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15 of the Best San Diego Drinks to Try This June

SDM staff shouts out our favorite sippable finds this month
Best drinks in San Diego featuring cocktails from the Mission Pacific's Valle
Courtesy of Mission Pacific Hotel

Picture this: It’s the afternoon of another gorgeous San Diego day. You’re sitting in umbrella shade on a patio—or maybe the beach—sipping something cold, your sweat drying after surfing or skating or hiking or biking or sailing or pickleball or any of the thousand things a person can do outside here to lather up a powerful thirst. And now, as the sun lazily descends to its inevitable flashy green slumber, you’re feeling satiated, happy. Downright at ease. Such is the power of the post-activity beverage. Behold, we’ve collected some recent favorites, from little afternoon treats to libations that impress. Go get some.

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including the Amaro Daiquiri from The Guild Hotel

Amaro Daiquiri

The Guild Hotel

Of the five basic flavors, bitter is the outlier taste not everyone loves. But I do. I’ll bite a grapefruit, rind and all. Which is why amaro drinks are my ambrosia. And since unsweetened cocktails are my go-to, this daiquiri at downtown’s Guild called my name like a spirit from the shadows. Their house amaro blend, dark rum, and lime equals a good time. A daiquiri for after dark, bitter by design. –MH

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including 99 Problems cocktail from Happy Medium

99 Problems

Happy Medium

The name is fitting—whenever l’ve stopped into North Park’s newish Happy Medium, it’s been just the right amount of bustling: lively enough to feel like a vibe, chill enough that the bartender has a minute to chat. The cocktails are well-balanced, too, including the 99 Problems, a tiki-esque rum drink with Thai tea, lemon, vanilla, and 99 Bananas, a ‘nana schnapps. Not as sweet (or as banana-y) as it sounds. –AR

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including the Secret Citrus from Mate Maker Co Hard Kombucha

Secret Citrus

Mate Maker Co Hard Kombucha

Made with citrus sourced from local farms and Australian hops, this collaboration between Mate Maker and Harland Brewing has been a sunny spot during recent gray weather. The bubbly, tropical, tangy beverage clocks in at six percent ABV—light enough to keep it chill, bright enough to have another. –BD

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including Bullet With Butterfly Wings cocktail from Storyhouse Spirits

Bullet With Butterfly Wings

Storyhouse Spirits

Butterfly pea flower (tastes like a purple version of green tea) and aloe liqueur don’t sound like my kind of night out. Sounds like the bartender is working on their naturopath influencer brand. But this cocktail at the East Village distillery is perfect—not too sweet, not too bitter, tiny bit spicy—with Storyhouse dry gin, those two neo-wellness ingredients, jalapeño, strawberry, hibiscus, and lime. –TJ

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including Möce Tee from Mango Pomelo Cheese Foam

Möce Tee

Mango Pomelo Cheese Foam

This Mission Valley strip mall outpost is serving up some of the most unique drinks in town, including this Wonka-esque bubble beverage. With sweet mango clear boba, bitter pomelo pulp, and a salty, drinkable cheese cloud, this caffeine-free tea is a flavor and texture bomb. Order it less sweet and treat it like a breakfast smoothie. Now, someone simply please explain why all boba drinks are served in plastic cups thick enough to withstand a direct nuclear hit. –MH

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including Signs + Wonders Vol. V from J. Brix winery

Signs + Wonders Vol. V

J. Brix

Escondido-based low-intervention winery J. Brix makes some of the tastiest bottles in SD with grapes grown at least in-part in our county, depending on the vintage and bottle. A blend of carbonic-fermented merlot and skin-contact riesling from the winery’s 2023 vintage, this release is a special one, with only 100 cases available. Serve it chilled and get ready to glou glou—this wine’s a patio pounder. –JB

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including Iced Horchata from Por Vida Café

Iced Horchata

Por Vida Café

Did you know you can make delicious gasoline from cinnamon, rice, condensed milk, and coffee? This Barrio Logan café is bringing the flavor and the fire power with a housemade horchata that had me itching to run a marathon in my boots. For some reason, I suddenly also wanted to do my taxes and finally solve the JFK murder. Do you think they’d fill me a five-gallon canister for the road? –MH

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including Straight Bourbon whiskey from Fierce & Kind
Courtesy of Fierce & Kind

Straight Bourbon

Fierce & Kind

As a Scotch whisky drinker who usually finds bourbons too corny, I recently tried local spirits label Fierce & Kind’s bourbon, which I found could satisfy even the thirstiest peat hound. This whiskey is aged more than two years, clocks in at 86 proof, and offers gentle whispers of Islay with faint smoke and vanilla flavors. –JB

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including Affogato from Elvira

