Rip Current Brewing

This tasting room is a year old with a long bar and two seating areas on opposite sides of the bar. Great selection of beer for all types of palates and they also have food. The staff is very friendly.
Their tasters are 5oz pours which cost from $ 2-​$ 2.75 and you get a discount if you get a flight of five tasters. All the beers I tasted were smooth with lots of flavor.

Flights are a fun way to try their beer offerings! The beer cheese fries were delicious as well. We would definitely return!

It’s always fun when I go to write a review to find out this one of the places I had bookmarked! Well, as much as I don’t like breweries with TV’s, North Park seems to have a shortage of sportsbars, and in this case we were able to come here and watch the AFC title game while enjoying some great brews.
I really like this space… it was well thought with a front and back and the bar in the middle. The front area was sunny and garage doors that open on a nice afternoon. We had a decent group so it was great to hang out there while keeping an eye on the game.
The beers really impressed me. I didn’t have huge expectations coming in but I was able to taste a few and try some of my friends’ and all of them were really good. In the end, I ended up liking the Milkstache but I was probably in the mood for that the most. I think I would have been okay with a number of other choices they had on draft.

Woah! So so so good! We go to breweries all over the country and this one is in the top three for their beers! We tried 10 beers and each of them was amazing!!! Unlike other breweries where there are always a few in a flight that you don’t care much for, ALL of the Rip Current beers were phenomenal.
I wish I could give it 10 stars. Hands down, the BEST beer in California.

Awesome place! Roll up windows! Extensive tap list! Plus Sublime Kitchen takes care of the food. Little gem in North Park. Highly recommended. 20+ taps. Stainless Growlers (1L and 2L) Growler Specials Monday-​Wednesday ($ 2 of the 2 Liter $ 1 off the 1 Liter)

This place had a great atmosphere. They have tvs playing football and food in the back. I only tried the beer but it was great and affordable.

This place is in the heart of North Park. Small but very comfortable. Very easy to get to if you live in the area but a bit difficult if you’re coming from out of town since there is no parking lot only street parking.
There bar is a decent size and there are several tables that allow you to enjoy a few beers and food with your friends.
The TVs are huge which makes this place a great spot to watch sports games. I visited during their first anniversary and were selling celebratory cups to take home for an extra $ 5.
The casual atmosphere had me relaxed and my friends had a great spot facing the street. In my opinion the best spot in the place.
Now to the beer:
They have a wide variety and a few limited beers that are seasonal. My favorite was the peanut butter… Served in a fancy chalice. The beers are reasonably priced and very tasty.
I have a few friends that live within walking distance so I’m sure I’d be back again.
Cheers!

An excellent brewery here in North Park.
Trivia on Tuesdays, they have that little restaurant right inside (Sprouts or something like that — that equally has great food), a friendly staff & great brews to boot. I’m not sure why I don’t find myself at this brewery more often.
They always have new things on draft to try — which is one of the many things I love about this place. The Blood Orange Wit may be a favorite tho. They have tasters ranging from $ 2/2.50 & then the full pints foorrrrrrrr… drawing a blank, but basically a fairly fare/​average price.
The windows open up to the street for some excellent people watching on the ever so lovely 30^th street.
It’s a great spot & location.

Great place! Excellent selection of craft beers.
Great food options too. The pizza and mac n cheese are outstanding. Customer service really good and everyone is friendly.

Lots of tasty beer on tap. Im glad I stopped in for a beer. The service was great.

Hubby and I were super impressed by the breadth of variety in beer styles brewed here. I am a total Belgian beer nerd and I was so pleasantly surprised to find multiple Belgian style ales here. There were two saisons, a tripel and a quad on tap when we were there. We ordered a flight because there were so many delicious sounding beers. The quad took me back to the streets of Brugge, Belgium because it rivaled the quality of the quad from De Halve Maan Brewery there. My hubby was in love with the double IPA. The bartender was very friendly and suggested where we should stop next on our San Diego beer quest. The have food you can order at a window in the back if you are hungry. Overall, this is a great place to meet friends for dinner and drinks, or to just enjoy some fantastic quality beer.

