Mother Earth Brew Co.

bradybeer

California

4.44/5  rDev +14.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Located in the brewery capital of north San Diego County (Vista) this brewery/home brew shop is one of the highlights of my visit to see my family.

Walking in you are greeted with a warm smile and a hello. The brewing equipment is located to the left and the bar to the right. When we were there they had about 10 beers on tap. My wife and I tried the Black IPA, Irish Red, and Extra Bitter. All of were very good with the black IPA being outstanding.

Service was excellent and I could see how showing up with 25 people at a small operation would be a problem. So don't hod that against them.

We will be back to have our half growlers filled next time we are in town

04-11-2011 14:41:58 | More by bradybeer

OhSoHoppy

California

4.43/5  rDev +14.2%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

I Originally came here just for the home brew supplies but stayed for a beer or two. This seems to be a tight knight family run business/Bar. The family dog cruises around playing with its toys. Locals that swing bye for a beer and to catch some of the game. A very friendly "local" atmosphere, Very welcoming. Very informative and helpful with any questions about all aspects of beer and brewing. Seem to be one of those businesses out there to help develop and set a good example about the craft/home brew movement. Will definitely be going back... soon.

11-10-2011 19:20:23 | More by OhSoHoppy

vfgccp

New York

4.16/5  rDev +7.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | $

A- Cool little brewery. They make the most of a small space, they have a nice long bar right in the middle of their brewery. It gets kinda crowded but I guess that's what happens when you have good beer.

Q- Beer quality is top notch, really good stuff

S- Service is good once you get up to the counter and get help but it sometimes takes a while, the cards they use to keep track of you samples is a little odd too, but it works.

S- I wish they had more stuff in bottle, and I hope they get a handle on bottle quality control as the Primordial I had on tap was AMAZING, but in bottle THUMBS DOWN< The overall selection on tap is really nice, and the board has some great info for the beer nerds to really learn about each of their brews.

02-04-2012 03:03:04 | More by vfgccp

easong

California

4.09/5  rDev +5.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3 | $$

On a recent beer excursion to SD, I dropped in on a Sunday afternoon when I had expected to visit Green Flash but found it had moved from Vista to Miramar. No problem, Mother Earth is a sensibly-sized brewery run by friendly folks who make all the good beer they can sell. Nonetheless, the Earth-friendly marketing theme is fun and the tasting room airy and comfortable, with a wrap-around bar long enough for a dozen random locals and traveling BAs. The owner was there watch the World Cup with the rest of us. I came for the imperial IPA but finding it tapped out, settled for the same in the bottle. Still fresh and heady, could not have been long in the bottle. This is the kind of brewery I went to SD to experience -- not necessarily the ones than are now in statewide or national distribution. I would be surprised if Mother Earth ever outgrows their britches. Well worth a stop.

07-31-2011 20:56:40 | More by easong

Lakes

Idaho

4.04/5  rDev +4.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Interesting place. I'm not exactly sure of their goal. The place is a store/brewery/beer-bar but none are really very standout. That's not to say it doesn't make for a cool place to have a beer. It's eclectic and fun. The beers were good. There were guest taps from other breweries that rounded out the selection. The barrels as bar stools were attractive but not very functional.

While it was interesting to be able to walk up to their brewing equipment I'm going to guess that they will end that before to long.

Fun but odd, but I guess that's why it's fun.

01-31-2011 22:28:47 | More by Lakes

ALBuff

Hawaii

4.04/5  rDev +4.1%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.25 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.25 | $

Located in an upscale, old town neighborhood, Mother Earth has a vibrant social scene without being overbearing or pretentious. The location is ideal for social gatherings or for a simple tasting. Food isn't served, but one can order pizza from a booth on premises, walk across the street for take out, or bring whatever food is desired. This brewery has a wide variety of above average beers, and a handful of near excellent IPAs. Definitely worth the trip. A neighborhood gem.

01-28-2013 07:03:38 | More by ALBuff

dcgunman

California

4/5  rDev +3.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Mother Earth was stop number two in our San Diego brewery trip on Saturday. It was not on our list to begin with but decided to check it out as we forgot that Green Flash tasting room had moved to the Mira Mesa location.

