Local Roots’ Boochyard patio too much for Burgeon’s The Oasis?

THE COMPETITORS: Local Roots’ The Boochyard Taproom is stepping in as an unseeded outsider to the North County Brewery Patio-off, replacing Battlemage Brewing, whose patio turned out to be a myth. On paper, Local Roots is the underdog taking on Burgeon Brewery’s Oasis location in Escondido, an established locals hot spot.

THE SCORES: As a reminder, breweries are scored on a 100-point scale with a max of 20 points per category. See the scoring details in our NCBPO launch column. Skip below for an unexpected twist or two.

Local Roots The Boochyard Taproom

For starters, wow.

You’ll roll past the massive skateboard at the indoor skatepark and into a quiet business park. The patio at Local Roots is equally huge in scale, and it lays out before you like some royal estate as you come down the hill.

This is one of the most prominent patios I’ve ever seen. There is a grassy patch in the sun for games like cornhole or having a picnic. Adirondack chairs dot the edges for casual viewing. Under a shade sail, oversized wooden tables accommodate groups, and tucked into the front corner of the grassy knoll is a lovely lounge area centered by a fire pit. That’s just the first level.

Move up two steps onto the concrete patio, and you’ll find tall rounds under umbrellas, couches along the wall, and plenty of open space to accommodate events under the overhead bulbs crisscrossing the area. Three oversized doors are rolled up, bringing the outside in or vice versa.

I don’t drink a lot of kombuchas, but the bartender suggests tasters until I find what I want. I try a Purple Haze. The music is a little fist-pump-y for the early afternoon, but it fits the vibe: Instagram meets Rugged Brewer meets SoCal. It isn’t hard to imagine a crowd of kombucha enthusiasts jamming out to a live band on the porch.

Even if I didn’t want to test the kombucha waters, several guest beers and wines were on the board. They have a full menu of wood-fired Brooklyn-style pizzas if I feel peckish. I imagine laughing with my wife when a string of cheese drips down on her chin. There is a good chance a millennial rom-com will be filmed here someday.

I ask someone what they think of the space, and they have the perfect reply. “It’s nice when it is empty like this because I hate people, but I think even if it were packed, there is enough space where it wouldn’t feel cramped.”

I agree and put my feet up by the campfire.

Accommodation: 18
Atmosphere: 17
Offerings: 19
Service: 19
Wildcard: 19
Total: 92

Takeaway: A huge thank you to reader Eric for recommending Local Roots. This is an excellent patio where you can eat, drink, and hang with the dog…or people if that is your kind of jam. Check out more photos of the space on @localrootskombucha on Instagram.

Burgeon Beer Company at The Oasis

Column note: Local Author and host of the long-running Beer Night in San Diego podcast, Cody Thompson, stepped in to help review some of the breweries near his HQ in Escondido.

Burgeon did the nearly unthinkable — opening a new location amidst the Covid pandemic. The Oasis is a 100 percent outdoor beer-drinking experience that offers an open-air, well-spaced option for beer drinkers hoping to socially distance while sipping killer beers* outside their bubble or backyard.

With businesses wide open, this location has genuinely lived up to its name. It’s an Oasis beckoning beer fans from all over the county to saddle up to one of its many permanent tables underneath gorgeous trees or branded umbrellas offering the perfect shade levels during the hotter days in the Valley. You’re never more than a few feet away from the taps to fill up on a second or third beer.

The staff at the Oasis have created a positive culture and atmosphere. Welcoming, friendly faces greet you as you enter the space and before you finish your first Treevana. You’ll feel like you belong to the family. On busier days, the Oasis expands its patio space, taking up real estate with picnic tables so you can almost always find a place to sit back and relax.

Where we’ve seen many locations throughout San Diego either team up with a food vendor or offer food on-site, Burgeon the Oasis offers on-site food trucks and vendors Thursday through Sunday.

Accommodation: 16
Atmosphere: 20
Offerings: 18
Service: 18
Wildcard: 18
Total: 90

Takeaway: This location truly lives up to its name; it’s an Oasis calling to weary locals in search of friendly service and killer beers.

*Reminder: this competition is focused solely on the patio, not the beer!

ROUND 1 WINNER: Local Roots The Boochyard Taproom! They proved the (non-existent) Haters wrong by going from unranked to a first-round upset.

UNRELATED BUT RELATED: 

Burgeon Beer is opening in Vista’s Paseo Artist Village at 501 South Santa Fe Ave. The new taproom is the brewery’s fifth and is slated to open by the end of the year. 

Did I miss an excellent brewery patio? Send a message to @CheersNorthCounty on Facebook or Instagram, or e-mail me at [email protected].