This is the second of a four-part series assessing the most hopeful of San Diego’s in-progress brewery projects. Last week, I looked at upcoming businesses in North County. Today is all about the western expanses of the region. Additionally, I’m taking a look back at how some other brewery-owned venues I thought had promise actually turned out over the past three years.
Mikkeller Brewing San Diego, Miramar: Uber beer geeks are excited to see what outlandish gypsy brewer Mikkel Borg Bjergso does with this brick-and-mortar (a creative partnership with AleSmith Brewing Company owner Peter Zien) and they’ll find out on April 16, when the tasting room opens to the public with a beer-festival featuring standout locals and some of Bjergso’s far-flung friends. Fans who remember when the business housed AleSmith’s original tasting room won’t recognize the joint…or the beers.
Amplified Ale Works, Miramar: The quality of this Pacific Beach-based brewpub’s beers has gained it a nice following, but there’s nothing quite so disappointing as driving there only to find the nano-kebabery is out of house-beer. Opening a production operation in one of H.G. Fenton’s ready-to-brew Brewery Igniter suites in the heart of “Beeramar” should fix that and allow this business to get to the next level and bring beers like Electrocution IPA to an inland clientele.
OB Brewery, Ocean Beach: It’s been years in the making, but the skeleton of this three-story brewery, bar and restaurant at the end of Newport Avenue looks darn good. OB’s in the midst of a massive influx of brewery tasting rooms (Culture Brewing Company and Mike Hess Brewing Company with Belching Beaver Brewery and two small Kearny Mesa ops on the way), but a new brewery hasn’t touched down since Pizza Port set up shop in 2010. The time is right for this project, so long as the beer is of good quality.
Past Promising Projects: West
2013: Benchmark Brewing Company (Grantville; Grade—A; to-style “beer-flavored beer” and a delightful sampling space); Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens—Liberty Station (Point Loma; Grade—A; the best Stone beers are coming from this beautiful brewpub’s 10-barrel system); Modern Times Beer (Lomaland; Grade—B; beers don’t wow, but are defect-free, biggest points earned for tasting-room and can décor); Saint Archer Brewery (Miramar; Grade—C; they figured out how to make good beer just in time to sell out, but never figured out how to develop heart or soul)
2014: AleSmith Brewing Company (Miramar; Grade—A; from 20,000SF to 105,500SF with no quality collapse and county’s largest tasting room), Bitter Brothers Brewing Company (Bay Ho; Grade—B; brewing by-committee an interesting MO, but initial beers are solid); Duck Foot Brewing Company (Miramar; Grade—B; went beyond all-gluten-free angle to just-plain-good beer, gluten or no)