O’Brien’s Pub in Kearny Mesa, long recognized as one of San Diego’s oldest craft beer bars, was named the No. 1 beer bar in America on Friday in a USA Today 10Best poll.
Founded in 1994 and specializing in serving both Belgian and rare beers, O’Brien’s is co-owned by Tom Nickel and Tyson Blake. O’Brien’s Pub was ranked No. 4 in last year’s 10Best poll, and Nickel said Thursday that he and Blake were both surprised and thrilled to have made it to the top of this year’s list.
“I don’t want to say it was nail-biting, but we were very unsure where we’d end up. Knowing we finished first is such an overwhelmingly nice surprise,” Nickel said. “Some of the other nominees were multi-outlet bars with with more square footage and in much bigger cities. So, it’s very humbling that our little pub in our little city was able to pull it off.”
The annual USA Today 10Best award for Best Beer Bar begins each year with a panel of nationally known beer writers selecting a total of 20 finalists from different regions of the country. Panelist Beth Demmon, a beer writer and past president of the San Diego Brewers Guild, nominated O’Brien’s, which was this year’s only nominee from California.
From that list of 20, the public could weigh in with their own online votes over a 28-day period that ended Feb. 26. The results of the 10 bars with the most votes were public during the first three weeks of voting, and during that time O’Brien’s rose from 8th to 3rd place. But final-week voting was a secret until the results were revealed at 9 a.m. Friday.
Asked what makes a great beer bar, Nickel said “serving great beer” is a must. O’Brien’s has 28 craft beers on tap and another 60 or so in bottles. The pub is known for serving rare and hard-to-find beers, particularly from Belgium and Northern California’s Russian River Valley, as well as collaboration beers between local breweries.
But the most important factor, Nickel said, is the customers — who not only kept the bar alive with takeout orders and huge tips for the staff during the pandemic, but also voted in large numbers in the USA Today poll.
“There is a true sense of community among the customers,” Nickel said. “They’re friends. They fish together, they golf together, they party together and they have crab boils together. O’Brien’s is like a rec club for adults. It’s a place you can go that’s friendly and laid back but everything is high quality. The fact that the customers are so supportive and so passionate about the place is the real difference.”
O’Brien’s Pub, at 4646 Convoy St., was opened in 1994 by Jim O’Brien, who retired in 2003 and sold the business to Nickel. A Yale University graduate once destined for law school, Nickel discovered his passion for the beer industry while working part-time at a home-brewing supply shop during a summer break from college. He went on to work in brewing for Pizza Port, Oggi’s and finally O’Brien’s.
In 2015, Nickel hired Blake to manage O’Brien’s and brought him on as a partner in 2017. Besides O’Brien’s, Nickel co-owns with Blake and his wife the Pub at Lake Cuyamaca in Julian. Nickel is also the owner and brewer for 11-year-old Nickel Beer Co. in Julian, where he lives.
Results can be found at 10best.usatoday.com.