If you’re heading to San Diego, California, you’re probably planning to hit the beach, check out the harbor, and enjoy the fantastic weather San Diego has year round. All that fun will make you hungry at some point, directing you to some of some of San Diego’s wide variety of eating and drinking establishments. When that happens, Tornado should be near the top of your list.

Photo Courtesy of Brian B

I walked into to Toronado’s on a great afternoon with my sister, eager to try the place I had heard so much about. We planned to have dinner soon, so this was a good stop for a couple of beers before dinner. Toronado is located in what is known as a the North Park area of San Diego, an area that already has a its share of bars and restaurants featuring craft beers. Despite that, Toronado stood out for me immediately. The gastropub meets diner feel to the decor almost made me forget why I was there and miss the enormous beer menu overhead and coolers to my right.

Wow, what a collection. The focus of the beer selection seems to be with a California focus, with many beers from Northern and Southern California, such as Port Brewing, Stone Brewing and Alesmith. I also saw many beers from around the United States and abroad, with the likes of Brew Dog in Scotland and Avery in Colorado. Although I did not grab any food while there I did notice they have a nice food menu as well, featuring pub favorites.

While I sat up at the bar sipping on a 2009 Cable Car from Lost Abbey in San Diego, a great example of what is known as an American Wild Ale, an style where the beer is often exposed to wild yeast imparting sour and tart notes. Ironic, considering that Lost Abbey named this beer after the original Toronado in San Francisco, as a tribute to the more than 20 years they have influenced the beer world. This is definitely a place for the locals as well as visitors. We struck up conversation with several folks that walked in.

Cheers!

I had a chance to talk with bar manager Brandy Brown for a few minutes. Brandy explained that they had only been in San Diego a few years. Owner Ian Black founded Toronado SD back in may of 2008, after having managed the original in San Francisco for over 10 year. She told me that all that beer I had been looking at amounted to ‘50 Drafts on a short draw system. 3 cask pumps and an estimate of about 300 bottles on the bottle list’ with taps rotated regularly, so there will always be something for everyone.

Whether you are a local looking for a neighborhood place where you can enjoy great craft beer, or a visitor thirsty after a day of site seeing around San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter or historic Balboa Park with all its museums, this is a must stop and is centrally located near many of San Diego’s downtown hotels such as the Historic Horton Grand Hotel.