Amplified Ale Works, Miramar Brewery and Tasting Room

The Miramar location of Amplified Ale Works is home of the magic: This is where they do much of the brewing now rather than at the Pacific Beach location (reviewed in another post) which is focusing on being a tap room and restaurant.

Amplified Ale Works was an early client of the H.G. Fenton Brewery Igniter concept, which provides essentially turn-key brewing and tasting room facilities with flexible lease terms so that brewers can get up and running in as little as two months instead of the typical nine months that would be required to do it themselves. Fenton has two clients at the Miramar location (Amplified and Pure Project) and plans to open two more locations (with multiple brewers at each), in North Park and in North County during 2016. 

The Amplified Ale Works space in Miramar is clean, modern and comfortable. The bartender, Sebastian, will make sure you enjoy yourself. I prefer this location over the Pacific Beach one, though this one doesn’t offer food (and the PB food is very good). The tasting room has good seating, and in particular the bar seating promotes interaction with the bartender and other patrons, which to me is the heart of why we go out for beer in the first place. The décor and the beer names follow a music industry theme.

The beer is good. Pulse Porter is probably my favorite; I increased my rating on it to 4/5 after trying it here (I rated it slightly lower when I was at the Pacific Beach location). They’ve recently won some awards, too. I tried E11even 11PA, an Imperial IPA (12.5% AB), for the first time on this visit. It is big and hoppy and very tasty. I rate it 4.25/5.

They are next door to Pure Project (reviewed in another post), so this makes a good two-fer. Miramar is quite a hike from downtown or the beaches: I recommend Uber or Lyft.

(Photo borrowed from Amplified Ales Instagram page.)