A Plethora of Beer From Ballast Point to Stone: Our San Diego Beer Road Trip
What started as a search for breakfast and coffee in San Diego turned into a beer-and-food road trip from Ballast Point in Little Italy to Stone in Escondido, Solaris in Murrieta, and Tacos & Beer in Temecula. Along the way we found a killer Mona Lisa deli sandwich, picked up a special stout blend, and proved once again that putting us near a brewery is a terrible way to keep a schedule.
Adam & Dedra
8/14/20268 min read
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From Ballast Point to Stone: A San Diego-to-Temecula Beer & Food Road Trip
We had a very reasonable plan for our final day in San Diego: find breakfast, get some coffee, and start making our way north.
Instead, we found a parking spot directly in front of Ballast Point in Little Italy.
At that point, breakfast and coffee never really stood a chance.
What followed was a full-day crawl up I-15 involving Ballast Point, an Italian deli sandwich, coffee that almost made us hungry all over again, Stone in Escondido, a bottle mission at Solaris in Murrieta, and dinner at a restaurant literally called Tacos & Beer. Meanwhile, back on the show, we cracked open a 13.4% imperial stout from Timber Ales because apparently moderation was not the theme of this episode.
When the Parking Spot Chooses the Brewery
Our morning started in Little Italy, where we were driving around looking for parking so we could grab some food and coffee.
Then Dedra spotted an open space.
She also spotted Ballast Point.
Coffee could wait.
The parking job itself may not have been Dedra's finest work. She pulled into the spot, got out, took one look at what she had done, and quickly realized that "nailed it" may have been generous. Adam graciously volunteered to straighten things out, just as other cars naturally decided that was the perfect moment to start trying to park around us.
Still, the important thing was that the universe had delivered a parking space directly in front of a brewery.
We took the hint.
Ballast Point has a nostalgic quality for us because we've been drinking their beers for years. The Sculpin IPA family in particular feels tied to San Diego craft beer, and seeing Watermelon Dorado on tap immediately brought back memories for Adam of trying it years ago at the San Diego Festival of Beer.
So, naturally, Adam ordered the Watermelon Dorado Double IPA.
Dedra was preparing to order something else until she discovered they had Micheladas.
Decision made.
The Michelada, chips, and guacamole became our unofficial Sunday breakfast while Adam worked on a double IPA. Exactly what we had intended to do when we left the hotel looking for coffee.
Please Do Not Throw Away Our Beer
The Little Italy Ballast Point location gave us plenty to explore, with a big bar, restaurant seating, merchandise, brewing equipment visible through the windows, and an outdoor patio.
We decided to wander through the merch area.
Dedra brought her Michelada.
Adam left his beer at the bar.
This turned out to be a critical tactical error.
When we returned, Adam's beer and water were gone. Apparently someone thought we'd left, despite the minor detail that we hadn't actually paid yet.
Thankfully, the staff took care of him and replaced the beer.
Dedra learned from this experience and later made sure to specifically warn the staff not to touch her Michelada when she briefly went outside.
Protect your beer at all costs.
Outside, the planes coming into San Diego added another layer to the experience. You could be in the middle of a perfectly normal conversation and suddenly have to stop while an airplane seemingly passed directly over your head.
Then the plane disappeared and everyone was still yelling.
Very Wayne's World.
Mona Lisa Delivers the Sandwich We Actually Came For
Eventually, we remembered that food had been the original mission.
Joey from Original 40 had recommended Mona Lisa in Little Italy, so we headed over to check it out.
This was exactly the kind of place we hoped to find. Part Italian grocery store, part deli, part restaurant, it immediately felt established and lived-in rather than designed to look Italian for tourists. We watched families shopping, heard Italian being spoken, and wandered past cases of meats and other groceries before getting to the important part:
We Finally Got Coffee...and Almost Ordered Lunch Again
After Mona Lisa, we finally accomplished one item from our original morning plan.
Coffee.
We walked across the street to a busy coffee shop we'd been watching while eating. We ordered Americanos, but the coffee almost became secondary once we saw the food.
Pizza slices ready to be heated.
Fresh-looking sandwiches being assembled.
Meats being sliced.
Focaccia-style bread.
Sub rolls.
We had literally just finished eating.
And suddenly we wanted another meal.
We resisted, which might qualify as one of the greater displays of restraint in Adam & Dedra Show history, grabbed our coffees, and finally headed north toward Escondido.
One More Visit to Stone in Escondido
Stone was the next major stop.
We've visited the Escondido property before and even taken the brewery tour, but we wanted another afternoon there. The massive grounds, gardens, brewing operation, bars, and outdoor space make it one of those brewery properties that feels like far more than a place to grab a pint.
We started inside.
Adam went with Fear.Movie.Lions, an 8.5% double IPA, while Dedra finally returned to familiar territory with a hazy.
Stone Delicious Hazy IPA.
There she is.
