I was honored to speak my experience trying to open a brewpub at the Craft Brewers Conference in sunny San Diego last week. A couple highlights from the trip:
The welcome reception at Stone Brewing's production plant and restaurant, Stone World Bistro & Gardens was a great way to kick things off. Wow. Beautiful Rolec brewhouse, great hoppy beer and an amazing landscaped grounds. They gave the 2000 or so attendees the full run of the place, including old friend Carla from Ipswich Ales seen here hanging out on the brewhouse deck. 
The brewhouse was clean and well organized. My favorite piece of equipment was this custom made keg ring holder:
San Diego seems to have a pretty cohesive brewery scene and they sure are proud of their Imperial (or double) IPA's. Every night the California Small Brewers Association hosted a late night session supplied by a custom-made 100 tap cooler of local beers. Too many good beers to mention (or remember).
I left right as the World Beer Cup awards were being announced. It was good to see that Goose's Matilda got recognized. And somehow former Goose brewer and defending champion mid-size brewer Matt Bryndilson of Firestone Walker won four medals but lost his title to Germany's Privatbrauerei Hoepfner.
