Coming to a Head

North Park Beer Co.

This long-anticipated eponymous entrant into San Diego’s beeriest community finally debuted this summer. Upon entry, the space greets customers with masterful design elements from Basile Studio that convey North Park’s wood-rich, craftsman heritage across two stories in tandem with beers from founder and (former) homebrewer extraordinaire, Kelsey McNair. A well-known hop-bomb, Hop Fu! IPA, currently is on tap along with mostly low-alcohol beers-a pale ale, Scottish session ale, stout, cream ale, rye-infused Pilsner and more-all of which buck fruiting, wild-yeast and other trends du jour to create beer that’s unpretentious, approachable and deliciously traditional.

3038 University Ave., North Park
northparkbeerco.com

Culver Beer Co.

Love Belgian beers? So do the founders of this new addition to Carlsbad’s buzzing brew-scene, and they serve just about every style-wit, golden strong ale, saison, tripel. Love hoppy beers? Well, that’s not exactly their (brown) bag, but they respect hop-heads’ right to a bitter, fruity pint and are making plenty of those just for that contingent-pale ales and IPAs both single and double. Pass through a wooden tunnel-style entrance into a mood-lit barrel-room and bar with shuffleboard and a beer-board a dozen-strong, then choose your own adventure, be it Belgian, pure SoCal or a mash-up of both.

2719 W. Loker Ave., Ste. D, Carlsbad
culverbeer.com