You may not have heard of Kyle Harrop, but plenty of brewers in San Diego and beyond are familiar with him. A fervent bottle-sharer and festival-goer for more than a decade, he’s made lots of industry-friends—many of whom he met before they entered the brewing game—and is preparing to make his own jump into the pro-ranks with his work-in-progress operation, Horus Aged Ales (4040 Calle Platino, Suite 120, Oceanside). Everything from brewing to barrels to blending, packaging and even the logo will be 100% him. That’s not an unfamiliar scenario in nano-rich San Diego County, but what is unique is that all of Horus’ beers will be barrel-aged.
Harrop says he has solid recipes for IPAs, but his sours and fruited beers have garnered the greatest compliments by the aforementioned industry insiders. From a consumption perspective, he finds the wares of inspirational entities Brasserie Cantillon, Funk Factory, Hill Farmstead and Side Project both delicious and fascinating. Thus, wild, Bretty and buggy brews, mixed-fermentation and spontaneously fermented brews will make up Horus’ portfolio. Those beers will be available at a tasting room in Oceanside’s Rancho Del Oro neighborhood outfitted in a “bird of prey meets Southwestern” motif featuring rustic custom tables, hawk paintings and photographs, and Mexican blankets hand-cut by Harrop’s wife. The entire facility comes in at 3,200 square feet, and provides room for next-phase additions that include puncheons and fouders.
Though his is a one-man operation, collaborations are a big part of the company-culture. Harrop recently completed brew-sessions at New Orleans’ Courtyard Brewery, Pomona’s Homage Brewing, and Rancho Bernardo’s Abnormal Beer Company. The latter yielded a Belgian-style quadrupel conceived by Harrop and head brewer Derek Gallanosa, both of whom are self-proclaimed beer-geeks who are doing well in their professional transitions, thanks in great part to relationships forged in their days as recreational connoisseurs. Harrop recalls many tasting sessions, including a standout evening in a Carlsbad Motel 6 where he, Julian Shrago and Bill Sysak tasted their way through some rare offerings. Shrago has gone on to become one of the most award-winning brewers in the country at Los Angeles’ Beachwood BBQ & Brewing, while Sysak is known the world over for his beer-knowledge and is in the process of building his own interest, Wild Barrel Brewing Company, in a site down the street from San Marcos’ The Lost Abbey. Harrop has stayed in touch with many such ambitious ale appreciators, and has future collaborations lined up with El Segundo Brewing (located in his original home-town), Monterey’s Alvarado Street Brewery, Phoenix’s Wren House Brewing, Miami’s J. Wakefield Brewing, Richmond’s The Answer Brewpub, and Great Notion Brewing in Portland, Oregon. And here at home, he’ll brew an old ale with Rip Current Brewing in San Marcos and multiple beers with a future Vista concern called White Fence Brewing.
When asked where and when beer-fans will be able to taste these collaborations, Harrop says to keep an eye out for upcoming information about an event “like nothing else the craft-beer world has seen before” at which each of the beers crafted by him and his network of allies will be available. As far as Horus’ barrel-aged stock, those will be released in 750-milliliter bottles, numbering anywhere from 150 to 650 total per-batch. Those will go on-sale online and occasionally be distributed to popular bottle-shops. Horus’ first bottled beer, a sour ale, is scheduled to debut at Bine & Vine in Normal Heights.