About a block up from Belching Beaver, Rip Current was the second stop on the North Park beer tour. We walked in in the afternoon hours of 1^st week of NFL and the place was busy with a mix of Chargers fans and typical San Diego beach-​bums, all enjoying some good Rip Current brews while watching the game on the big screen.
It’s not a secret that I’ve been a fan of Rip Current for a long time. Their path from small home brewing roots to a major San Diego player is something every aspiring home brewer like myself, (not so) secretly dreams of. As with Belching Beaver, Rip Current brews in North County and this North Park location serves as a showroom for their ever expanding liquid portfolio.
While the beer at Rip Current might not be absolutely the best in every single style they make (maybe because they make lots of it), I can certify that every brew here is quality that matches the style. Again, it might not be my favorite in San Diego but just looking at how many different styles they make, it’s a valid accomplishment to stay true to style. A major upside over their San Marcos location, which we visited last summer, is the addition of adjoining restaurant Sublime with full kitchen. Certainly a big plus over dependency on food trucks. Though we did not order anything from Sublime, judging from the crowd reactions and smell and visual appeal, this should be added under «to try» for the next visit.
I was already a fan of Rip Current brewing but with really patient and accommodating waiting staff on top of cool looks and the addition of full kitchen in same space, I am liking Rip Current even more. And the delicious beers surely help…

Rip Current is a great brewery — I play soccer at the ‘Water Tower’ and after our games we come here to celebrate the win (or suffer with an frosty cold one as consolation) ;)
I’ve gone through most of the beers now (I’m beginning to think I have a problem) and nothing disappoints here. Super cool staff that are attentive, friendly, and chat with all the patrons.
The food is what brings Rip Current up to the next level. Wether you grab a delicious piping hot cheesy pizza, or a loaded plate of crispy french fries covered in pulled rib meat… mmmmh Superb.
Plenty of seating, big open windows to people watch, large tables to fit all those pint glasses and an overall awesome atmosphere. Cheers to Rip Current!

North Park Beer Crawl!
While it’s been long-​established now that San Diego is a craft beer Mecca, a more recent development has been the emergence of North Park as a craft beer Mecca within the craft beer Mecca. On a recent weekend trip down to SD from NorCal, I made the rounds of North Park’s burgeoning craft beer presence.
Rip Current Brewing was the 2^nd stop on this epic North Park Beer Crawl for me & the homebrew partner. It was a whole 2 blocks walk from Belching Beaver, which was our 1^st stop. In a sound bit of symbiotic thinking, Rip Current shares their building/​space with Sublime restaurant. While I didn’t partake of any of Sublime’s menu items, what I saw coming out the kitchen looked appetizing. It seemed like a good arrangement for having food on premises.
Much like the nearby Beaver, Rip Current is a clean & nicely decorated space. Staying consistent with their name, décor is ocean/​seaside/​beach-​themed. Also much like the Beaver, this location is a tasting room for their North County brewery (San Marcos, in this case). They even replicated the wall of cans they have in the tasting room at their brewery. Staff was friendly & patient. With over 20 taps to choose from, it took a while to whittle down the choices. Below are my notes from Untappd:
* Short Board Apricot: 3.25÷5, funk & fruit not so much my thing
* Orange Honey Cream Ale: 3.25÷5, ok, refreshing on a hot day but light on orange, cream, & body
* Barrier Reef Nut Brown Ale: 3.5÷5, great flavor, lacks body
* White Caps: 4/​5, citrusy, fruity, some honey, good body but a little sweet
* Lupulin Lust: 4/​5, great hoppy aroma & flavor, good body but a little sweet
* Caught In A Rip: 4/​5, Well, it’s not Simtra or Younger, but it’s aiight
Similar to my tasting experience at their San Marcos brewery about a year ago, some of their beers were light on mouthfeel. Though less so this time. For the 6 tasters I had, by my personal scoring, it’s an average of 3.67 out of 5. That’s a solid average. With a restaurant in the house, good beers, & a comfortable space to enjoy those beers, I’m a fan of Rip Current’s North Park location. It’s a great addition to the beer neighborhood.

Beer and food served here! They even have sisig and lumpia, which adds to their island flavor/​vibe. I love me some IPAs– and this brewery has the perfect ones. My fave is the Impact Zone IPA. The Hazelnut Porter is also tasty. Their beers definitely pack a punch. I ordered the fries, which they serve in a cone, and it was a HUGE order of fries– good for sharing.
There’s plenty of seating here, at the front, bar or in the back by the kitchen. Or if you please, there definitely lots of standing area space.

My first impressions of walking in Rip Current was, «Cool! Great music! Crowded with people. Lots of beer on their menu!» I was ready to chill here for a while with some friends.
Then several things happened in quick succession. A horrible smell of what we though was urine started permeating the back where we found a table. We quickly moved to a spot near the front. We waited in line for a while to purchase tasters, but the staff took their time getting to us. And once we got the beers, we weren’t so jazzed about the brews. They all seemed one step off the mark. For a new brewery, I understand they might need some time to tweak tastes and flavors to perfection.
I look forward to going back after some time and updating me review.

