Though one of San Diego County’s biggest brewing successes, Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits, started out as an ale-and-lager outfit based in the back room of a home brew store back in 1996, that model wasn’t imitated locally for nearly two decades (with the exception of Mother Earth Brew Co., which opened as a nano-brewery and homebrew supply store hybrid before moving the latter to a satellite tasting room). Yet, in the past year alone, two homebrew outlets, The Homebrewer and Carlsbad Brew Supply have added brewery components to the mix—Home Brewing Co. and Guadalupe Brewery. And now, Vista’s Home Brew Supply (1213 South Santa Fe Avenue, Vista) is on the cusp of doing the same thing with the projected November introduction of Bear Roots Brewing Co.
Mom-and-pop owners Terry and Page Little’s plan for the brewery follows much of the same inspiration behind their store, which they built because, as homebrewers with jobs and a family, they found it difficult to fit their hobby into their busy lifestyle. Home Brew Supply aimed to provide a reliable source for people like them to get everything they needed to brew. But eventually, they realized one of the most useful resources they could provide was time—as in four-to-five hours I a space outfitted for on-site recreational brewing. So, in addition to brewmaster Terry cooking up his own beers, he will also assist homebrewers in brewing their own recipes at Bear Roots.
Of Home Brew Supply’s 2,200 square feet, 760 will be subtracted for an eventual lounge-themed tasting room while 160 will be devoted to brewing. Nano to the core, a one-barrel system double-batching into two-barrel fermenters comprises Bear Roots’ brewing program. Customers going the brew-it-yourself route, will utilize the same system as Little, and he hopes it helps to provide an experience that lasts with them beyond the brew day. Should they catch the brewing bug, the very same equipment is available for purchase along with more than 40 malts and grains, a vast variety of hops and local yeast from Miramar’s White Labs. Home Brew Supply is currently open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., daily.