{"id":22853,"date":"2019-10-08T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T19:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/?p=22853"},"modified":"2019-10-08T12:00:53","modified_gmt":"2019-10-08T19:00:53","slug":"first-look-eppig-brewing-in-vista","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/2019\/10\/08\/first-look-eppig-brewing-in-vista\/","title":{"rendered":"First Look: Eppig Brewing in Vista"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Few San Diego County breweries have enjoyed the breakout success that North Park-based Eppig Brewing<\/a><\/strong> has achieved in its first three years in business. Demand for its lager- and IPA-driven portfolio have risen steadily over that span, driving increased production. It\u2019s a simple formula complicated by the constraints of the North Park lease-to-brew Brewery Igniter<\/a><\/strong> suite the company has operated out of since its inception in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due\nto limited square-footage and the size of its brewhouse, Eppig has enlisted\nlarger local breweries to contract brew for them. Ownership has also been\nforced to rent multiple off-site storage facilities to house its beer. This has\ncreated logistical nightmares that, when tacked on to operational headaches\nsuch as clearing out furniture to keg in its tasting room and having to wheel a\nforklift down a railed ADA-compliant entry ramp for keg loading, has made\ngrowing all the more difficult for the team. But all of that is changing and\nchanging fast thanks to Eppig\u2019s acquisition of a new headquarters in the\nwesternmost reaches of Vista.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Located at 1347 Keystone Way<\/strong>, the newly constructed building offers Eppig 16,000 square feet to use as they wish. Having spent the past three years making do with just 1,850 square feet of pre-designed space (that was altered following selection of the suite, split into two levels with stairs separating the brewery and cellar from the cold box and a tasting-room entrance not directly accessible from the parking lot), Eppig\u2019s ownership team was ecstatic to design an optimal, efficient layout that would serve the company now and into the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eppig\u2019s new-used 30-barrel Deutsche brewhouse is already producing beer, feeding it into a cellar consisting of three 60-barrel and four 30-barrel fermenters plus a pair of bright tanks. That setup will allow the company to brew 3,000-3,500 barrels of beer this year. That equates to nearly triple the 1,200 barrels brewers and co-owners Clayton LeBlanc<\/strong> and Nathan Stephens<\/strong> produced in North Park in 2018. But it\u2019s just the start. With a 30-foot ceiling, the space can hold 120-barrel fermentation tanks. And having poured flooring for double the cellar currently in place, the duo could eventually produce 10,000 barrels annually at their new digs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Eppig’s ownership team at the reins of the 30-barrel brewhouse at its new Vista headquarters (from left to right): Clayton LeBlanc, Nate Stephens, Stephanie Eppig and Todd Warshaw.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The immediate (and future) increase in production capabilities eliminates Eppig\u2019s need to maintain contract-brewing agreements, while the Vista facility\u2019s 1,500-square-foot cold box\u2014which can hold 600-800 kegs\u2014will allow the company to withdraw from its smattering of rented refrigerated storage spaces. The only outside services employed moving forward will be those of Mobile West Canning<\/a><\/strong>, which will be able to easily set up in the non-occupied half of the cellar when packaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brewery and cellar operations are fully visible via glass windows running the majority of the north wall of one of two tasting rooms. A full quarter of the building is devoted to public space via a main tasting room, bier hall and outdoor biergarten. For all three components, co-owners Stephanie Eppig <\/strong>and Todd Warshaw <\/strong>worked to pay homage to the company\u2019s roots, not only spanning back to North Park, but the original iteration of J&L Eppig Brewing that operated in Brooklyn, New York, from 1866 to 1920.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A\nceiling paneled in reclaimed wood flanked by metal grates giving way to soft\nLED lighting harken to circa-1990 Brooklyn, while various Edison-bulb-equipped\nfixtures, corrugated metal panels and wooden planks brought over from Eppig\u2019s\nNorth Park tasting room reinforce the motif. An L-shaped, lacquered-stone,\nwaterfall-style bar gives way to 24 taps and the view of the production area,\nwhile a variety of seating options abound, ranging from high communal tables to\nlounge furnishings and a banquette enclave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nentire west wall of the tasting room opens onto the 1,200-square-foot biergarten,\nbut will be closed on sunny days as the interior is air-conditioned. Outdoor\nseating options will include long, beer-hall-style tables shaded by umbrellas,\nas well as chairs situated around a fire pit. That feature was originally\nslated for the outdoor patio at Eppig\u2019s Waterfront Biergarten in Point Loma,\nbut will come to fruition in North County. Planters stocked with succulents and\noutfitted in corrugated metal serve as literal cornerstone to the outdoor fence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Back\ninside, a hallway leading past a set of public restrooms will transport guests\nfrom the tasting room to the bier hall. Coming in at the same area as the tasting\nroom (1,500 square feet with an 80-person capacity), this space features\nvaulted ceilings from which will hang a trio of round, wrought-iron\nchandeliers. Not an everyday space, the bier hall will be open on busy weekends\nand during specific events, with a mobile bar being rolled in on such\noccasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Construction of the tasting room and bier hall are still underway, but if all goes to plan, the former will open to the public this Friday, October 11<\/strong>. The bier hall will require more work and, hopefully, make its debut at the end of the month or in time for grand-opening festivities, which will take place the weekend of November 16<\/strong> (coincidentally, the same weekend Eppig celebrated its grand opening in North Park three years ago). Soft-open hours of operation will be 3 to 8 p.m. on Monday through Thursday<\/strong>, 3 to 9 p.m. on Fridays<\/strong>, 1 to 9 p.m. on Saturdays<\/strong> and 1 to 7 p.m. on Sundays<\/strong>.,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile,\nEppig\u2019s Brewery Igniter tasting room will remain open through December 1<\/strong>. Eppig and Warshaw say they\nhope that the many regulars and customers who helped the company get to where\nit is now are able to join them over their final weekend for one last beer at\ntheir original spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few San Diego County breweries have enjoyed the breakout success that North Park-based Eppig Brewing has achieved in its first three years in business. Demand for its lager- and IPA-driven portfolio have risen steadily over that span, driving increased production. It\u2019s a simple formula complicated by the constraints of the North Park lease-to-brew Brewery Igniter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[368,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-beer-news","8":"category-san-diego-beer-beverage-news","9":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/W2X8088.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1","wps_subtitle":"Local brewery\u2019s new, larger North County HQ to debut this week","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdtr4y-5WB","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22853","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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22879,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22853\/revisions\/22879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archives.csusm.edu\/westcoastersd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}