Pizza Port Bottle Shop

UCLABrewN84

California

3.8/5  rDev -15.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I had to check out the Port bottle shop since I was at the Carlsbad location. It was much different than I was expecting. It's basically a room of coolers with beer in them and some glassware for purchase. I believe it connects outside to a patio area. Pretty bare bones in my opinion. The quality of the beers were good but I saw some old bottles that have probably been around for quite some time. Service was average at best. The selection they have is pretty impressive however, with a good number of beers I have never seen anywhere else. Prices are reasonable for what you are getting. My only complaint is that after handling bottles from multiple coolers, my hands smelled of mildew as if there is some sort of issue going on with moisture inside the units.

08-07-2012 05:16:57 | More by UCLABrewN84

Bfarr

Washington

3.29/5  rDev -26.6%
vibe: 2 | quality: 3 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $$

It seems Pizza Port had some extra space and decided to throw a half-dozen second hand coolers together and form a bottle shop. Then they threw a couple pieces of plywood over some sawhorses and got some glassware together so you could enjoy a bottle on the premises. Well, at least there's no corkage fee. The selection is fairly extensive, although lot of space is taken up by grocery store beers and there really aren't too many rarities. I would consider the prices reasonable because they are the price I am used to in Washington but then I also expected slightly cheaper in California. The kid behind the counter didn't move a muscle or even try to greet me at the door but was friendly enough as I checked out. I don't know if there are better bottle shops in the area but it seems better to head next door and get a pint and leave the bottle shopping for somewhere else.

04-05-2012 03:32:38 | More by Bfarr

sholland119

Pennsylvania

3.6/5  rDev -19.6%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | $$

Massively disappointing compared to my expectations. Selection was pretty good, but nothing that would blow a beer geek away. Of the three bottle shops I hit on our vacation this was third best, and it was no contest.

I guess this is a great place for a local bottle shop, or if you don't get down the highway to San Diego or something. But there were no rarities even of the Port/LA family, unless they are hidden away for those who know the (in my visit, not at all helpful) staff.

Glad I did not go just for the bottle shop here.

HV

02-29-2012 18:21:25 | More by sholland119

CasanovaCummins

Nevada

4.7/5  rDev +4.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 3 | $$

This place is small and cozy. It almost has a feel of a beer garden in Europe, long table, semi outdoors, and very friendly.

Our first stop was at night and even though it was a bit hard to see all the labels in the murky, greenish glowing lights and the fogged up fridge doors, it was beer heaven right from the get go.

This is a no-frills cement-floored, stand up-tabled shop that can get crowded at times, but never fails to deliver the goods. I kept going back and forth between chillers and seeing beer I A) was surprised to find, and B ) had never even heard of before.

My wife was quite pleasant as I piled Russian River selections after Yeti selections, followed by their own Pizza port selections, and Pliny bottles galore into my take home box. And since she samples along with me, was almost as anxious to pop open the hard-to-find beers as I was. Okay, maybe not that anxious, but curious nonetheless.

And though busy, every employee was quite helpful and we shared beer-bro looks as I kept dashing from cooler to cooler ( possibly drooling as I did so).

Feeling as if I had missed something important, we went back in the daytime and found the place much less crowded. And I was able to engage in one on one beer geek talk with the clerk. Nice, informative, and very friendly.

You have got to give major props to a place that has a Brewbies tasting to help Breast cancer awareness. This place will be my definite go to place for beer in SoCal. Well worth the five hour drive!

02-20-2012 05:14:24 | More by CasanovaCummins

DoubleJ

California

4.58/5  rDev +2.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | $$

Despite being small, the Pizza Port Bottle Shop is a must stop for any beer geek. While the lighting could be a little brighter, this place was full of life. One secret of the place is that you can drink any bottle you purchase here without paying a corkage fee. Perhaps that explained the crowd in here.

All the beer is kept cold and in good condition. The selection is very impressive; well over 500 bottles. Oddly enough, I was most impressed with the English section, seeing imports (Pedigree, Hook Norton) that I don't recall seeing before. A tidy selection of glassware is for sale too.

The checker was a great help, putting extra packaging around my purchased glassware and answering my question about drinking inside the store. Strangely, I feel that I met the guy at a tasting a few years back, when he said he ran the Pizza Port Bottle Shop. Well, my visit day finally arrived, and the only thing I'm dissapointed about is that I didn't visit sooner!

