Dunbar Brewing

Had a great time at Dunbar! Excellent beers poured by the owner/brewer in an unpretentious environment. They also had a nice fridge in the back with some hard to find and interesting craft beers. Highly recommend this place!

I LOVE this place. The atmosphere and the beer complete the whole package. They don't blast music in there, so you can actually hang out and chat with people without loosing your voice the next day. Chris, the owner, is usually around and when he's not making beer, he's behind the bar serving his customers and making everyone feel comfortable.

Of course, the main gem in this place is the beer. My family loves this place so much, we asked Chris to provide the beer for our wedding and he did so, personally! So many of our guests complimented Chris and said his porter was the best they'd ever had. Personally, I'm a huge fan of Dunbar's Scottish Heavy and Oatmeal Stout. Dunbar Brewing is a place you MUST experience.

Although I've only been the North County less than a handfull of times, I have a bit of a drinking problem so I've been to several dozen bars and brewery in the area. My friends from SLO had just moved to Santa Margarita and a week before I arrived began telling me about this amazing place called Dunbar. Sure, there is no real competition, but that doesn't mean my friends would give positive reviews to a dump.

Upon arrival I felt both uncomfortable and accepted. Being in a small town in the middle of California feels weird to me, like I didn't know what to expect- rednecks or beach douches. The crowd at the bar seemed to all be of retirement age and all turned to take a gander at the newcomer when I walked in. Luckily my friends had become regulars in their short time in town (they have drinking problems too) so we weren't hung by our boxers in the back yard.

After almost enjoying one of their beers (I can't remember if was a Pale or an IPA) my friend dared me to get the $19 bomber of Vodoo beer (banana, chocolate, and some other weird shit). When I brought the giant pink bottle to the bar, everything stopped and laughter erupted. This made me a bit uncomfortable, but within a few minutes we were joking around and I discovered that others had wanted to try the beer but didn't want to spend the money. I ended up sharing the bomber (which was good at first, but was a bit much after three sips) and making friends with some of the locals.

For the rest of the night (and my subsequent two visits) I drank nothing but Stone's Enjoy By because it's such a fantastic beer. The vibe was pretty awesome as we sat outside, joked around, and enjoyed the day.

I don't know who the owner is, but there were two dudes who were always there. The bearded due in the fatigues who seemed to do most of the non bartending work seemed to be nice enough, although he wasn't very talkative. I wouldn't call the bartender a dick, but I certainly wouldn't say he was a nice dude. He treated us with indifference which is fine, but the thing that really bothered me was when my friend asked for a souvenir Enjoy By glass. My friend spends upwards of $100 a week at the joint and the bartender had the balls to charge him $5 for the glass. He didn't complain, but we definitely skimped on the tipping for the next few beers.

All in all, the place was pretty damn awesome. Next time I'm there, I'll be sitting on the porch enjoying a brew or 17.