Owner & Brewmaster, Second Chance Beer Company
He’s been a fixture in the San Diego brewing scene for more than a decade-and-a-half, won countless national and international awards for his to-style beers and even served a term as the president of the San Diego Brewers Guild. Quiet, pleasant and completely uncontroversial, Marty Mendiola has done all of this under the radar for the most part. Nowadays, the former Rock Bottom standout finds himself in a rare place—under the microscope—as he prepares to open the passion project he left his longtime digs to open, Second Chance Beer Co. We caught up with him during one of his first brew days to pelt him with questions about one of San Diego County’s most exciting soon-to-debut breweries.
With 15 years of good work and great status in the Rock Bottom family, you were in a good spot. Why did you stake out on your own?
I really enjoyed working for Rock Bottom. The confidence and freedom they give the brewers really allowed me to explore my creativity and, ultimately, make better beer. Two things drove me to go out on my own. First, I always liked the idea of getting my beer out to a wider audience, so I am looking forward to seeing it poured at the great bars and restaurants around town and, eventually, our cans and bottles being bought at stores and beer shops. Second was the physical demands of brewing on a small, completely manual system. Carrying every bag of grain in one-at-a-time and pulling the spent grain out in heavy trash cans is tiring. With Second Chance being much bigger, we have the forklift and pallet jacks to help with the lifting. I feel like we can build this into something we are proud of!
What are some things you love most about having your own brewery?
The best thing about Second Chance is that we’ve created it ourselves from the ground up. I collaborated with my wife, Virginia Morrison, whose motivation and help has been ineffable, and my business partner, Curtis Hawes, to customize the brewery and tap room to our liking, and do whatever we wanted from the start. My mom Hilda, my brother Anthony, and our friend Robin have also pitched in on weekends to help us get ready. In the brewery, we have a 30-barrel system from Escondido’s Premier Stainless Systems. It is really sweet. I feel I can take the beer styles and ideas I have done in the past and make them just as good, but probably better, on this setup. We have to expand, and will do so as it feels comfortable, but there’s no rush.
What beers can people expect when you open and how would you describe your personal brewing style?
Our first beers will be a Kölsch-style ale called Luminous Blonde, red IPA, a black porter called Tabula Rasa (Spanish for “blank slate”) and…are you ready for this…an IPA! Seize the IPA! I have dozens of beer styles I want to brew, but need to find the patience to grow the lineup over time. I have been told that my brewing style is “smooth,” which basically tells me the flavors blend well together with a clean aftertaste. I’ll take that as a compliment! I have a similar preference for English- and Belgian-style ales that my friends at AleSmith and Benchmark Brewing brew. This can range from low-alcohol, balanced session beers to bold, flavorful, sometimes hoppy, big beers. I also love working with whisky and rum barrels.
Are you brewing alone or do you have a team?
I have reunited with Craig Gregovics, my assistant brewer from Rock Bottom! We work great together and he is a Midwesterner like myself, so we tend to work ourselves to the point of exhaustion, which can be good and bad.
What will the tasting room be like and how did you select your location?
Not only do we believe that Second Chance is a fortunate opportunity, something we are lucky to get and must make the most of, but we also embrace the repurposing and reusing aspect. In that spirit, we have reused gas pipes from the demolition, whiskey barrels from the good people at The Lost Abbey, fence wood from my childhood home and many other cool, personal touches. There is also an open view of the brewery. As for the location, as soon as we walked into the building, we knew it was our spot. We are excited to meet our neighbors in our tap room. We have major industry around us: tech, construction, computers, concrete, aircraft, medical, etc., and they are already excited for us to open. Also, we are right off the freeway—technically in Carmel Mountain Ranch—and there are not that many options to grab a beer here. Rancho Bernardo has Urge Gastropub and Abnormal Beer Co. Poway has Cellar 3 and Lightning Brewery. So we are happy to be so close and fill this space in between.