The Aero Club Bar

Barbara is one of the best. Hooked me up with two whiskeys after I told her what I usually drink. They were excellent. Bar is what a bar should be, a bit dark and comfy, not obtrusive.

My. Favorite. Bar.
Insane selection of whiskey (amongst other spirits)
Great ambiance
Price is right
Juke box
Outdoor back seating
Best bartenders
Mic drop.

Maria is the Queen B! Nothing turns me on more than a woman who knows about her whisky.
Great selection of bourbons, Scotches, Japanese whisky and more. You could do some serious damage in there even with the very fair prices! Bottoms up and enjoy!

If you’re looking for a good bar that’s no bullsh** and good drinks this is the place for you. Not sure why I haven’t written a review of aero club, first off this place is amazing! The bartenders are so nice, and they really know their products well. The security guard is so welcoming.

Quintessential dive bar, nothing more nothing less. There selection of whiskeys makes it a great place to try something new.

This place is a whiskey lovers Mecca. The menu is 50 something pages or some crazy number like that. The staff are always willing to try to find the perfect drink that you’re looking for, they will listen to what you like and don’t like and give you recommendations. My absolute favorite whiskey bar in San Diego. I would go here over Seven Grand every time.

I used to live in San Diego for 7 years and never knew about this place. HOW?!!
In short, it is a perfect whiskey bar. Over 1000 whiskey selection and some awesome cocktails at an unbelievably cheap price. The bartenders are very nice and treat everyone like close friends. They make drinks with love and take their craft seriously. They are always ready to whip up a new drink and create constant variety.
Overall, The Aero Club is back-​to-​basics bar that combines everything we love about the craft into a fun little building. Cannot say enough good things about this place
Keep up the good work!

Great selection of whiskey! Parking can be tough. India is one way so you might have to circle a few times to find something.

I can’t believe I haven’t written about Aero Club yet. This bar has a phenomenal collection of whiskey, rye, and other hard alcohols that I am not familiar with. Oftentimes, you are presented with a book, actually, make that a tome, of hard alcoholic selections that are available for you to taste and drink.
This time, since I was already 3 drinks in, Issac and I decided to split a flight of whiskey and rye. I was talking to one of the bartenders, Eric, who was super friendly and provided a lot of great information on whiskey. I’m currently in the SDSU Wine Program, so I talked a little about that with him and about how much variety there is in not only wine, but whiskey! Anyway, I’ll continue. Since I have so little experience with whiskey, Eric was nice enough to point out some suggestions and even modified our flight with a whiskey that he thought I would enjoy more, which I did!
There are small snacks for sale — all I remember were fritos on the list. They don’t do popcorn on the weekends anymore, which is actually nice because I remember it was almost suffocating last time with the smell of popcorn. I also think they reorganized the seating because it seemed to sit more people than I remembered.
Overall, this is definitely a great bar to go to if you love whiskey. All of the bartenders we talked with definitely seemed to know what’s what with whiskey.

Perfect little dive bar. Friendly service with heavy pours at decent prices. Great selection of mixed drinks and whiskey. Eclectic music choices with classic predominance. Love this place! It’s one of my favorites!

I’m only giving the Aero Club four stars because they don’t have a parking lot (street parking on India never is easy) and also because they have no food. Of course that doesnt count the random guy who walks in the bar and sells tamales. Otherwise, being the odd dive bar that it is they have a ton of whisky and a good selection of draft beer. So if you love whisky or are trying to at least come here. They have a bible of their whiskey selection available which has a table of contents. Pretty intense. The bartenders are also very knowledgeable so ask for their help. They also have huge booths for large groups, and a pool table. Plus for being the oldest SD bar, they don’t have that funky old dive bar smell. Plus!

Really great place that knows there niche. They have a vast whisky menu, selection of liquor and beer which means they have something for everyone. The music and tv stations were fitting with the atmosphere.
Really great place to hang out with friends, I came in with three other people and we sat at one of the black, rounded booths. We had a really nice time and the service was great.

Very fun spot. Small and gets crowded pretty early on weekends. Massive whiskey selection… Heard some guys claiming 1000+ bottles but I think previously mentioned estimates of 700ish look to be more accurate.
One star off because The website list is NOT accurate… And their selection of harder to find Bourbons was rather thin. Still a huge collection, but lacking in heavy hitters like Willett family estate, buffalo trace antique collection, parkers heritage, etc. Understandably some of those are hard to keep in stock.
Great detailed whiskey menu. Nice selection of taps. Friendly bartenders who move quickly and offer good suggestions to those who might be overwhelmed. Overall a great spot. Will be back.

We were there last night:
No question, they have the selection!
And the server of a year and a half who knows what to recommend!

