The hits come quickly in the San Diego beer scene, so here are some quick hits from this fast-moving industry…
Rumors have been going around that the owners of Ramona-based ChuckAlek Independent Brewers are moving to Colorado…and they are 100% true. Marrieds Grant Fraley and Marta Jankowska are Denver-bound, with the former having accepted a job offer in the Mile-High City. This, however, does not mean the end of the small, six-year-old brewery. It will continue to operate under head brewer Samantha Olson. According to Fraley and Jankowska, it’ll be business as usual even without them there, and that extends to the company’s North Park tasting room and beer garden.
Last year, we shared news about a work-in-progress brewery by the name of White Fence Brewing. After becoming the latest entrepreneurs to lament an inability to settle in the brewery-less City of Encinitas (to date, four breweries have secured space in the municipality, but none have production capabilities), this interest will debut in Vista, near the border of Carlsbad near McClellan-Palomar Airport. When that happens, White Fence will go by a different name due to recent issues. That name has yet to be announced, but founder Kelby Pedery-Edwards says it will help communicate the feeling they want their beer and tasting room to evoke for their customers. “We want everyone to feel like our neighbor having that moment in the sun.
It’s been a long time coming, and there have been numerous delays, but work is proceeding on Benchmark Brewing’s tasting room in San Diego’s Bay Park community. The project was originally planned to include an extensive outdoor patio, but due to some of the aforementioned hiccups, the venue has been scaled back. Look for it to open later this year as a solely-indoor space that, while smaller than initially imagined, will offer a wide array of the Grantville-based businesses mostly session-able ales. That’ll do fine until the outdoor component is eventually added.
Finally, going back to the last installment of Beer Briefs, we have unearthed more info on JuneShine, the business taking over the space at the North Park Brewery Igniter campus formerly occupied by San Diego Brewing. Get to know Eppig Brewing‘s and Pariah Brewing‘s new neighbors in the San Diego Beverage Times.