Bolt Brewery

My father owns this place and i am clint strombergs son

Your out door theme and gourmet-​frenchfry-​food truck helped me in my adventure. I applaud you on the simplicity you infuse here. I am eternally grateful.
One day our paths will cross. This moment will be reconciled as a beautiful memory…
:the sun is setting:
‘Brisk day it is’
–indeed
I must join the festive nature of the locals and partake with this flight. — says I (to myself)
Doppelback, Vanilla Porter, Hard Pressed Orange… Nitro please. Oh yes. One more… Your Nut Brown to conclude my confusion of craft brewed beers. Thank you Bolt.
On to the next. High Ho Silver and away we go.

We had a great experience here a couple of weeks ago. The beers were tasty, the bartender was informative and they had board games to play. Woohoo Connect 4!

Came here to try out the beers and see what it looks like inside.
Major plus: dog friendly
Major plus: they have games to play while drinking beer– never have I ever and cards against humanity.
Beer:
My favorite was citra-​it had a good taste and had a pine/​Rosemary smell to it
Orange ale– my second fav. The flavor is good!
Least favorite: lagers… Maybe not my thing
Music: good selection of good music and a good sound level, not too loud and not too quiet
Good ambience. I’ll come back.
Great addition to SD brew scene

I have to stand up while typing this because I’ve kicked myself so hard now for not knowing about and visiting Bolt earlier. This place is really cool and man do they make some fabulous, under-​the-​radar beer. Bolt consists of a brewing facility, a little walk-​up bar at which you order, and a very cute outdoor patio seating area. The patio reminds me a lot of The Station in South Park. I think it’s the picnic tables and hanging lights. On to the beers! I was lucky enough to try about 4 of them between tasters, a pint, and a growler. The IPA and the Orange Ale were absolute standouts. Each and every beer was way better than I naively assumed, but these two were just my faves. Christy was a perfect beertender. Thanks, Bolt! I’ll be back.

Not a bad place. I showed up on a dog meet-​up day. That was interesting. I am not sure about the beers yet. I had two and there was no wow factor. But, I will go back and try more.
The one man band live music was good.
The food truck was a 6 out of 10. Good eats but not great eats.

Alright, I’ve been back multiple times and most recently for the 1 year anniversary. So it’s officially time for a long overdue update.
Bolt has officially rang in a full year at this location and has even opened up a new location in Little Italy. Suffice it to say, that’s pretty impressive. They must be doing something right.
One of those things that they are doing right is that they now have that extensive, full gamut of rotating beers that cover just about every style. So definitely a little something for everybody.
What kind of beers you ask?
Let me recall what I’ve had/​seen; Belgian Triple, IPAs, Belgian IPA, Pale Ales, Mango Weissbier, Orange Ale, ESB, Stout, Vanilla Porter, Red, Pilsner, Dopplebock, Nut Brown, with several of those on Nitro… and they even have a Root Beer… and honestly, I know I’m forgetting/​missing a couple. Either way, they now have matured into the premier craft brewery in La Mesa.
With tons of seating, and space available, they’ve really established a regular event and food truck schedule as well. There’s almost always something available to eat from a food truck vendor and several days out of the week they either have live music/​events or some sort of activities like trivia etc. Additionally their promotions advocated on social media (Facebook, Instagram) are pretty cool too. Sometimes it’s $ 1 off pints when it rains, discounts off growler fills, «Taco Tuesdays», etc. As far as always having something going on, Bolt has it down.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that the staff and ownership here are really cool, down to earth people who are huge fans of their customers and fellow craft beer enthusiasts. I see them interact with the crowd quite frequently and are always in high spirits. Like offering free hugs kind of high spirits. Seriously.
So now that Bolt has become a premier SD Brewery, expanded upon their beer selection, have a well managed event and promotional agenda, it’s easy to understand how this place can become an instant favorite, especially to locals like myself.
So there you have it. Bolt has quickly risen to one of my favorites just due to their awesome beer selection, staff, location, and atmosphere and all the other aforementioned reasons above as well as from my previous review. I’ll probably be here more often than I’m willing to admit.
Maybe (probably) see you there.

The beer is great. What a cute nice location with live music. The beer great what a great place to bring a date because of the beer variety something for everyone. Will be back!

