Hillcrest Brewing Company

The beer they brew sucks.
No… Really. It’s pretty crappy.
Clever names doesn’t make up for bad brews, dudes. Sorry.
The service however is excellent. And the food is pretty good…
They have other beers from a variety of producers here in town… Thank god for that.
Pro-​tip: trivia night on Tuesdays.

Their long & stout beer is my favorite. After that one, it’s hop sucker. If you make it on time for happy hour (4−6pm) you can get their on tap beers at a cheaper price.
I’m a fan of their specialty pizzas. Their pizza by the slice is a little stale, so I won’t bother with those even if it’s happy hour. Their specialty pizzas, however, are on point, especially Steve’s garden, sissy shrimp pesto, and the snappy clam digger.
This place is nice if you’re looking for a laid-​back place to sit and enjoy talking to some friends. If you sit inside, there’s board games, jenga, and a pack of playing cards you can borrow. There’s also a TV and the music is mellow and at low-​volume so you don’t have to yell for the other person to hear you. If you sit outside, you can people watch as you chat, especially on Sundays because there’s so much going on due to the farmer’s market.

Fantastic beer selection, they have their own selection as well as many other great selections. Matthew took great care of me and made me feel like a local. I loved the playful names of the beer, it fits the neighborhood.

We were visiting family in San Diego from Oregon and met them at this brewery for happy hours (3−6pm). There were 6 of us and we all ordered their $ 2.50 pizza slices and (3) chicken wings. Ricky was our waiter and he was fantastic! It was pouring rain outside and part of the table and some chairs were wet (due to the glass door being opened earlier) he wiped down the area quickly and sat us down. He brought our flights of beer and took our food orders and was always checking on us but not in an obtrusive way. We had a great time at this pub and our party loved the choices of beer. The pizza slices were piping hot and delicious and it wasn’t your standard choices of cheese or pepperoni. We had a choice of pepperoni and mushrooms, pepperoni and sausage and margharita. Most breweries we frequent usually have great beer and okay food but Hillcrest had both. This place is a thumbs up!

Dropped by here this past Sunday with Mr. W as we were in the neighborhood and had glimpsed this place while exploring the Hillcrest farmers market which was literally out front.
We headed straight for the bar seats when we saw a sign that welcomed us to seat ourselves which we did and the bartender greeted us with a hello. Ordered the 8oz crotch rocket irish red first before seeing that we could have gotten the HBC flight which sampled several of their drafted beers. Definitely a fan of the lighter crisp tasting beers such as the pearle necklace. Which the second meaning of it was explained to me by Mr W after he laughed at it.
Would be game to come again and try the pizza.

Good beer (especially liked the Scotch Ale and Hefeweizen) and the Margherita Pizza was excellent. Will definitely return to this place.

This place is fantastic, the food is so good and the staff is really friendly. Definitely 5 stars

Great service! Great Pizza. Really tasty beer. Def give it a try! Beers are on the heavier side. But def good!

Decent beer selection. Music is great if you’re stuck in the «alternative rock» Era of music. Not really feeling the vibes of the people here. Gonna look for a place that plays some proper techno next.

I’m definitely a fan of Hillcrest Brewing Co.!! They have a great variety of beers, the staff is super friendly and the place has a great vibe. I really dig the wood paneling, that big beer chandelier, and the outside seating area. It’s a great place to go with friends, take the dog and hang out with some good beer :)

They are known as the first Gay Brewery, but really all is welcome. I support this restaurant wholeheartedly! Everyone here is so nice.
First thing when you walk in, is that you realize how small and intimate it is. But this isn’t a bad thing! Bar seating in a circle around the bar, tables on the sides and corners and outdoor patio seating as well.
Such good pizza! You can pick your own toppings or choose from the recommended options. I like that they slice the pizza right in front of you.
We also got the spicy Sriracha wings… sooooo good!
Parking may be a bit tough to find, but you’ll eventually find some.
A great place to watch some games on TV, hang out and relax.
Tip: Check out the Farmers Market next door on Sundays!

Amazing staff, excellent beers and killer pizza.
Wife and I come here every few weeks and the happy hour is great! Always a great experience.

I’ve been here a few times, and it’s always awesome. Most recently, was here last night for Trivia (came in second, woohoo!) which was a BLAST. Highly recommend trivia here on Tuesdays nights! It’s a lot of fun.
They always have really great beer selections, their own as well as local breweries. There is something for everyone.
The menu is limited, but it works well. I find some places go overboard and there’s too much going on, but here that’s not the case.
I recommend the pretzel, I think I could have had about 15 more of those last night. We also polished off a large pizza just the 2 of us (pineapple, black olives, jalapenos, perfect!)
The staff is fun and friendly and laid back, but attentive. Great place for pizza and beer :)

Jason, was a cool dude. The place is nice and the beers are good. I came to unwind from stress and it was worth it. They were out n of banana hammock. i was bummed. The pizza slice is only $ 2 and 3 $ wings awesome. I skipped breakfast so it was what i needed. More to come

3.5 stars for my first visit.
The plusses:
— We enjoyed the pretzel with cheese;
— The brunch pizza we selected, «Mourning Meat», had a good crust with the flavors of a breakfast burrito.
— The outdoor atmosphere was good (sat at the hightops on the east side)
— We really liked our server
The minusses:
— both bar stools I tried were quite lumpy and uncomfortable
— the three 4oz tasters I had were all fine, but my taste buds didn’t enjoy them nearly as much as other local drafts I’v had
— I thought $ 6.50 for a single pretzel with cheese was a bit pricey despite the fact that it was good.

