With Ocean Beach’s Oktoberfest still fresh in the community’s mind and with San Diego Beer Week fast approaching, we thought we’d take a look at the thriving beer culture in the county, particularly those breweries and pubs that make Ocean Beach and Point Loma the perfect place to down a cold one. • Pizza Port, 1956 Bacon St., (619) 224-4700, pizzaport.com
Born in Solana Beach in the late 1980s, Pizza Port wasn’t originally intended to be a brewpub. Owner Vince Marsaglia began dabbling with home brewing in the restaurant’s storage space, but it soon became more than just a hobby and Pizza Port introduced its first brews to the public in 1992. The brews quickly became local favorites, and by 2010, the restaurant boasted four locations, including one in Ocean Beach.
A few favorite brews: – Skidmark Brown: Marris Otter base malt and English hops
– Newbreak Pale Ale: The house pale ale, it’s brewed with a mix of American and English hops and grain.
– OB Chronic: An amber ale brewed year round with English malt and American hops. • Sessions Public, 4204 Voltaire St., (619) 756-7715, sessionspublic.com
Featuring a wide selection of innovative and unique pub fare — like duck-fat fries, pork-belly hush puppies, short-rib sliders and a chicken-bacon sandwich — for brunch, lunch and dinner, Sessions Public truly offers something you can’t find elsewhere. The restaurant really focuses on beer, though it has an impressive list of wine and spirits, as well. It features 20 beers on tap every day, a list of which is update on the website daily. Check out the frequent specials and happy hours, like the Sunday brunch bottomless mimosas or the beer Wednesdays, which 2-for-1 select draft beers all night. • Raglan Public House, 1851 Bacon St., (619) 794-2304, raglanpublichouse.com
Born out of a beer-drenched trip to New Zealand, Raglan Public House aims to bring unique burgers and pub food, along with plenty of ale, stateside. The menu is comprehensive, with a plethora of small plates (“munchies”) and salads. But where it really shines is its burger list, with everything from the Kiwilango (beef patty, sliced jalapenos, blue cheese, hot sauce and tortilla chips) and the pepper ’n’ pesto (beef or chicken, mozzarella, roasted peppers, tomato, pesto aioli and basil) to the lambalicious (lamb burger on French bread with a three-cheese spread, spinach and chipotle carmalized onions). All beef burgers are made of organic, grass-fed beef.
Raglan features a full bar, but its burgers are made to go with beer. For those looking for a little more than a straight pint, the menu offers beer cocktails, like the chocolate truffle with chocolate stout and raspberry lambic, or the shandy with a lager topped with ginger beer. • Kaiserhof Restaurant and Biergarten, 2253 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., (619) 224-0606, kaiserhofrestaurant.com
Every day is Oktoberfest at Kaiserhof, where customers can sip genuine German brews with authentic German food all year long. Started by longtime restaurateurs Horst and Paula Bolter, the restaurant is now run by its chef son, Peter. The menu features everything one would think of in German cuisine, from soft pretzels and bratwurst to schnitzel and spätzle. The extensive beer list offers both draft and bottle, with German brands like Bitburger, König and Spaten in a variety of sizes (including small and large pitchers), as well as several German wines and a full bar. • Slater’s 50/50, 2750 Dewey Road #193, (619) 398-2600, slaters5050.com
Founded in Anaheim Hills in 2009 — with its Liberty Station location following in 2011 — Slater’s 50/50 touts a unique take on the all-American burger with the 50/50 burger: half ground beef and half ground bacon. The menu offers a variety of appetizers and even a full macaroni-and-cheese section featuring innovative takes on the classic, like buffalo chicken or jalapeno bacon mac ’n’ cheese. It’s Slater’s signature burger menu, however, that puts the restaurant on the map. Each of its burgers, naturally, is perfect with a cold pint.
The burgers range from the classic to the outlandish, with offerings like the B’B’B’ bacon burger (bacon American cheese, sunny-side-up egg, thick-cut bacon and bacon island dressing on a bacon pretzel bun), the flamin’ hot (beer-battered jalapenos, fire-roasted green chilies, pepper jack cheese and chipotle mayo) and the peanut butter and jellousy burger (beef patty with thick-cut bacon, peanut butter and strawberry jelly). The beer list is always impressive, with more than 100 beers on tap, rotated daily and routinely updated on the website. All servers and bartenders are certified cicerone beer servers, with the knowledge to answer any questions on the extensive beer list. • Newport Pizza & Ale House, 5050 Newport Ave., (619) 224-4540, obpizzashop.com
Featuring 21 taps and at least 100 bottles, Newport Pizza & Ale House lives up to its name. With top-notch pizza (which has won several local awards), as well as calzones, breadsticks and cheese sticks, and a variety of salads, the pub is the perfect place for a slice and a pint. The beer list features a variety of brews, including locals like Coronado Brewing Co. and Green Flash Brewing Co., as well as those hailing from other parts of California like Santa Rosa’s Russian River Brewing Co. and Eureka’s Lost Coast Brewery and imports like Belgium’s Brouwerij Bavik. Bottles run the gamut of local microbreweries to imports from across the world.
Newport Pizza hosts events and specials, and offers a daily happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m. Cheers for beer
• Modern Times Beer and The Pearl Hotel are joining forces for a Bike 4 Beer event on Saturday, Nov 9.  The event is a 13-mile ride starting at The Pearl Hotel (1410 Rosecrans St. (619) 226-6100) at 11:30 a.m. and stopping at Modern Times Beer, San Diego Brew Project and Fathom Bistro Bait & Tackle. 
Your first beer is free with food truck stop at Modern Times Beer. “Bike 4 Beer” T-shirts also available. RSVP required at facebook.com/com-munitysd.