Craft beer, it’s what brings us here.
Rip Current Brewing has now joined the ranks of the ever-​booming craft beer scene in the North Park area. Being no stranger to brewing, it’s about time they bring their beer swagger into the area. With their next closest brewery being in San Marcos, you’d be hard pressed to complain about bringing another great brewery closer to heart of San Diego.
With that said, Rip Current paired with Sublime Restaurant all in one location makes it a very solid bet for your craft beer and food needs. It’s comfortable, laid back and just makes for a good place to grab a couple quality beers and bites. The downside is that when our group showed up on a Sunday they were out of about 3 – 4 beers that weren’t their IPA options. I know this is SD and everybody loves hoppy beers but it’s frustrating when the other options such as Belgians and other non-​IPA offerings are sold out. It kind of just makes everyday an «IPA Day», except that I wasn’t feeling like having another IPA. I hope they learn from that and adjust their quantities accordingly.
With that said, they still had a couple beers that I wanted to try anyway, the Imperial Black Hefenweizen which tasted more like a porter with a hint of Hef taste lingering at the end. They also had their standard, Marine Layer Hefenweizen available too so it wasn’t a complete bust. Plus, had I have been feeling like drinking more, they still had some of their other flagships available like the Vanilla Storm Imperial Stout and of course, their multiple IPA offerings.
Either way, still another solid brewery in the ever growing craft beer scene in North Park. If they can somehow manage to keep all their beers on tap available, this place would easily be 5 star worthy.

I’m glad that you have more than six offerings and stoked that you have (or had… since sold out) a wee heavy oaked style and a variety of porters. I noticed every IPA imaginable, but I’ve moved away from Megahopolis a while ago. Maybe I’ll visit sometime. Thank you for not running out of everything else. It’s only mildly infuriating to see an extensive menu covered with ‘sold out’ signs.
Beachy murals and open spaces. Rip Current’s tasting room is the next stop on your North Park beer crawl, or another place to belly up and bro down. It’s far enough away from the others, so I don’t think they’re really encroaching. Correct me if I need to edit, but I think that makes 5 microbrew tasting rooms along the seventeen, give or take, city blocks of 30^th St in the 104:
— Belching Beaver
— Modern Times
— Poor House
— Fall Brewing Company
— Rip Current
Good location between ECB and Univ Ave. I’ve been a couple of times and have been fortunate to find a curbside parking spot within a block. And this stretch of sidewalk isn’t teeming with zombies compared to other hotspots just a few blocks away.
Service has been cordial during my few visits. I had ordered some tasters ($ 2.25 to $ 2.75) and learned that they knock off $ 2 if you order a flight of five. Pints will run you $ 5-​$ 6. If you get the munchies, there’s no need to leave or track down a food truck. Sublime North Park runs the kitchen at the back seating area. They’re an extension of Sublime Ale House in San Marcos and have tasty bar snacks.
From what I’ve tried so far, my fave lighter style is the SD Style Hefeweizen and my darker robust choice is Scotch Oaked Black Lagoon. There’s more beer for me to try.
Challenge accepted.

Beer Stop 107
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Rip Current will be the new «it» spot in North Park.
My fiancé and I came here last night after we heard about the soft opening. The hours in San Marcos are always tough so we were excited to hear that this location will be open approximately 6 days a week.
Even though you can find Rip Current beers elsewhere, they have a lot of great beer here that isn’t distributed anywhere else in the City. The hazlenut beer was the highlight of the night. Seriously — you must try that beer!
The bartenders were incredibly friendly and the prices were right where they should be ($ 6 /​pint, $ 2 /​$ 3 a taster). The kitchen isn’t open yet but will be affiliated with Sublime; however, the prices were a bit on the higher said so I wouldn’t necessarily eat here.
Great place.

Beer only review
Was heading to Ritual Kitchen, but my friends and i saw this and we were like, forget Ritual! They finally have a location open in San Diego proper! Located right in North Park. It’s right across from Thai Time, across the street on the same side is Ritual kitchen.
Street parking, and soon a bike rental right outside. There’s a section of bike racks and a kiosk that looks like a bike rental that the city is starting to roll out. remember, don’t drink and bike because you can still get a DUI!
They don’t have food served here. Maybe in the future because I noticed a kitchen door and a service window towards the back. But for now, there are many food options within walking distance as well.
—-EDIT — -
Later I asked: apparently today was their soft opening at 4pm, and project to have their kitchen ready in a few weeks! It’ll be manned by Sublime (
) — the tavern in Del Mar and the alehouse in San Marcos! Can’t wait~
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Setup: seats and tables in the front, more seats and tables at the back, and bar seats just everywhere. They have 2 TVs. The windows appear to open, which is especially helpful in the summer, but they have ac running too.
Really like the lupulin lust IPA and hazardous hazelnut!
They have a hop wine IIIIPA… Strong stuff!
Tasters are reasonably priced — $ 2-​$ 2.5 and pint sizes too — $ 5 – 6!