Karl Strauss wins Best Craft Brewery, Best Micro Brew Pub in San Diego Union-Tribune’s Readers Poll

From Karl Strauss in San Diego, California:

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – 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).
 
 
Keep up with Karl Strauss Brewing Company
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarlStraussBrewingCompany
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karlstraussbeer/

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About Karl Strauss Brewing:

MY LIFE’S WORK HAS BEEN BREWING AND IF I HAD TO DO IT OVER AGAIN, I WOULD PURSUE THE SAME PATH, WHICH IS TO SAY I HAVE NO REGRETS.
— Karl M. Strauss (October 5, 1912 – December 21, 2006)


Born in 1912 in Minden, Germany, Karl Strauss was immersed in the brewing world from an early age, playing among beer barrels and hops at his father’s brewery. Pursuing his passion, he attended the Technical University of Munich-Weihenstephan at 19, earning a degree and Master Brewer certification. In 1939, fleeing the political climate of Nazi Germany, Strauss emigrated to America, landing a job at Pabst Brewing Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His contributions, particularly the reformulation of Pabst’s Blue Ribbon beer in the 1950s, significantly boosted the company’s sales and launched PBR into a new era, leading to his eventual role as Vice President of Production until his retirement in 1983. However, Karl was never known to idle…


In 1986 San Diego was void of the thriving beer scene it has today. In fact, the city hadn’t seen fresh beer since Prohibition, and the term “craft beer” didn’t exist. Strauss was then embarking on a consulting career, playing a huge role into the next chapter of this story. Enter Chris Cramer (Karl’s cousin) and Matt Rattner; two college buddies eager to change the status quo. Inspired by a brewpub Chris came upon while backpacking through Australia, the pair had a dream: bring local, handcrafted beer back to San Diego. With the help of Brewmaster Karl Strauss himself, it was on February 2, 1989 that we officially opened our doors in downtown San Diego and launched the city’s craft beer industry. As our brewing company flourished, so did the industry as a whole.


Karl played a crucial role in designing the brewery, training staff, and developing beer recipes, actively participating in its operations as Master Brewer until his passing in 2006, cementing his status as the Godfather of Beer. As for us? With 128 major medals under our belt since 2009, we continue to live his legacy and pioneer the independent brewing scene by crafting innovative beers across a wide range of styles. Brews like Tower X, Follow the Sun, and Boat Shoes have catapulted the brewery into a new era; while beers such as Red Trolley Ale—one of the most awarded beers in the world—stand as a testament to Karl’s brewing excellence.


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To us, The X represents and is about crossing paths, coming to a juncture and ending up where you want to be.  
We are a patchwork of professional brewers, and beer lovers who had too often asked ourselves, If I wasn’t doing what I am doing now, what would I be doing? 

To us, life is about being where you want to be, not where you have to be.  

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