Walking in the entrance there is a desk on the left side and homebrewing supplies on the right. Going straight you come to the bar on the right side and barrels on the left. The place was packed full of craft beer drinkers. Looking at the bar menu was a bit confusing at first. But once I studied the board I figured out what to look for. What I was surprised to find was guest beers being served. They did have Avery Maharaja, Victory, and a few other guest beers. I believe Sculpin was also tapped. But I wanted to try the Primordial dipa which they had already run out of. But they did have it in a 22oz bottle in which we tried. The bottom of the bottle had some sediments in it. Also had a few tasters and the Maharaja on draft. Towards the back was a food truck serving hamburgers and other food truck goodies. I ordered the maui nacho's. Very good I thought.

Overall I was very surprised what I had saw inside Mother Earth. I know this place is pretty new in San Diego but it looked and felt like it's been there for awhile now.

I will stop in again to try some more of their house beers. But there are so many more breweries in San Diego to hit before I do go back.

By the way I think the old location of Green Flash is taken over by another new brewery, Aztec Brewery. It just keeps on getting better and better in San Diego.

07-10-2011 16:18:21 | More by dcgunman

womencantsail

California

3.98/5  rDev +2.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Update (3/28/11): http://motherearthbrewco.blogspot.com/2011/03/rants-and-raves-about-beer-reviews.html

Original Review (8/29/10): Stopped in here after being at Lost Abbey for the Deliverance release.

The place is tucked away in an industrial business park like so many other small breweries these days (Suite H, since it's not currently listed in the address here on BA). The space itself is actually fairly large, which was interesting.

There is a door to a small office type room to the right of the entrance which houses some of the homebrew supplies that Mother Earth sells. A pretty nice selection and pretty much all of your essentials.

The main area of the place has your homebrew grains on either side of you (walk-in cooler to the right, wall to the left) with the large L-shaped bar area just past the walk in cooler.

They had 8 beers on tap, 6 of which were Mother Earth beers and a beer each from Deschutes and Green Flash. We opted to try the Mother Earth beers as that was the point of the trip.

The service was quick and friendly and the staff was happy to answer any and all questions. Always a great thing when you go to any beer establishment.

The prices were fairly reasonable, $2 "samples" (they had to be 6-8 oz) of regular beers, and $3 for "premium" beers. The pints and growlers were also pretty fairly priced.

The beers themselves were okay, but these guys haven't been open all that long so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt here. It sounds like they're constantly tweaking and updating their recipes, so hopefully good things are to come.

08-29-2010 21:10:48 | More by womencantsail

UCLABrewN84

California

3.96/5  rDev +2.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

I visited Mother Earth this past weekend since my wife and I were in the area. Like other breweries we visited this one was located in a warehouse where they do the actual brewing. There is a decent sized bar area and a patio for people to hang around. Service was pretty good while we were there. They had 8 of their beers on tap when we went. Apparently they usually have around 12 or so plus some special one offs from time to time. Quality was very good with all the beer I sampled. Prices were reasonable for pints and tasters. Overall, this is a pretty cool smaller brewery and a good stop if you are in the area.

03-05-2012 17:09:33 | More by UCLABrewN84

Retsinis

California

3.84/5  rDev -1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Just visited Mother Earth Brew Co. this past Saturday 04/2/2011. They were not on the agenda for the trip (Iron Fist & Hess were however) but the mother of the owner of Iron Fist recomended them upon our way out from there, and being that it was only 3 blocks away, we headed down there.

It's in the middle of the row in an industrial park. Being Saturday, it the parking lot was not that crowded, though the Brewery itself was. Looks as though they are also a Home Brew shop, as they had supplies, malts, yeast etc for sale. They might have actual equipment for sale as well, but I didnt dive too deep into that area.

The tasting bar itself is next to their cold box, and the beers for tasting are listed on a large board behind the tasting area. It also lists the price of the tasters, the IBU's, & ABV of each beer as well.

The service was quick, accurate, patient, and attentive, all great traits, and admirable considering there were a few rather rowdy customers, and probably about 25 people in there tasting.

The beers were above average as a whole, but nothing that really blew me away personally. Though I must say their beers mostly seemed brewed to style, meaning while all basically spot on for the style, I didn't get a stamp, or a "this is a mother earth beer" on anything I had. Tasted the Kolch, Blonde, Baltic Porter, and lastly the Black IPA.

They said they are about a month or so from their 1 year anniversary, so it's a young brewery. It was obviously popular this day, so seems they may be around for a while, time will tell.

04-04-2011 22:25:45 | More by Retsinis