The majority of the brewery venues to open in San Diego County this year have been small operations geared primarily toward servicing their immediate neighborhoods. But there are still numerous entrepreneurs constructing larger-scale brewing projects, highlighted by the Cohn Restaurant Group’s Draft Republic Brewing in La Mesa, SD TapRoom’s upcoming TapRoom Beer Co. in North Park, and a brewpub in San Marcos dubbed My Yard Live. Taking over the vacated former Hometown Buffet spot at 288 Rancheros Drive, it’s an eclectic project with big aspirations that, if successful, will be the first of numerous editions of this concept.
“My Yard Live is an experiential community gathering space bringing together quality food and libations, a brewery, live entertainment, leisure games, activities, and unique experiences for the enjoyment of people of all ages, whether a child or a child at heart,” says co-founder Jamie Minotti.
The space comes in at a hefty 17,507 square feet, 10,600 SF of which is indoors, while the remaining 6,907 SF is split between two outdoor patios. One patio will be dedicated to customers with children and include playground elements, climbing structures and picnic tables. The second patio will be geared toward adults with stand-up shuffleboard, bocce ball, fire pits, and an area that can be converted to provide additional games or live entertainment performances. There will be space for entertainment indoors as well, along with arcade games, air hockey, ping-pong, and more. An island-style bar seating up to 36 people will run from the interior to the adult patio. Total seating for diners will be 220 (excluding lounge-area seating).
My Yard Live’s ownership consists of a quartet with varied and extensive careers. Minotti and business partner Mark McLarry bring over three decades of experience in the entertainment industry to the project. Together, they owned and operated the country’s largest solar-powered sound, stage, and lighting company as well as an artist-management firm. During that time, they worked with casinos, touring musical acts, the Vans Warped Tour, Olympic Trials, America’s Cup and X Games, as well as breweries and municipalities. The latter experience, as well as their shared work in real-estate development, will be key for their new undertaking. So will the other two members of the My Yard Live team, George McKerrow and Freddy Bensch. The former has 40 years of hospitality experience that includes co-founding Ted’s Montana Grill with media icon Ted Turner. That enterprise has grown to include 46 restaurants in 16 states. Bensch is the co-founder of Atlanta, Georgia’s SweetWater Brewing, a 21-year-old East-Coast institution that is currently the 15th largest craft brewery in the country. This is a return to the West Coast of sorts for Bensch, who acquired a degree in fermentation science from the American Brewers Guild in California early on in his career.
While Bensch will play a role in development of beer recipes for My Yard Live, day-to-day leadership of brewing operations will be the charge of a veteran brewer with local history, Pat Korn. Korn has been a part of the San Diego suds scene more than 20 years, starting with Karl Strauss Brewing in 1994 before transitioning to La Jolla Brew House in 2005, then moving to Green Flash Brewing in 2010. While at Green Flash, he played a major role in the establishment of the company’s barrel-aging program and the Cellar 3 facility in Poway that was devoted to wood-matured beers.
That location was shut down in March, followed by Korn and 42 other employees being let go as part of a reduction in force. What followed for Korn was a three-month sabbatical during which he traveled and participated in some collaboration brews. One of those opportunities came at the invitation of SweetWater, where he brewed a beer on their pilot system that is currently aging in barrels back in Atlanta. That led to the company asking Korn to stay in Atlanta and help out at the brewery for a few months, and eventually, the My Yard Live project.
“I was introduced to the My Yard Live team by Chris Fish at Telluride Brewing Company. He contacted me shortly after I was asked to leave my last brewery job, asking if I had any interest in meeting the guys,” says Korn. “We met up at Fathom Bistro, had a couple of beers and talked about the project. I was so intrigued by it that I took them down to Bali Hai, plied them with Mai Tais, and talked my way onto the project.”
At his new digs, Korn will have a 10-barrel Premier Stainless brewhouse at his command. My Yard Live’s cellar will consist of five 20-barrel fermenters and a 20-barrel bright tank. That setup will be engineered to produce up to 2,000 barrels a year. The game plan is to have six to ten house beers available at all times.
“We will open with what we think the public would like to drink and, from day one, let the clientele help us decide what we will make,” says Korn. Those offerings figure to include at least one kettle sour, plus a wheat ale, pale ale, brown ale, stout, and multiple IPAs, including Northeast-style and imperial versions. “At the same time, we have a few newer ideas that we hope people will find interesting and unique, and they will want to drink. We’ll also utilize the awesome kitchen we will have to make our own purees and tinctures to add to not only our base beers, but also our one-off beers.”
The company is also talking with local farmers about procuring fresh fruits and herbs, a practice that should help Korn accomplish another goal — creating a beer list that pairs well with My Yard Live’s food menu. Korn says that when crafting beer recipes his focus will be on the five basic taste sensations: bitter, sweet, sour, salty, and umami.
My Yard Live is on pace to break ground before year’s end and open to the public in late spring or early summer of 2019. Ownership’s optimism about its timeframe is bolstered by the fact the City of San Marcos owns the building in which the project is being sited, affording them expedition at the government level.
In the meantime, Korn has spent the past several weeks working on collaboration beers that will bear the My Yard Live moniker and tap throughout San Diego Beer Week, which takes place from November 2-11. Those beers and their associated breweries are:
- Black Plague Brewing—Saison with thyme, basil, lemon peel and orange peel
- Fall Brewing—Black Rye IPA
- Nickel Beer Co.—Red Ale with Centennial hops
- Protector Brewery—Imperial Stout with lavender and rosemary
- South Park Brewing—Oak Plank Pale Ale
- SouthNorte Brewing—Brown Ale with Sospeso coffee (from Tijuana)
- Thunderhawk Alements—Belgian-style Pale Ale with pear and ginger
The My Yard Live team isn’t the first brewing-minded business to consider this location. Triple-brand company Port Brewing / The Lost Abbey / The Hop Concept seriously considered it around 2016, but had no desire to install a restaurant, a dealbreaker put in place by the City of San Marcos. That requirement fell right in line with My Yard Live’s pitch.
“When our business plan was presented to the City Council, they recognized immediately that what we offered went above and beyond [a standard restaurant concept],” says McLarry. “San Marcos is one of the fastest-growing cities in the county and has built multiple new schools in order to support all the new development coming from places like Bressi Ranch and San Elijo in the past year. Further, the space is bookended by Cal State San Marcos and Palomar College, so we look forward to serving the college market.”