Picked up a growler fill of their citra-​Pale Ale, I do believe it’s called.
Never had been in. Love the cool location in the tucked away small industrial area of (a safe one) La Mesa.
Well the 5 ***** are for the great vibe I received when I walked in… to the smells of the sizzlein’ meat (tacos el gordo style!) at a food station — for the welcoming greetings from staff THEN wow– this citri-​pale ale is Great!
I go for heavier bodied IPAs –which my cousin calls «Eye — Puz». I never like pale ale– but this is really nice. Love the strength of the hops and balance of the citrus (almost lemon/​kumquat/​grapefruit zest) — this is extremely refreshing.
They were cool with me bringing my own stainless steel growler and the fill was reasonable priced. $ 10 bucks for 40oz.
There are picnic benches, people gathering… cute doggies about the place.
I called ahead to ask about the types of beer they brewed — the guy was helpful and wasn’t rushing me– he was informative and nice.
I will definitely be back to Bolt Brewing.
*They should have a huge party for the Chargers next year when they end the horse s_#t about leaving San Diego and make it official they’re stayen’.
Just sayen’

Ok I don’t drink beer BUT my parents do and they suggested I take my friend who does to this place. They had great prices (I frequent bars so I’d know) and I even tried the beer (it was nasty like all beer but my friend really liked it especially the nut brown) but the whole place was just so cool. They made such a great space. I’m sad I don’t drink beer cause I want to go back. I like that they had games you could place (crushed my friend at battleship). Gonna be my go to place to take my beer lover friends

Wow, this place is the definition of a neighborhood gem! Most respectable breweries are in Downtown/​Little Italy or Miramar, and the beer at this place easily holds its own with the likes of Ballast Point or Green Flash. There’s no restaurant and the beer is served out of a shipping container, but their creations are so tasty, that you barely notice you’re sitting outdoors at a picnic table. Don’t get scared though, because they do have brick & mortar restrooms.
The night I wen they had a band getting ready to play at 7, and they had a mobile brick oven pizza company that was cooking on site and their pizza looked and smelled so tasty. However, I must say again, for being in a commercial district in La Mesa, their beer is amazing and I will definitely be going back soon!

For starters I am not much of a drinker, especially not beer, so this is really not the ideal place for me.
That being said I still had fun here, the vibe is very chill, I love that they set out board games and have live music.
Outside seating only, the space is pretty unique with a walk up window and about 8 choices.
We got a sampler of each, a great deal at $ 1.50 a piece and perfect if you don’t want to wind up with something you don’t love.
While I loved none of them, they were all pretty strong and super flavorful, that is for sure because I am not a beer drinker.
I could tell the quality and care they put into their brew here and loved that they sold beer in all sizes, even huge bottles to go!
Service and atmosphere was really exceptional, a fun place and different from anything I have been to in OC or LA, so for that I am a fan and can recommend for anywho who loves beer!

Thank you Molly for offering me another try, I would say 180 degree turn around in beer quality. Our favorites today were the stout nitrous, so cal pale ale and pilsner were awesome. Great summer atmosphere beautiful setting good music. Would be a great place to spend summer evenings, will be back soon.

What a great place. I didn’t expect to find this brewery in this location. Take ElCajon/​Center off Highway 8. Brings you right to the front door. My buddy Jesse and I had one brew after the other. And as longer we stayed, the more fun it was. Eventually we made friends with the Owners of the food truck. Great guys.
Overall, I don’t think I could have had a better experience. Thank guys. Bartender super nice guy… Go check it out.

I’m not a beer aficionado but the boyfriend is so it’s his mission to teach me as much about beers as he could. While I still haven’t come around to the IPA’S he favors, I have found some fruity beers that I like.
Bolt Brewer’s mango beer is one of them. It still tastes like a beer but with nice hints of mango. It’s pretty light and goes down easy.
As far as the ambiance goes, I pretty much loved it. The crowd is a bit older but everyone is friendly. The band playing Saturday night was fun. I liked that everything is outdoors. The place isn’t very big but can fit a good amount of people while still feeling cozy.
Food was provided by a truck that did pretty good business. I’m trying to find them on Unilocal (they even tried to help me) but no go.
They are dog friendly and our goofy, friendly pitbull was a big hit.
Bolt is one brewery I’d return to.

