![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Screen-Shot-2016-02-22-at-11.42.25-AM.png?ssl=1\")
<\/a>Sorrentino\u2019s post comes at a pivotal point in craft beer\u2019s current trajectory.<\/p>\nLocal breweries Saint Archer and Ballast Point notoriously sold majority interests in their businesses, while recently Stone and AleSmith both wrote op-eds declaring their independence.<\/p>\n
And just last week, AB InBev-owned 10 Barrel Brewing cleared the first legal hurdle towards opening a brewpub in the East Village.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a creature of our own success,\u201d said Kevin Hopkins, President Emeritus of the San Diego Brewers Guild, speaking about San Diego\u2019s status as one of America\u2019s top beer cities. He attended the downtown planning group\u2019s hearing where 10 Barrel\u2019s Garrett Wales spoke with excitement about joining the local craft community.<\/p>\n
Like Sorrentino, Hopkins is interested in starting a dialogue: \u201cI didn\u2019t go to the hearing with the goal of blocking the permit. I just want to make sure there is a public commentary.\u201d In a call with West Coaster<\/em> he cited issues he had with (un)truth in advertising, or the\u00a0\u201cbait and switch\u201d since 10 Barrel isn\u2019t technically craft, increased property values thanks to Big Beer facilities that will deny access to market for the pint-sized operations, and the \u201cwin from within\u201d mentality on the distribution side.<\/p>\n \u201cThe landscape is undoubtedly changing. This isn\u2019t just about today; it\u2019s about three years from now, ten years from now. How do we want to be perceived?\u201d<\/p>\n Sorrentino took up Wales\u2019 open invite for beers at Monkey Paw, just a\u00a0block away from 10 Barrel’s proposed site, after the hearing. \u201cI had to tell him my feelings about him working for a company that uses profit to work against the guys that are trying to fulfill the same dream that he\u2019s experiencing.\u201d<\/p>\n Wales\u2019 response centered on the amount of money he spends in the local economy, including the number of employees he pays. Wales went on to say that the amount of cash filtering through him on its way up to the big wigs and lobbyists is just one small avenue. \u201cI was surprised to hear his side of it,\u201d said Sorrentino, who also relayed a story about 10 Barrel\u2019s craft beer neighbors receiving test kits to take advantage of the company\u2019s new $200,000 laboratory.<\/p>\n Sorrentino decided to similarly quiz Saint Archer\u2019s barrel program supervisor Greg Peters at Friday\u2019s Hamilton\u2019s Tavern event. \u201cGreg rattled off a long list of names that he\u2019s sold hops or yeast to, and I had no idea, because I hadn\u2019t gone out to have a pint with these guys and get their side of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n Second Chance\u2019s Marty Mendiola and Abnormal\u2019s Derek Gallanosa are two local brewers who have benefitted from Saint\u00a0Archer\u2019s purchasing power. \u201cThey sold me hops with absolutely no mark up,\u201d said Gallanosa. \u201cI always tell people how important they are to San Diego craft beer.\u201d<\/p>\n Details for the date, time and location of Sorrentino’s forum are currently being worked out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a Facebook post shared with the \u201cSD Beer Friends\u201d group this morning, South Park Brewing\u2019s Cosimo Sorrentino put out a call for conversation. \u201cI propose an open forum event to discuss the transition of the beer industry locally and nationally,\u201d he said, with dozens of industry members immediately expressing interest. Sorrentino\u2019s post comes at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-3nz","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12993\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>