OMG can’t believe this place, non-​pretentious and almost «dive bar,» has the most impressive whisky selection I’ve ever seen! Bartender was familiar with many whiskies, and the pricing was really inexpensive. A great find! No food, so come ready to drink.

Wow, heavenly whisky menu and fantastic prices. The bartender was extremely helpful. I only wish I could have tried more. I mean seriously good selection!
Nearly a 90 page whisky menu. The website says over 800 whiskies. A low key bar, not pretentious. Looks a little sketchy from the outside, but don’t let that stop you. Venture through the front door into a veritable Wonderland of whisky.

If bottles were soldiers then Aero Club has a larger army than Iran. Where do I enlist?

Awesome little spot near the airport. Eric, the bar tender, was accommodating and friendly. Also SUPER reasonably priced. Great place

Wow. This is a whiskey lover’s paradise. The dark atmosphere with the bright afternoon sun shining in creating all the shadows, the neat aviation theme on the walls and the outrageous selection of whiskey, scotch and bourbon make this a welcome respite off I-​5 for anyone who likes a drink (they have plenty of beer and other drinks too). To put it in perspective, you sit down and the friendly bartender, Barbara, presents you an Encyclopedia — Britannica sized book of their whiskey selections, each with a 1 – 2 line description organized by category and alphabetized. The prices range from reasonable to ultra high end (think $ 5.50 to 100+ for about 2.5 fingers worth in a high ball glass).
If you like whiskey in any form, you owe it to yourself to come here.

Aero Club has the third largest selection of whiskey in the country. Please don’t be one of those guys ordering one of those wimpy cocktails and please don’t waste a good Scotch or Bourbon and ask them to make it into an old fashioned or whiskey sour.
This place is a bit divey so you won’t have the same ambiance as Whiskey House or Seven Grand but a pour of any of their top shelf whiskeys are quite cheap, you might end up having a few more than you had originally planned. I catch myself here when the late night whiskey cravings kick in.
Not too familiar with whiskeys? Ask one of the bartenders and they’ll give you their knowledge and find something that’ll fit your palate!
Parking is a bit of a problem here and it is also a one-​way street so you might have to make a bit of a trek on a busy night.

Its dark, its dank, it has a fudge ton of whiskey.
I actually love this place around Christmas. Something about seeing all the x-​mas lights blinking off of the whiskey bottles just puts my heart at ease.
I’m really a light weight drinker so I typically get draft beer here which they also have a pretty good selection of at decent prices (~$ 5).

I would give this place more than 5 stars if I could!
In hopes of finding a cool bar to rent out for my boyfriends 30^th surprise birthday party, I called Bill (the owner) of this bar. I cannot speak enough about how accommodating him and his staff were. The bar typically opens at 2pm but I wanted to have it all to ourselves for the beginning of the party. Therefore, he had his staff come in 3 hours early (so that I could get there at 11 to show up) and then opened the door to all of our friends for 12pm. We had close to 60 people come in. Not only that, he allowed me to bring in a catering service to serve food, as well as decorate, and bring in a cake! The staff was so sweet and helpful. I highly recommend this bar, not only for its cool ambience, amazing whisky, but also incredible and accommodating staff! The bar it self is so awesome as it is, I couldn’t believe how lucky we were to be able to have the party here!

My bar tab was just over half a million dollars, and it was well worth it! First of all, kudos to Aero Club Bar for updating their website. Aero website now displays their staff (with photos) and assigned shift days/​hours. THANK you website, this allowed us to time our visit when Barbara was behind the bar! It’s really tough to put into words how a great, professional service person can elevate an experience. As a one person staff Barbara is miraculously able to personably engage with all customers at booths and seated at the bar. Every Aero customer comes away feeling they’ve hogged Barbara’s time and received special personalized service. Perhaps Barbara’s key strength is an extremely quick wit, or perhaps her in depth knowledge of Whiskeys, or ability to aid customers in deciding upon an order… oh heck with it, the list is endless! So oh yeah, our bar tab. My friend Al and I had consumed four glasses (two each) of extreme high quality Whiskey while chatting with Barbara at the bar. Al asked for the check and received a tab for $ 29.50. Al looked surprised and asked Barbara for confirmation as he expected a higher tab for such good drinks. Barbara looked at the tab and then said, «Maybe I forgot something. Let me check the computer». She stepped to the bar computer, pressed some keys and printed a revised bar tab. Barbara handed Al a new bar tab for $ 500,029.50, smiled and said, «Your option on which tab to pay!». I couldn’t argue with the higher bar tab as Aero Club Bar and Barbara deliver priceless memories!

