In this competitive era, it’s not enough to just be a five-star hotel with an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course, a first-class spa and amenities in every room that would rival the local Whole Foods. Every hotel — especially if it’s set off the beaten path — is looking for a unique edge; a carrot to draw in more customers. And the Park Hyatt Aviara in Carlsbad, Calif., located just north of San Diego, is betting its Aviara Ale Academy will sweeten the pot with its clients.
The “Academy” is a package weekend, where in between enjoying the amenities guests get a “full, high-end, luxury craft beer experience,” in which they tour the nearby Stone Brewing company’s brewery, restaurant, and farm while quaffing bucketloads of beer. Think of it as a vineyard tour with a malt-and-hops spin. Or the farm-to-table story of beer.
If you love beer, it’s an interesting, malty weekend. But, it should be noted, you must love beer. A lot. As you will be inundated with Stone Brewery suds from the second you enter the hotel room — where there are six cold brewskies on ice greeting you upon arrival — till the day you leave — when beer shots are offered alongside a Bloody Mary as part of a delicious hangover presentation called the Sunrise Remedy.
Now, beer appreciation runs deep in my family. My father and uncle are rarely seen without a cold one in their hands and my cousin Teddy for many years brewed his own — with some success. (And by success I mean drinkability.) I inherited the familial love of beer, so when I heard about the Academy, I was up for it.
I flew to San Diego, and checked into the Park Hyatt Aviara — which I was familiar with as the setting of model Joanna Krupa’s wedding in the “Real Housewives of Miami” — and broke open a beer as I sat on my balcony overlooking the Batiquitos Lagoon in anticipation of my impending beer mastery.
The next day, a car picked me up around lunchtime from the hotel and dropped me off, 30 minutes away at the Stone Brewing Company in Escondido.
There’s a little exaggeration in the description of the experience, which is touted as allowing one to “tap into San Diego’s Craft Brew scene and become a Beer Master for a day.” I assumed that meant I’d make my own beer from scratch. I was wrong — the weekend was more about imbibing than crafting it.
Indeed, The Beer Master experience lasted all of five minutes and amounted to picking a beer I liked from a selection of four and deciding whether or not I wanted it bottled in a growler with a slice of orange or not (I did). I was then given a tour of the brewing facilities, encouraged to sample the malt used in beer making (which tasted oddly like Grape Nuts), and walked through a building of steel vats and bottles — all while having the beer-making process exhaustively explained by my “beer diplomat,” Nicole. She presented me with a book on how to make beer (“The Craft of Stone Brewing Co.: Liquid Lore, Epic Recipes, and Unabashed Arrogance”), but it would have been nice to have had a package of ingredients to take home (where the hell do you get hops or malt anyway? Trader Joe’s?).
Afterward, the tour continued through the facility’s World Bistro & Gardens before I set off for the company’s farm, where it grows many of the ingredients used in its beer and restaurant. The farm doubles as a bar scene for locals and several arrived with empty growlers looking for refills.
“I usually come by a couple times a week on my way home,” a local named John said. “It’s relaxing. And I love this beer.” The pastoral scene and the four beers I’d thrown back were indeed relaxing. Read: I passed out in the car on the way back to the hotel.
After a nap and a few Advil, the brews-ing continued over a four-course, beer-paired steak dinner at the Aviara’s Argyle Steakhouse. Not surprisingly, my hangover the next morning was epic, as was the cure: a Bloody Mary, a shot of beer and a savory breakfast including a stuffed jalapeño, bacon, pickled vegetables and a small quesadilla.
Overall, it was an interesting experience centered around drinking a lot of good beer — made better by the fact that the Park Hyatt Aviara is an excellent hotel with lovely facilities. If only the Sunrise Cure was sold in stores.
Info: Package starts at $799