This is a great place to come during Pride Weekend, or just whenever you’re out and about in Hillcrest wanting a good beer.
I really enjoyed their house IPA. Didn’t get to try their IIPA but I bet it’s good. The atmosphere is really cool, with a big modern chandelier hanging over the bar area. Indoor and outdoor seating to suit your mood (enjoy that SD weather with your brew!)
Nice friendly service. I got my drink quickly even though it was packed in there. Cool scene, cool people, and good vibes.

Date of visit: 7÷17÷2015
I really wanted to go dance at the block party, but at $ 30 per ticket, Cam and I decided to sit on the patio of Hillcrest Brewing Company and enjoy the music from there. Our waiter was extremely friendly and sat us outside and took our order quickly.
Hop Sucker. This was definitely a sweeter IPA than I’m used to, but it was nice to sip on after drinking wine all night. It was also pretty light for an IPA according to Cam.
Honey Siracha Wings. I’m a big fan of sweet and spicy, and the flavoring on these wings are definitely amazing. Unfortunately, that was the only amazing part of the wings as they were greasy (probably deep fried) and really dry. Cam really didn’t enjoy these and he usually loves wings.
Overall, this place is just okay. The wings took a really long time to come out — so long that even our waiter was confused and had to go back in to ask where our order had gone. We’ll probably never come back since it’s not in our area, but it’s definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Good beers with some hilariously homo-​erotic names, their blonde is called a ‘perle-​necklace.’
Their happy hour is good, staff is friendly, and if you don’t like the beers they make they have a really good selection of other local beers that are discounted at happy hour as well.
Breadsticks were meh, haven’t tried the other food. But I came for beer, not food.

First, can I just say that I am jealous that they took the title of 1^st gay brewery. Had I known there was a void there I would’ve pushed my fiancé harder to expand our own home brewing out of the kitchen and on to a larger scale.
Still I have to say I am happy that a place like this took that title. They set the bar high not just in terms of their beer but also for their food, service, and general ambiance.
Before I get to the beer let’s talk about everything else first. If you just want to read about the beer keep going.
Food: They serve pizza, wings, and salad. Perfect food to pair with beer. Needing lunch we decided to oder some food to go with our beer. We got the Meat Packer, Mother Clucker, and Sweet Hot Pig (love the names). All of them were delicious. These aren’t Domino’s style pizzas though. They are thin crust and well made. I think some of the people hating on the pizza need to just branch out their style choices.
One thing to note about the pizzas too is that they will be larger than you expect. We got the three 18″ pizzas expecting it to be just enough to feed 6 people. They were HUGE. Like they were the size of the table. We ended up basically taking home half a pizza as leftovers because there was just so much.
Service: Our waiter, and I really wish I could remember his name, was friendly and very quick to throw back some jokes at us. He made us all laugh and feel very welcomed. He was also on point bringing us anything we needed and making sure we were taken care of without being overbearing. Most importantly though he knew beer. My one friend is sort of a beer aficionado and our server was able to help him make a selection based off my friend’s tastes in beer. Impressive.
Ambiance: The space is very open, which helps because I wouldn’t call this place very large. The openess keeps it from feeling small though. The tables are all large and designed to be «family style.» This means that you might have to sit with a complete stranger! Oh no! The horror! ;)
What really strikes me the most though about this place, and I’m going to call it ambiance, is the sense of fun and community you get. Their beer and food names are all very thinly veiled euphemisms. While the names are silly it makes you more likely to have fun and let your hair down. There is no sense of pretense or snobbery to be found. It is about having fun and being with people.
THE BEER: Whenever I review a brewery I review I look for the «classic» styles or big swings. This place, even with their fun names, is a «classic» styles place. Their beer is solid. It has none of that «we are a small brewery still trying to learn» taste. Their beers taste well thought out and well crated. I had the Hop Sucker and the Big Red Balls. Both were fresh and delicious and very full of flavor.
They were out of one of the beers we wanted, but I take that as a good sign. It means they are taking the time to make it right and they aren’t over producing it which might lower the quality.
Gay or not, this is an incredibly solid brewery. I wish I lived in the area so I could take advantage of their happy hour and the fun activities (like trivia) that they do.
⁴⁰⁄₁₀₀

Came here one morning when we were wrapping up our time at the Hillcrest Farmer’s Market. I had never been here, but they have flights of beer with each beer costing $ 2/​each. Pretty good pricing and a good range and selection of beers. I got the flight of 6 and I had a blonde ale, an IPA, a double IPA, a stout, an amber ale, a pale ale.
Boyfriend and his friend got some wings and they said the wings were amazing. They said the sauce was good and the meat was falling off the bones. They devoured those wings within minutes.
It’s a nice place to catch the morning football games after you’ve done some shopping and eating at the Hillcrest Farmer’s Market. We’ll definitely be back.
I also bought some Bitchin’ Sauce at the farmer’s market and the brewing company was nice enough to refrigerate it for me since I knew were going to be there awhile. Don’t abuse their kindness and bring bags of groceries, but it was nice of them to do that for me when they didn’t have to.