I arrived here after visiting another bar earlier in the night. By the time I did so I was ready to make this stop my nightcaps (yeah, I made that plural). The first thing I noticed was how well lit the interior was from the strings of Christmas lights that littered the ceiling. The building is tall and long, and in my current state of inebriation the bright flashing lights and the shape of the building caused a bit of vertigo. I felt a shift in my stance. The carefully crafted control I have over my mind began to waver as I stood, waiting for a beer to be ordered. I entertained myself with thoughts that this place is not The Doctor’s TARDIS, it’s smaller on the inside.
After washing up in the clean, yet very small bathroom, I returned to our booth and regained control. I eventually started to enjoy the lights. I selected some music on the old jukebox, reminiscing with the clicks of the hard-​pressed buttons. For over an hour we talked, laughed, and told stories. At one point I realized I had no idea who half the people were at our table. I shrugged and leaned in for a selfie with two girls. Later I would check to make sure that actually happened, and to my relief come to find out I had shared my experience with real people.
One of my best SD friends, whom I left behind after moving back east, handed me a menu the thickness of a book. It’s pages were alphabetically organized by name, listing what seemed like thousands of Whiskey choices. The careful and intricate descriptions explained what type of flavors one might experience. I gravitated to one with chocolate hints and told him to close a bet we had by buying me a drink. He obliged, then soon returned with sad news that they were out of that particular bottle. I accepted his choice of a subsititue, a legal «moonshine» that came poured in a glass that was sitting on another with ice. Respect! No unnecessarily watered-​down shots served here.
We enjoyed the comfortable support of the half-​moon booth for another chunk of time. Even though we had 1 stool in the isle of the bar the young crowd had no issues passing between our party and the bar. They had no issue ordering drinks from the friendly and helpful staff.
We soon finished up, hugged and kissed among ourselves, saying our goodbyes. Thanksgiving was soon upon us and a few days later this dream of a visit would come to an end.
Thank you Aero Club, until next we meet. Stay clean, well lit, accepting credit cards, with good beers on tap, until next time I stop in to order another whiskey off your extensive and immaculately organized list.

If you like Whiskey and you enjoy a good old hip dive bar, you won’t find a better one than Aero Club. It’s kind of located in a inconvenient location, so it mainly has a locals only feel to it. No TVs from what I remember, but they do have a music box and some pool tables. It’s a fairly small establishment, with tiny bathrooms and a small smoking area outside. All in all, this place clearly wants you to enforce some good old fashion verbal communication with your bar patrons and expand your whiskey knowledge. 1 piece of advise I do have though– Don’t leave your phone here on accident, you’ll never see it again. :(

This place is a hole in the wall type of dive bar. As you walk in, you will see that they have the typical dive bar décor but also they have Japanese lanterns as well as black and white television and a huge bar that looks like they contain every bottle of alcohol known to man. They pride in being a whiskey bar and they showed me their whiskey list which is literally a book! They can probably make any cocktail you could challenge them with. I saw that they had Absinthe and Japanese whiskeys like Hakashu, Yamazaki and Hibiki. I stayed within my comfort zone and had a couple fingers of Nikka Coffey Grain Whisky and Oban while Bry had a gin cocktail (Chad’s choice) and a Maker’s Mark manhattan. Parking is pretty bad as it is located on a one way street and in the middle of nowhere but if you are looking to catch a buzz and in the area, I’d recommend dropping by and just checking out the place. Esp if you are a whiskey laden drunk like myself.

Nestled up right next to the freeway. This is a nice little bar. I’ve driven by it many of times leaving the airport but I finally decided to stop by. Luckily the streets weren’t too packed so finding parking wasn’t that hard. When you walk in you can totally tell that it is a dive bar, but a very good one!
I came here because I was told they have a very good selection of whiskey. Upon walking in and seeing the massive wall of whiskey it brought a smile to my face. They had so many different types of whiskey and their list was so big its a little bit overwhelming because I didn’t know where to start. I talk to the bartender and told her what I normally drink and she recommended a whiskey from the Nikka distillery which was a very good selection! I also tried their whiskey Bloody Mary. Their Bloody Mary was nice and smokey and was finished with Genius on top. It seemed like an odd combo but was actually pretty
If you like whiskey and looking for a nice little bar to enjoy it the Aero club is a very good place to go.

Noticed this place on my way to a taco shop down the street and decided to try it after I was done. It is not a fancy place and some reviews listed it as a dive, but I thought it to be just fine and it seems to be a locals hangout. It says it is a whiskey bar on the front of the building and I had been wanting to try a Rye for a couple of different reasons. 1. it is not as common. 2. i kept hearing it on that Don McLain song… drinking whiskey and rye singing this will be the day that I die… fa la la la la.
I told the bartenders I had little to no experience w/​whiskeys and told them I wanted to try a rye and asked for a recommendation. They were all too glad to make a recommendation and educate me. They recommended a Kentucky straight «Woodford Reserve» and served it straight in the glass and on a 2^nd glass w/​ice. While it was a bit stronger than I was used to, it was smooth and had a very slight sweet taste. About the 3^rd time I sipped it and after adding an ice cube or two I was very surprised to notice the smell of maple syrup! I was like WOW! It was unexpected and great. I love real maple syrup.
Later I tried the smoked maple from another brand and didn’t like it as much. I went by myself, but ended up chatting w/​people at the bar. Overall I had a good experience and may try it again sometime when I am down in SD again.