01-31-2012 01:33:14 | More by DoubleJ

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

4.01/5  rDev -10.5%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

We hung out in town an extra hour and a half to see the bottle shop. I was not disappointed but it is exaggerated by some of the visitors. Yes, almost all the beer is refrigerated in ideal cold temperature without any strong lights in the store. Yes the selection is very good, though the Lost Abbeys were all regular stock. Good on the smaller bottles, the reasonable prices, and stuff I get out east but is harder to find in South Cal. I did find a number find a number of bottles am I am happy. Also Shawn who opened the store was very knowledgeable about beer.

01-18-2012 13:39:52 | More by northyorksammy

100floods

California

4.18/5  rDev -6.7%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Typically my beer odyssies involve me, my girlfriend or some combination of friends; but this time it involved the girlfriend and her family. On our way down to San Diego (my first time( I made sure that we had lunch at this particular Pizza Port location.

The location doesn't initially strike me as a beer destination. The restaurant seems like a great place for families to bring their kids for dynamite pizza while parents can knock back a few pints. The crowd was a mix of mostly families and 20 somethings and beach town dweller types and hesher types. Not what I imagined, but I went with it.

The beer selection was pretty awesome. Not being a noob to the Pizza Port offerings I was really glad to see few brews that are widely available in 22oz form. I tried their Yakima Wet Hop cask IPA which was PHENOMENAL, and I mooched some of my ladies heff which was also very good. I was also surprised to see a separate menue of guest taps, including Fat Head's Rye Ale, which was also really good. The fam weren't the biggest beer drinkers, so I was limited to two pints (but I later got more Port beer at Hamilton's a few nights later).

The pizza was also great. I had something with a wheat crust, which I didn't expect to be as good as it was.

Overall this place was pretty fucking rad. If I lived in the area it would be a go-to for sports nights. Pick up a few pies, a growler and I'd be good to go.

12-31-2011 17:40:48 | More by 100floods

AWolfAtTheDoor

California

4.7/5  rDev +4.9%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Went here after a late lunch, but before we wanted to really start drinking at PP just next door.

Selection is awesome. And the cool thing is that they provide glassware if you want to stay at the shop and drink what you bought! We got a Jolly Pumkin and a few Russian River sours. We ate the JP and my friend took the sours back to Canada (eh).

The shopkeeper was super friendly and helpful with suggestions. I told him my friend was from out of town, and asked for any rarities that might be fun. He went to every fridge with us and pointed stuff out for us to try.

Selection is phenomenal. Only place I actually saw Alpine for sale.

Will definitely be back the next time I go to Carlsbad PP!

10-30-2011 20:27:22 | More by AWolfAtTheDoor

FARGO619

California

5/5  rDev +11.6%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 5 | $$

This is a cool urban place with a good selection. The thing I really liked about this place is that you are able to buy beer and drink it there. Looking forward to doing that one day. I walked in and found a hard-to-find beer there once and was happy I found this place-by accident actually so that was a bonus. They have a u shaped cooler displaying tons of stuff-good beer ranging from your typical ipas, stouts, begos...etc...check this place out when in San Diego. Not only that, but it is connected to their restaurant that have a good selection of beers that go good with their pizzas and salads...have fun!

08-01-2011 19:59:02 | More by FARGO619

Retsinis

California

4.16/5  rDev -7.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

While on a self made San Diego brewery/beer tour, made a stop in here. We had just had lunch at Pizza Port, and made the short 20 steps or so into this bottle shop. Along the side walk, or more speficially in the windows of the shop, are empty bottles of some semi-rare & rare bottles of beer, which is a nice touch.

The store is chalk full of Refrigerators. In fact if memory serves, everything was refrigerated, which is a huge plus. There were a total of I believe, 6-8 single door fridges, all stocked with craft beer. Many of your typical fare, Beglian beers, St. Bernardus, Golden Drakk, Piratte Ale, Kasteel, as well as Stone, Sierra Neveda, Rogue, Deschutes, but also a good swath of other San Diego brands, (port of course, lost abbey) Green Flash, Karl Strauss, Ballast point, etc. Also had some Full sail, and quite a bit more.

The shop is not huge, so you can browse the store in about 10 mintues or less, and prices were reasonable as well. All in all, a recomended stop if your shopping for beer in the area, and or making a stop for lunch or dinner and Pizza Port Carlsbad.

07-08-2011 16:08:50 | More by Retsinis