In a county where the bar and restaurant culture has grown to support local craft brewing companies, one entrepreneur goes to greater lengths than any other specifically in the name of San Diego beer. That individual is Beau Schmitt, best known as the founder of SD Brew Project—a 31-tap Mission Hills bar exclusively serving San Diego beers from almost every one of the region’s breweries—and the consultant responsible for the beer selection at downtown’s recently unveiled Quad Alehouse. The former business has been closed for months, but it will be reborn, new and improved, tomorrow with the opening of The Brew Project.
Installed in the abode-like, indoor-outdoor Hillcrest restaurant space that formerly housed R Gang Eatery, The Brew Project is a full-service restaurant and bar that, like its predecessor, aims to shine a glaring spotlight on San Diego beer. Schmitt describes it as “a San Diego brewery tour under one roof,” courtesy of a 30-tap, glycol-chilled, cold-blocked draft system. And it won’t simply be a trip to the popular breweries in town. Schmitt is one of the few beer buyers who gives just about any brewery a shot, culling every business’ portfolio for the best they have to offer in an effort to provide each operation a chance to convey what they’re all about.
In addition to beer, six taps will dispense red, white, rose and sparkling wines plus guava mango kombucha and Caribbean coffee served on nitro. (Two of the remaining two-dozen beer taps are also of the nitrogen variety.) Local distilleries such as Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits, Kill Devil Spirit Co., Malahat Spirits, Old Harbor Distilling and more will also be highlighted via a craft cocktail program. And a sense of locality will be presented in a menu that will appeal to San Diegans thanks to breakfast burritos, tortas, entrée salads and a variety of gluten-free options, all of which can be enjoyed inside or on an extensive, two-level patio that, like the restaurant’s interior, features a TV-viewing option courtesy of a 70-inch, corner-mounted flat-screen.
But there’s more to the representation of local beer than what’s in the glass. Growlers have been fashioned into decorations, mosaiced brewery stickers serve as a wallpaper of sorts in the bar area, and servers’ attire consists of their choice of local brewery t-shirt (except when the NFL is on, at which point they can choose to don powder-blue burial shrouds instead…damn, that was an awful exhibition against the Raiders earlier today). Additionally, a bottle shop has been installed so customers can take rare and everyday beer home in bottles.
The Brew Project will be open daily, from 11 a.m to midnight, Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 2 a.m., Friday through Sunday. Three specialty brews Schmitt plans to offer for the opening day crowd include Coronado Brewing Company’s new Stingray Imperial India Pale Ale, a specialty version of Second Chance Beer Co.’s Tabula Rasa porter brewed with cocoa nibs and coconut, and ChuckAlek Independent Brewers’ sour blonde ale made with watermelon. Having that last one in HIlcrest will save gas or Uber fare to the outskirt community of Ramona, instantly proving the value of the “under one roof” model.