Neighborhood Beer Tour: Inland Oceanside

This tour covers the five Oceanside craft breweries that are not near the beach. My beer tour of the “downtown” or beach-adjacent part of Oceanside (not to be confused with Ocean Beach!) is here.

Only four of the these five breweries have tasting rooms. Horus Aged Ales, the most famous of the breweries in the area, does not have a tasting room so you cannot drink there. You may know that Horus mostly does collaborations with other breweries (all over the country) and has a subscription-only bottle club.

The remaining four don’t really make sense as a tour, in fact. Even though Legacy and OBC are only 1000 feet apart as the crow flies, it is a 0.6 mile drive between them through an odd industrial area that is not well lit—I don’t recommend walking between them, especially at night. If you are from out of town and want to go to the best or most interesting of San Diego’s craft breweries, these are probably not the breweries you are looking for even though they are all solid-to-very-good in beer quality. These locations just don’t stand out in the crowded San Diego beerosphere.

Belching Beaver Brewery This production brewery is impressively large, but the tasting room is just picnic tables in a warehouse. You’ll have a better experience at any of the other Belching Beaver locations. The beer is very good, so it is definitely worth a visit if you are already in the area.
Black Plague Brewing The interestingly executed theme is one reason to visit. The beer is also very good, they have a fun vibe, and they are open later hours than many breweries. This is a spot to include if you are touring the nearby downtown Vista tasting rooms.
Legacy Brewing This is a solid brewery, with a decent-to-good tasting room.
Oceanside Brewing Company This is a quirky spot with an interesting patio. I gather that they have a dedicated following of regulars.

It is a 10.6 mile drive to get to all four of these. But unless you are on a quest to go to every San Diego County brewery or you live nearby, try the Downtown Oceanside, Downtown Vista or other tours, instead.