At the time of writing this there is 112 breweries in San Diego and not to sound harsh, but what does Bolt do to distinguish themselves from others?
I like the inviting view of the outside, the color scheme, the spacious lot, the steady food trucks brought in and the live music choices/​set up. Service is great.
I dislike the lack of seating throughout (tables and benches are all congregated in ¹⁄₃ of the facility. The brew house is small and the merch selection is miniscule.
The beers are pretty classic, nothing too wild. Love the homage to Dan Fouts naming their Stout after him, it’s not overly sweet, decent body and as usual the nitro version is smoother. The citra has a nice low ABV for enjoyment and it’s overly floral. Their ESB is barely Extra and kind of mild. The strong red to me was lacking an aftertaste and body. Beers are kept on the upper end of proper temps based on how much temp is lost over drinking period. They offer check in specials which is great. The 3^rd shift was probably the most enjoyable for me, thought it doesn’t quite fit my West Coast/​San Diego IPA preferred style. The mango beer was forgettable.
I do like the décor with the patio lights, but the minimal shade is not a selling point. The proximity to the freeway you would think is bad, but it provides a nice white noise. The board and livesize games are nice a nice touch. Dog and kid friendly they offer a variety of growler style fills. Prices are competitive. Junk that palm tree in the middle along with those rocks. It probably came landscaped like that, but it kind of disrupts the flow.
Parking sucks worse than Miller High Life. 3 spots in front, a dozen spots not tied to business nearby (threatening towing). If you don’t’ mind the walk, use the park and ride 2 blocks away or cab it. I’ve driven by a half dozen times and literally counted spots. I’m not bold enough to chance a tow. This is honestly something that I would have thought about before opening. Go on the weekends to avoid this or go late, after most business nearby close to mitigate the risk.
They have Trivia night if «you gon learn today» is your thing.

We had a pretty good time here the other day. It was fairly warm, but there was a good amount of shade and a nice breeze. Of course cold beer helps.
We brought my son along to check this place out, I had read from other Unilocalers reviews that it’s kid friendly during the daytime. I also checked their website:
and saw there would be live music and wood fired pizza. The stash of board games is a definite draw. We grabbed Yatzee and while neither Walter nor I could remember how to play exactly, we still managed to have fun despite getting our butts kicked by a little kid. They also have the giant Jenga game.
We ordered two small flights and shared. I had Walter order because he knows a lot more about beer than I do. We tried 10 out 12 of the beers they had available, I think. I liked most of them. The ones I enjoyed were probably the Citra Pale Ale, the Dan Stouts Nitro, the Itty Bitter ESB, and the 3^rd Shift Pale Ale. I ended up ordering a pint of the Citra Pale Ale.
The service was good. The guys were friendly. There’s also a Unilocal check-​in offer right now for 10% off your order of $ 10 or more. They have apparel available for sale. There is a small amount of snacks available. Parking isn’t an issue on the weekend. And it’s super close to the freeway exit.

This a great neighborhood brewery located in La Mesa right off interstate 8. It’s mostly an outside seating brewery, well actually it is, except for the 10 barrel system located inside a small warehouse and and bar area, where the keeps serve up Bolt’s fantastic brew.
I ordered a Bolt Pilsner or Czech Pils 16oz pint for $ 6. The pilsner was light and refreshing with a crisp finish. I am a big fan of Pilsners and this one hit the spot as pilsner go. I like this sort of beer because it is easy on the palate and it’s a great way to set yourself up for some more aggressive hoppy beers.
The girl bar keep was very nice, had a great personality, and made idle conversation. Seating is comfortable and smartly spread around. If you check their web site, you find out what days they have food vendors available, events, and entertainments; such as, the band that was playing the evening I visited.
Great small brewery and with great people.

First visit. I’ll be back when they replenish their beer supply. There was a fundraiser the prior weekend and all the IPA and pale ale kegs were emptied out by thirsty supporters. Bummed out, but now I’m anxious to return for freshly brewed beer.
Located in the La Mesa industrial loop adjacent to I-​8, this outdoor beer garden is a great sanctuary to enjoy the fine SoCal climate year round. You can belly up near the taps, or relax in the seating area between the bar and the brewing tanks. If I had the means, I’d want my back yard to look similar, plus maybe a shade tree or two.
Today’s beer flight:
— pilsner
— belgan tripel
— nut brown
— chocolate stout
As l was just about to finish a round, they tapped a fresh keg of mango ale. Very sweet and light. The kind of refreshment in time for when the weather warms up.
On Wednesdays, food is available for purchase and cooked to order by The Hills neighborhood bar. They switch up between chicken wings and this time they were grilling up tasty $ 5 cheeseburgers.
Go check out the hoppiest comeback ever at Bolt Brewery.

Friendly staff. Clean surroundings. Great beer. Not much as far as food goes; but will occasionally have food trucks available. Did I mention great beer? They have 32 and 64 oz. growlers to go.
The sampler tray is a good way to taste all their offerings. Not a big stout guy but their stouts are amazing. If your in the La Mesa area. Give it a go. They are brewing something special.