The list of top brewers in the World recently debuted for 2014 at ratebeer.com and there are 16 alone in California. Even better, five are right in my very own backyard including the #1 rated brewer which I have yet to try! Three specifically are listed in San Diego while the other two are listed as Alpine and Escondido which I also consider San Diego County. I've taken the liberty to list them along with their most popular brews, in alphabetical order, down below. Did you brewer or beer make the list?

AleSmith Brewing *Rated #1 Overall out of 100 / Speedway Stout
Alpine Beer Company / Pure Hoppiness
Ballast Point / Sculpin IPA
Green Flash Brewing Company / West Coast IPA
Stone Brewing Company / Arrogant Bastard Ale

If you haven't done so yourself, check out the Stone Brewing Company pictures that I posted a while back at their new flagship restaurant in Pt. Loma, San Diego. It's over 11,000 square feet and is definitely a gorgeous location for any event.

I'll admit that I'm not a big fan of overly hoppy but that's just me. If you haven't read it yet, there's a great article from a few months back that talks about the west coast polarization towards more and more hops. You can read that here. What are your favorites beers? I'm still a Chimay Blue Grand Reserve kind of guy.