Iron Fist Brewing Company

ostey

California

4.87/5  rDev +17.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.75 | selection: 5 | $$

This is my favorite place in San Diego North County, and that is saying something because there are a ton of micro-breweries here. The beer is fantastic, the people are always friendly, and I have never been disappointed.

They have the best selection of Belgian style brews along with some other standard craft brews like their stout and blonde, but the best are the Belgians. Saisons, double IPAs, golden ales, dubbles, tripples, farmhouse. The only thing missing is a kriek or sour.

02-27-2013 22:20:23 | More by ostey

ALBuff

Hawaii

3.83/5  rDev -7.9%
vibe: 3.25 | quality: 3.75 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Sizeable warehouse space with plenty of room for social gatherings, or to quietly enjoy a decent beer. Not a great layout, nor particularly warming, but the friendly and likable staff more than makes up for impersonal setting. Vibrant Friday night scene, and surprisingly crowded during the Sunday game as well.

01-28-2013 06:54:43 | More by ALBuff

captaincoffee

California

4.3/5  rDev +3.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

I'll start off by saying that after 3 days of visiting SoCal microbrews recently, Iron Fist has suddenly jumped into my top 5 brewery list. All-round amazing stuff from what I assume is the youngest commercial brewer in the country.

Poured concrete floor, warehouse-style environment. This is definately a brewery and not a bar, club, or restaurant. In fact, the only food is from a different food truck that parks out in the lot each day.

The good part of that is it means they are concentrating on the beer and not the other crap. I loved the beer here and wholeheartedly encourage folks to go. I would spend a lot of time if I lived in San Diego.

01-11-2013 13:44:38 | More by captaincoffee

John_Deas

4.3/5  rDev +3.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Iron Fist is a good place to get a fresh draft in the Vista-Carlsbad area of North County San Diego. On tap is a decent selection of house beers. Average prices of about $5/pint as of December 2012. Beer is served in a plain glass at about 55 degrees (my guess).

Typical micro brewery ambiance. Standing room with stools and round tables. About 5 well-behaved patrons were there on Christmas Eve (weekday afternoon).

Limited parking is available in the industrial park's lot. It's easy to get there off Sycamore from either 78 of Palomar Airport Road and to find with GPS.

12-27-2012 21:06:18 | More by John_Deas

Luke42179

California

4.75/5  rDev +14.2%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5 | $

I love this place. I've always had a great experience. They actually have some seating which is rare for these roll up door warehouse breweries. Family run, which always is better. And have and interesting story to boot. Basically a young kid is the brewer (early 20's I think) and he eschews some traditional approaches to brewing with excellent results IMHO. Family decided to not only back him but work there too!. quality is very good and they have a good selection of strong traditional flavors. Good taster deal at $5 for 4 decent little pours of high test if you want. Often have a gourmet food truck of some kind outside. Highly recommended.

07-10-2012 02:53:24 | More by Luke42179

UCLABrewN84

California

4.03/5  rDev -3.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

My wife and I visited Iron Fist since we were doing a brewery crawl of sorts in the area. Again, this is another tasting room in a warehouse where they do the brewing. There is a small bar area where you can order and sit plus a bunch of barrel tables and chairs around the space as well. They had big sheets of paper on the wall for people to graffiti if you so wish. Service was pretty good but it was pretty busy due to a bus tour of local breweries. They had 8 or so offerings on tap and the quality of all the beers I tried was very good. They offer bottles for sale to go as well. Overall, this is a pretty cool place to check out if you are in search for some good beer in the area.

03-05-2012 17:14:57 | More by UCLABrewN84

bradybeer

California

4.2/5  rDev +1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Visited yesterday with my wife and brother and sister in-law. Located in Vista almost on the border of Carlsbad.

Walking in there is a small bar to the left and the brewing operation to the right.

Atmosphere was very good. We arrived at a little after 3pm when they opened and by the time we left at 4pm they were packed.

IF brews mostly Belgian Style beers (3 on tap when we were there), but they had a a crazy good Saison, Imperial Stout, Koosch, and double IPA on when we were there.

Service was very good considering how many folks were there.

1 sampler, 5 large pours, a bottle of Saison to go, and a pint glass for less than $40.

Next time we are down to visit family we will stop by.

04-09-2011 12:10:49 | More by bradybeer

Retsinis

California

4.2/5  rDev +1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

First stop of a small San Diego trip with my wife. Tasting room opened at Noon, and we were the first customers (we got there early, killed 30 mintutes, and came back at noon sharp hehe)

The place is at the top of a small hill, in a corner of fairly new industrial park. The brewery itself has huge vaulted ceilings, probably 50 to 100 feet high would be my best guess, given the space a very large feel to it.

The tasting area was setup well, with a several glossy menus's printed out with what was on tap. Along with several beer coasters that also had a number of the beers on them as well. There were a few pictures of their contruction, articles, and family framed on the walls of the tasting area. There are also a few bar chairs setup around barrels, and some large customer created art work along a back wall. The place was also very clean. I've been to a few of breweries now with this type of setup, and I like the atmosphere & quality of the space a lot.

The tasters were $5 for 4 tasters. We did two, allowing us try all of the beers they were serving that day (There were 7 in all) They also had some pretzels to go with the tasters, which was nice. Got to meet the Mother of the owner who was very nice and informative. Looks like they will be bottling a "Dark Day's" barrel Aged Imperial stout in two months or less, as well a Barrel Aged sour, "The Resistance"

The beers were all decent to above average, some better then others (velvet glove for example). I liked the Gaunlet IPA, as well as the Velvet Glove RIS stout, my wife really liked the Golden Tripel, but they were sold out of bottles of that. Wanted to get a growler, but those were also out of stock. I did get to see them, as a customer walked in with two to fill. They are the really nice growlers, with a pewter handle, and ceramic flip top. Looked like both handles were different too. A bit pricey though, $30 a growler empty, but only $5 for your first fill at least helps with the intial sting.

All in all, this was a great first stop though, I recomend it if your in the area.

04-04-2011 22:55:30 | More by Retsinis

Lakes

Idaho

4.23/5  rDev +1.7%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

Went there with friends while in SD on business.

Typical So Cal micro atmosphere. Light industrial space with the roll up door open as the entrance. Brewhouse in the back of the space and tasting up front.

The beers, which I'm not going to rate, were very good for the style. These guys brew some very spicy, very Belgian-y beers. If you are looking for Saisons or Witbiers, this is your destination.

I hope they make it because they are doing a good job and seem to be genuinely nice folks. The beers are bold and may be a bit ahead of the local crowd.

02-23-2011 19:10:18 | More by Lakes

djaeon

California

4.14/5  rDev -0.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$

I went there today with my wife. After trying a couple of their bottled beers last weekend, we both felt it would be worth the drive up to visit the brewery.

It's in the corner of an industrial complex, and they have a big loading dock style roll-up door which allows a view of the tasting room and brewery behind when open.

We walked in and were pleasantly greeted by the head brewer's mother (I think she said she was his mother), who was very nice and told us about their beers and operation while we enjoyed a couple flights.

They had all of their current beers on tap (7), and all are very good. It was $5 for a flight of 4 tasters. I was hoping to get a growler, but they sold out and the current weather delayed their latest shipment. That's okay though. It'll give me a good reason to go back.

02-20-2011 01:31:38 | More by djaeon