Karl Strauss Brewing Company this week was named Best Craft Brewery and Best Micro Brew Pub in The San Diego Union-Tribune’s San Diego’s Best U-T Readers Poll 2025. Karl Strauss also was voted as having the Best Happy Hour by Union-Tribune readers. The results were released in the Sunday, July 27 print edition of the newspaper (PDF).
The 29th annual San Diego’s Best U-T Readers Poll is “the longest-running and most respected readers poll in the region,” according to the newspaper. The San Diego Union-Tribune says it delivers “premium content to over 2.1 million readers every week,” including a daily print circulation of 92,000 and a Sunday print circulation of 131,000.
Karl Strauss is considered a mid-size brewery by The Brewers Association, a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit trade association representing America’s more than 9,500 breweries. Karl Strauss Brewmaster Paul Segura won San Diego Beer News’ Vanguard Brewer Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024. The brewery’s core beers include Red Trolley Ale, Follow the Sun Lager, Tower X West Coast IPA, Boat Shoes Hazy IPA, and Aurora Hoppyalis IPA.
Karl Strauss has four brewpubs in San Diego County – 4S Ranch, Carlsbad, Downtown, and Sorrento Mesa – and the kitchen team is led by Executive Chef Corey Rapp. The brewpubs launched a seven-days-a-week happy hour in March, featuring $6 Karl Strauss draft beers from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. All appetizers during happy hour are $10 as well.
“To the people of San Diego: thank you for building this with us,” said Co-Founder and President Matt Rattner. “Your belief, your loyalty, and your love for great independent craft beer are why we keep pouring.”
“Being first isn’t a memory, it’s a mindset,” Rattner added. “Chris Cramer and I started the party in 1989, and we’re still raising a glass. For 36 years, we’ve brewed high-quality, unapologetically approachable beer with one goal: make people happy, one beer at a time. If that sounds like your kind of good time, grab a beer and raise a toast to what’s next, and the guts it takes to go for it—just like Chris Cramer and I did back in 1989.”
The downtown brewpub is Karl Strauss’ original brewery location, which opened in 1989 as San Diego’s first post-Prohibition craft brewery. The 4,900-square-foot space at 1157 Columbia Street underwent renovations in early 2025, and the new features include a neon sign that reads “We Launched this party”, a refurbished bar with new quartz bar top, well-lit custom shelving made of metal and wood in the bar backdrop, a photo wall with historical photos, and an awards wall displaying medals from national and international beer competitions.
Since 2009, Karl Strauss has won more than 120 medals for its beer, and it was named Mid-Size Brewing Company of the Year at the 2016 Great American Beer Festival, which is often referred to as The Oscars of the craft beer industry.
Karl Strauss’ downtown brewpub also was voted as one of four runner-up “Favorites” in the Best Downtown/Gaslamp Bar category of San Diego’s Best U-T Readers Poll 2025. Yelp lists 240 bars when searching “Bars – Downtown, San Diego, CA 92101”.
Karl Strauss has five brewpubs outside of San Diego in Anaheim, Corona Dos Lagos, Costa Mesa, Downtown Los Angeles, and Temecula. Karl Strauss beer is available in cans and bottles at commercial locations throughout California, Arizona, and Nevada (Beer Finder).
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