We also ordered garlic fries because our sandwich was now approximately 30 miles behind us, which apparently means it no longer counted.
Sitting at the indoor bar was entertaining on its own. The bartenders were constantly moving, pouring beers for customers around the room while somehow staying out of one another's way.
But eventually we decided the weather was too good to stay inside.
Outside Was Where Stone Really Hit Its Stride
Moving to Stone's outdoor bar changed the whole experience.
The pace felt more relaxed, the sun was starting to come down, and we were able to actually talk with the bartender and some other people sitting nearby.
And that is one of our favorite parts of visiting breweries.
When bartenders have time to talk, you can learn a lot about the beer, the brewery, the area, and where you should go next. Our bartender happened to live in Temecula, where we were headed, so the conversation naturally turned into exchanging restaurant and brewery recommendations.
Adam followed his first double IPA with another stronger IPA from Stone's Enjoy By lineup, while Dedra went back for another hazy.
Because sometimes you don't need to reinvent yourself.
We also added pretzel bites with mustard and beer cheese, because garlic fries alone would have been reckless restraint.
After Adam mentioned his love of darker beers, the bartender poured small samples of Stone's stout for us and the other couple we'd been talking with.
It was a simple gesture, but those little interactions are often what we remember most about brewery visits.
A Very Specific Bottle Mission in Murrieta
From Escondido, we continued north toward Temecula but made one more beer-related detour.
Adam had tried a barrel-aged beer from Solaris during the Salty Toast Beer Festival and discovered they had bottles available at the brewery in Murrieta.
Technically, Murrieta was on the way.
Emotionally, we were going there specifically for the bottle.
The brewery was packed when we arrived. There was live music, food trucks, a raffle or community event happening, and people everywhere, so we squeezed into the little bit of bar space we could find, had one beer, bought the bottle, and got moving again.
The prize was We Were Never the Same, a 2026 rye wine and stout blend made in collaboration with Horace.
Mission accomplished.
Tacos & Beer Seems Like a Pretty Solid Business Plan
By the time we reached Temecula, it was dinner time.
And after spending the entire day eating food and drinking beer, we decided the only logical ending was more food and beer.
We met up with family at Tacos & Beer near the Temecula Promenade.
The name alone gave us confidence.
We shared a molcajete loaded with carne asada, shrimp, chicken, cactus, chicharrón, jalapeño, onions, cheese, sauce, and tortillas for building tacos.
This thing was loaded.
Our daughter ordered birria tacos, which were also a hit, and somewhere during the meal Dedra decided the grilled jalapeño might be one of her favorite parts of a molcajete.
Apparently we've entered our molcajete era.
Not a bad way to end a day that started with the intention of finding a simple cup of coffee..
The Featured Beer: Blended with Lumber Number Seven
Back on the show, our beer for the episode was nearly as memorable as the road trip.
We opened Blended with Lumber Number Seven from Timber Ales, a 13.4% barrel-blended imperial stout conditioned on coffee and vanilla.
The packaging may have been part of what originally caught our attention. The can was almost comically minimal, which somehow made us want it more.
The beer itself surprised Dedra.
She's been slowly coming around on stouts, and this one worked because it wasn't overwhelmingly sweet. She picked up more of a mocha or fudge-like character, while Adam found some coffee behind the rich, chocolate-like flavors.
As it warmed, those flavors opened up even more.
It was also dangerously easy to forget that this was a 13.4% beer until Dedra accidentally took a couple of very enthusiastic drinks and was quickly reminded.
For anyone around Arizona looking for it, we picked ours up at Manny's Place in Surprise.
Final Pour
This was the perfect ending to our San Diego stretch because the day wasn't really planned.
We were supposed to get breakfast and coffee.
Instead, a questionable parking job delivered us to Ballast Point. A sandwich recommendation took us to Mona Lisa. Coffee nearly turned into a second lunch. Stone became an entire afternoon. Solaris became a bottle mission. And Tacos & Beer made sure we didn't finish the day hungry.
Basically, we discovered a plethora of reasons to keep stopping.
Yes, plethora became an unnecessary running theme during the episode. We're standing by it.
If you enjoy San Diego craft beer, brewery road trips, Italian deli sandwiches, strong IPAs, loaded molcajetes, and travel days that somehow keep getting longer every time someone says "we might as well stop," this one's for you.
Watch the full episode on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts, and come along for the final leg of our San Diego adventure.
Craft Beer. Food. Fun.
Cheers.
The sandwiches.
We ordered the Deluxe Sub with mortadella, salami, ham, provolone, lettuce, tomato, onion, Italian dressing, mustard, mayonnaise, and basically everything else you want piled onto a proper deli sandwich.
Then we sat outside in San Diego weather and enjoyed one of those travel moments where everything temporarily feels very easy.
Good sandwich. Comfortable weather. No reason to rush.
Adam technically had to work the next day, but for a few minutes we were pretending that wasn't true.