Affogato

Elvira

When I was a kid in New York, nothing was more exciting than going to Serendipity for frozen hot chocolate. OB’s Elvira has Italian-ified the famous drink with its affogato: Fresh-poured espresso pools in the middle of zabaione ice cream (think sweet custard with a hint of cognac) from local gelateria Bobboi, all topped with fresh whipped cream and served in a frozen sundae glass with a spoon. The cognac and coffee flavors (and the resulting caffeine kick) offer an adult edge to indulging my inner child. –JB

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including Art's Cure-all from Birdseye Kitchen

Art’s Cure-all

Birdseye Kitchen

Sometimes a Saturday night calls for spicy, greasy rice noodles with a shot of liquid gut health on the side. That’s where this sunshine-in-a-glass mocktail from Encinitas’ Birdseye comes in. It’s got the looks and the flavor to feel like you’re indulging in a true tipple, with enough ginger and turmeric to impress Paltrow herself. It’s all about balance, right? –SL

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including a milkshake from  Cali Cream

Milkshake

Cali Cream

No shade to the big three, but chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry are the crinkle-cut fries of the milkshake world: always good, never thrilling. When I’m craving ice cream‘s curly-fry equivalent, the Gaslamp’s Cali Cream delivers with dozens of flavors, mixable and matchable to create the bold, sexy shake of your dreams. Recently, I went with mocha almond fudge plus coffee. The combos are near-endless, though, so go nuts (no pun intended). –AR

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including Sparkling Syrah from Bourdon winery

Sparkling Syrah

Bourdon

From SD resident and former Bachelorette Becca Kufrin’s California wine brand, Bourdon, this crisp sparkling syrah is like rosé’s femme-fatale older sister. Jammy but not cloying and friendly even to never-a-red drinkers (guilty), it’s the kind of hostess gift guaranteed to get you a repeat dinner party invite—but you’ll have to plan ahead. Bourdon is currently only available online. —AR

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including Déja Vu coffee drink from The Vibe

Déja Vu

The Vibe

I’m pretty vanilla with my coffee: splash of cream, maybe a dash of sugar. But occasionally, I go on a caffeine rumspringa and embrace the power of add-ins. Like this beaut from all-day brunch joint The Vibe: white mocha, cherry syrup, espresso, milk. Sounds saccharine, tastes like l just became a white mocha believer. –EH

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including Fogata cocktail from Valle

Fogata

Valle Oceanside

Fruity. Smoky. Spicy. Fabulous. Every taste sensation I desire lives in Valle‘s Fogata cocktail. Mezcal, passion fruit liqueur, and lime with a smoked habanero rim, it’s somehow both light and refreshing while also incredibly deep and complex. When the server offered to hold it for me while we walked to our table, I said no, thank you—I couldn’t let it go. —BD

The best drinks in San Diego to try this month including the Carrot Ginger Lemonade from Lemonade

Carrot Ginger Lemonade

Lemonade

Ginger and lemonade go together like two lovers holding hands in Hillcrest, but admittedly, I was skeptical of the carrot in this concoction. It was just so pretty, though, I had to give it a go. And yes, would recommend. Spicy, sweet, sour, and bright like a parking cone. Tap into your inner rabbit and get the large. –MH

By Beth Demmon

Beth Demmon is an award-winning writer and podcaster whose work regularly appears in national outlets and San Diego Magazine. Her first book, The Beer Lover's Guide to Cider, is now available. Find out more on bethdemmon.com.

By Jackie Bryant

Jackie is San Diego Magazine's content strategist. Prior to that, she was its managing editor. Before her SDM career, she was a long-time freelance journalist covering cannabis, food/restaurants, travel, labor, wine, spirits, arts & culture, design, and other topics. Her work has been selected twice for Best American Travel Writing, and she has won a variety of national and local awards for her writing and reporting.

By Emily Heft, Social Media Manager

By Mateo Hoke

Mateo Hoke is San Diego Magazine’s executive editor. His books include Six by Ten: Stories from Solitary, and Palestine Speaks: Narratives of Life Under Occupation.

By Troy Johnson

Troy Johnson is the magazine’s award-winning food writer and humorist, and a long-standing expert on Food Network. His work has been featured on NatGeo, Travel Channel, NPR, and in Food Matters, a textbook of the best American food writing.

By Samantha Lacy

By Amelia Rodriguez

Amelia Rodriguez is San Diego Magazine’s Associate Editor. The 2023 winner of the San Diego Press Club's Rising Star Award, she’s covered music, food, arts & culture, fashion, and design for Rolling Stone, Palm Springs Life, and other national and regional publications. After work, you can find her hunting down San Diego’s best pastries and maintaining her three-year Duolingo streak.

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