Whiskey Lover’s Heaven. Their whiskey menu is nearly as long as teenage romance novel. It’s 84 pages of whiskey.
Not being a whiskey drinker myself (shock:horror!), that is a little lost on me… but this also makes me the most reliable (sober!) witness in our crowd to attest to the awesomeness of this bar.
If you like whiskey (all kinds of whiskey — American-​Canadian-​Bourbon-​Rye-​Irish-​Moonshine-​Scotch-​I even saw Quinoa Whiskey up there– you name it!) this is THE destination to come and explore new avenues of your vice. If you are not into whiskey yourself but have whiskey drinkers in your life, bringing them here is the equivalent of bringing your child to Disneyland. You will be the hero.
The menu is descriptive and helpful, the bartenders are knowledgeable, and there is just such a sheer volume of options that one is sure to find a new love each time they visit.
For us non-​whiskey drinkers there is a nice selection of craft beers on tap, a delicious craft cocktail menu and your standard array of «other» spirits. They also have local restaurants who come out and cook on the sidewalk on weekend nights serving their tasty wares. Add to that the deliciously divey atmosphere, friendly crowd, and the awesome juke-​box — and this destination is sure to provide a fun night for all.

A checklist breaking down The Aero Club Bar:
— Dive-​ish bar? Check.
— Hipster-​ish crowd? Check.
— Friendly service? Check.
— Plenty of seating? Check.
— Back patio? Check.
— Industry hang? Check
— Convenient/​accessible location? Check
— Decent beer selection? Check.
— Whiskey? CHECK!
Seriously, lots and lots of whiskey here and the display of bottles is beyond impressive. So quit driving by when cruising up the 5-​North and stop in for a healthy dose of whatever you desire at, The Aero Club.

This last visit was the first time I’ve taken the wife here and she was thrilled that we came here for a quick nightcap before heading home after a nice dinner…
We met Chad Berkey, and two other bartenders there (John & Jeff). It was a Friday night but not a too CrAzY Friday night where we got to talk whiskey with the man himself, Chad, Aero Club Bar GM & author of «The North American Whiskey Guide» from Behind the Bar!!! First off, I’m a HUGE fan of Bourbons and particularly Japanese Whiskeys of late… Aero Bar is like whiskey heaven! Not stuffy and overdecorated trying to be the next hip Whiskey place in town. Chad and the guys were really really cool and this neighborhood spot had just about any whiskey/​bourbon you could imagine. Stop in and take a look at their list of offerings!
I saw some pretty good selections which I thought wouldn’t have been available by the pour and I’d only get to sample had I forked over enough to purchase a bottle. Something I’m very scared to do when I haven’t yet tasted whether I’d really really like it or not. Here at Aero, taste away!!! This final stop of our evening really was a quick touch-​and-​go nightcap stop where, despite the fact it was a pitstop bar stop, Chad, John, & Jeff didn’t treat us like we were just one drink patrons and really hammed it up w/​us making us feel even more welcomed back when we have a chance to really sit down and enjoy the whiskey offerings that this bar had to offer.
It’s not very far from downtown, Little Italy, Bankers Hill, etc… I can easily see this spot as being added as a regular, especially knowing that I’ll be able to sample many more selections which I never thought I’d have access to unless I bought 750ml of the stuff. Thanks Chad and staff for an awesome 1^st time visit! We’ll be back soon! Kudos to Aero Club Bar! You guys definitely know how to do a place right!!!

Now this is quite the spot, a dive bar yet a classier one with a fabulous display of alcohol all along the back wall. I was invited to a going away party here, I had driven by it one day and the outside doesn’t give what’s on the inside any justice!
The drinks displayed as you can see from the several pictures posted on other reviews are definitely something to look at and take a snap of. The cocktail menu has a range of drinks from which I enjoyed 2 mules; the Aero Mule which was of course with vodka and the Dark & Story which was with rum and both came with ginger beer and bitters.
This is a good spot to spend your entire evening at or if you feel like being fancier, start here then head further south to the street to one of the great restaurants for dinner!
Negative? The bathroom is VERY small.

Awesome little divey type bar with an incredible selection of booze. They literally hand you a liquor list that is about 20 pages long and totally off the hook. We had 108 Wild Turkey.
Very small and cozy. Awesome ceiling decorations. Bartenders are very helpful and knowledgeable. One pool table. Parking is a challenge for those without a parking fairy like me. Sorry. …I don’t loan her out.
I will be back again and again.