The Lost Abbey runs its downtown taproom, The Church, out of a converted early-1900s house of worship at 1313 J Street, and the building does most of the theatrical work before a single beer is poured.
Who would love it: drinkers who chase Belgian-style ales, barrel-aged sours, and the kind of beer list that rewards a slow afternoon. Who would skip it: anyone after a quick lager and a television, because the focus here is the brewery's own catalogue, not a wall of taps from elsewhere.
SanDiegoVille reported that The Lost Abbey opened the East Village tasting room inside a former church in early 2022, keeping the arched windows and high ceilings that give the room its name. Founder Tomme Arthur built the brewery's reputation on Belgian and sour styles long before this location, and the downtown pours lean into that history.
Order the Red Poppy Ale, the brewery's Flanders-style sour cherry beer, or Judgment Day, the dark Belgian quad that anchors the lineup. Devotion Ale is the lighter blonde for anyone easing in. Pours run roughly $8 to $12 depending on strength, and several barrel-aged releases rotate that you will not find at the San Marcos production house.
The crowd skews toward beer-literate locals and Petco Park spillover on game days, since the ballpark sits a short walk west. Late afternoons stay calm enough to read the chalkboard and ask questions; weekend evenings fill the pews. Yelp logs more than 70 reviews for the J Street room, with the converted-church setting the detail that comes up most.
The room keeps the bones of the church it replaced: a vaulted ceiling, tall arched windows, and a long communal layout that SanDiegoVille noted in its opening coverage. Wooden pews and high-top tables fill the nave, and the bar runs along one side, so the space reads more like a beer hall than a tucked-away taproom. It seats large groups easily, which is part of why pre-Padres crowds gather here.
Beyond the flagships, the rotating list pulls from The Lost Abbey's barrel program, the part of the brewery that built its national reputation. BeerAdvocate lists dozens of releases under the brand, and the J Street taproom is where the small-batch and sour pours surface first. Regulars flag the saison and the Brett-fermented releases as the reason to ask what is new on the board rather than ordering the obvious.
The taproom keeps a short food program, so plan a full meal elsewhere in East Village. Downtown parking runs tight on event nights, and the Park & Market trolley stop a few blocks away is the easier approach. The room stays calm and conversational in the early hours before the evening crowd settles in.
Compared with the brewery's other taprooms, the downtown room trades production-side credentials for setting and walkability. Anyone building a beer crawl through East Village and the Gaslamp can fold it in alongside the neighbourhood's other breweries, and its proximity to Petco Park makes it a reliable first or last stop on a Padres night.
What to order
- Red Poppy Ale (~$11) — Flanders-style sour cherry, the brewery signature
- Judgment Day (~$12) — dark Belgian quadrupel, high gravity
- Devotion Ale (~$8) — golden Belgian-style blonde, the easy entry
Who it's for
- Belgian and sour beer enthusiasts
- A pre-game pint before Petco Park
- Anyone who wants the architecture as much as the ale
Best time to go. Weekday afternoons for a quiet read of the list; arrive before first pitch on Padres home dates.
See where it sits among the craft beer in San Diego, browse more bars in San Diego, or compare it against the best craft beer bars worldwide.
Sources: The Lost Abbey official site (lostabbeybrewing.com); SanDiegoVille (2022 opening report); Yelp reviews (n=70+, 2026); BeerAdvocate listing.
