Blind Lady Ale House

San Diego was recently named the Best Beer Town in America by the Men's Journal, and one of the places that helped us to acquire such a noble title is Blind Lady Ale House in Normal Heights. We had first attempted to drop by for a pint and a bite a few months ago, and unhappily were never served or helped. You know that feeling when you walk into a new place for the first time and you can tell it's not quite the standard way of doing things, but you can't quite put your finger on how it works? That's BLAH. It's a small joint on Adams Ave., in between 34th and 35th Streets with open shared seating (not unlike Pizza Port Solana Beach), and the "waitstaff" is more of a one to two person bussing and food running operation. To order, there's a cashier line for food, and a small bar to take your drink orders. The beers of the day are written in chalk above the plain taps (no fancy tap pulls here!) and it seems to be a consistently rotating and well thought out selection. Read here about their "Honest Pint" Certification!

Our second attempt proved more fruitful- after spotting their weekly ad in CityBeat, I noticed that they were kicking off their Saturday with a cask of Stone Vanilla Bean Smoked Porter. Generally, porters aren't my bag, but this sounded like something I couldn't pass up. Our initial plan was to head to Hamilton's Tavern for their Green Flash night, with 19 Green Flash beers on tap, free BBQ, and 3 hours of David Bowie in honor of his birthday weekend, but by the looks of the line wrapping around the corner half of San Diego got that memo too! Not discouraged, we decided that this was a sign to spend our evening at Blind Lady, which proved to be a wise plan. Families, foodies, and beer-o's alike were swarming the place, but even with 7 of us in tow we managed to finagle a spot after a few minute's wait. Now that we had our bearings, the separate food-and-drink ordering lines became less daunting, and the food selection promised to be top notch.

I'm still getting used to the idea that San Diego is filled with people who love beer as much as me... most of them more so! It's refreshing to know that the bartender at any given "beer" bar is going to know just what the hell they're talking about. He enthusiastically recommended the Stone brew, describing it as a beer milkshake. After an endorsement like that, how could I resist? The pour was perfection; the head took minutes to fall and the smell reached my nostrils even with his back turned to the pour. Generally, vanilla makes itself known much more by smell than taste, which remained true for this brew as well. Nonetheless, it was a surprisingly pleasant porter that went down more like a stout with a quick sweet bite during the aftertaste. It took a while to down the pint (this is definitely a "sipping" beer) but by the time I'd reached the bottom of the well-poured glass I was a little saddened by the lack of beer that I held in my hand.

Since we were nibbling as well, a second porter wasn't in the cards for me, so it was a Delirium Tremens next, which served as a great pairing to the clam appetizer and prosciutto pizza we had ordered. The clams were good, the broth was hot, buttery, and the sausage was a light and tasty side afterthought, but nothing spectacular. The pizza was fantastic- the crust, prosciutto, and all ingredients met in a sweet harmony of bliss that was well worth the $13 it cost. Others in our group also got the vegan butternut squash pizza with mushrooms and lemon zest, which tasted a little too clean and not enough like pizza to tantalize my tastebuds. The margherita pizza looked and smelled great, but unfortunately didn't make it into my mouth. Just something to look forward to next time- it's a definite recommendation for casual dining that's a step above the norm!