your like, this is probably a good port for you to anchor.
Me? I think I'll keep sailing a bit more.