Oceanside’s rapid renaissance as a center for artisanal food and drink has been remarkable. From exotic eateries to boutique shops and craft breweries, the county’s northernmost coastal municipality has a lot going for it and more going in all the time. Come this fall, Midnight Jack Brewing Company figures to come into the Oside fold when it opens the doors to its inland facility.
Last week, founder and brewmaster John Scheri signed off on a lease for an industrial space at 3801 Oceanic Drive. If that address sounds familiar, it’s because it’s one number different from the site that housed the community’s first brewery, Oceanside Ale Works. Scheri actually got his first taste of pro brewing volunteering on brew days at that interest. This came after years of homebrewing during which he collected some awards, including making the top three of the western regionals for the Samuel Adams LongShot American Homebrew Competition with his IPA in 2008.
After OAW, Scheri (an automotive technician by trade) landed the head brewer job at Murrieta’s BullDog Brewery, where he kept up on production of roughly 15 varied house beers. The beer line-up figures to be just as diverse at Midnight Jack, where Scheri will utilize a 15-barrel, direct-fire system to produce a number of India pale ales, lagers, stouts, brown ales and more. He is particularly proud of his toasted coconut porter and looking forward to taking on barrel-aging and sour beer at some point. If all goes as planned, Midnight Jack will produce 1,100 barrels of beer in Year One and double that the following year. Unlike many new breweries, Scheri and company will start out packaging beer, beginning with 22-ounce bottles.
When asked why he chose to build his business in Oceanside, Scheri gives the same answer as he does when asked why he chose to live there, saying it reminds he and his wife, Kathy (the marketing and business development arm of Midnight Jack), of their previous digs on the Jersey Shore. Everything they or their customers could want—restaurants, bars, shopping, the beach—is just five short minutes away. They are excited to be a part of such a booming area, and appreciate that their facility will allow them to grow when the time to expand comes.
Scheri intends to outfit Midnight Jack’s tasting room with reclaimed wood while keeping it true to its manufacturing roots, describing the projected motif as “modern light industrial meets vintage warehouse.” Once open, he hopes to also use the sampling area as a classroom for homebrew instructional sessions, so anyone interested in learning about brewing can catch the bug that ultimately fueled his career change.