Hillcrest Brewing Company opened on University Avenue billed as the world's first out and proud LGBT brewery. It pairs handcrafted beer with stone-oven pizza in the centre of Hillcrest, San Diego's longtime LGBTQ neighbourhood.
The address is 1458 University Avenue, on the Hillcrest stretch that has anchored San Diego's LGBTQ community for decades. The brewery leans into that identity rather than treating it as a footnote: it markets itself as the first openly LGBT brewery, and the room sits at the heart of the neighbourhood it serves.
What to order is a house pour and a stone-oven pizza. The brewery makes its own handcrafted beer and runs pizzas to match, with to-go orders available seven days a week, so a flight and a pie is the standard order whether for a sit-down or a pickup.
The brewery doubles as a bar and pizzeria rather than a pure tasting room. That mix keeps the place useful across a day, from a casual lunch to a late pint, and the kitchen output means the beer is not the only reason to stay for a second round.
The founding story is the editorial fact that sets the place apart. Opening as the world's first out and proud LGBT brewery gave Hillcrest Brewing a clear identity in a city packed with breweries, and that position in the heart of the neighbourhood is why it reads as a community room as much as a beer hall.
The best time to go is a weekend, when the brewery opens late morning and the patio-and-pizza rhythm carries through the afternoon. Weekdays start in the early afternoon, which suits a relaxed pint after work without the weekend crowd.
The crowd is a Hillcrest mix of neighbourhood regulars, beer drinkers and visitors, drawn by the founding story as much as the list. Reviews return to the beer, the stone-oven pizza and the welcome, and the brewery's role in its community gives it a loyalty most taprooms have to earn the hard way.
The appeal is a neighbourhood brewery with a clear identity, a working kitchen and a place at the centre of Hillcrest. For more of the city, see the best bars in San Diego and the roundup of craft beer bars in San Diego, or browse the wider craft beer pillar.
