We’re only halfway through the month but October 2014 has been one of the busiest months in San Diego beer to date. Here’s a glimpse of everything that’s been going on.
The Virginia Connection
In addition to the recent announcement of Stone Brewing Co. Berlin, the Escondido-based brewery just picked Richmond, Virginia as the location for their new East Coast expansion. Stone also started distribution into Canada. Keep up with all things Stone via the awesome media & news area on their website.
Also in Virginia, Mira Mesa’s Green Flash Brewing Co. celebrating both the groundbreaking of the Virginia Beach expansion on Monday and their first East Coast version of the charity fundraiser Treasure Chest Fest over the weekend.
San Diego Growth Continues
Back home, both Ballast Point Brewing Co.‘s Miramar location and Valley Center Brewery just opened their doors.
Ballast’s new 100,000 square foot brewery/tasting room/restaurant is now open daily 11AM-11PM for beer tasting and will have food available via foodtrucks until their kitchen opens.
Valley Center Brewery celebrated their grand opening on October 9th, and is now open for business on Lilac Road. The 15-gallon nanobrewery currently has 13 beers on tap with 4 house offerings with indoor and outdoor seating.
Beer Tastings This Weekend
There are two awesome events this weekend. Krisp / Best Damn Beer Shop is hosting the 4th rendition of the Best Damn Sour Fest at Downtown Johnny Browns this Saturday. There will be whales, bro (see the lineup).
Fans of Hess Brewing should check out their North Park brewery on Saturday. Local beer tasting group BeerNerdz is hosting a blind tasting featuring Mike Hess’ beers. Click here for more info.
MEBC Cantroversy
In our October issue, Mother Earth Brew Company ran a controversial ad highlighting the launch of their Cali-Creamin’ cans. The Vista-based brewery announced their new advertising campaign on Facebook with much ado. What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.
West Coaster Wins Awards
West Coaster was recently honored with two big awards. The first is for our LA-centric sister publication, West Coaster Southern California. Staff writer and Sriracha-savant Randy Clemens was named in the Best Brewspaper / Free Zine Writing category of the North American Guild of Beer Writers’ Writing Awards for his article on Mark Jilg of Pasadena’s Craftsman Brewing. Click here to check out that issue and the article via our e-reader.
The second award was from Folio:, a magazine and news organization that covers the national publishing industry. Each year, they name their top 100 media executives in the country. I am grateful to be named in their “20 in Their 20’s” category for 2014.
Greg says
Well said NS. That type of advert has not place in the industry I love. It would be great if Mother Earth pulled the ad and apologized. I really hope they do.
Mixed emotions about Stone’s continued expansion. I’ve been with them since their small shop on Mata road. As they have become larger they have grown more unfriendly to their customers. Arrogance is great for making beer, but not for taking care of the people who helped you build your business.
Jeffrey Fancy says
Uh oh. I don’t think that was wise. Think about all the craft beer lovers who are women and how they will react to this type of marketing ploy. I agree with NS. San Diego craft brewers should stand on quality, not sex.
NS says
So many thoughts about Mother Earth’s campaign, but i’ll leave the feminist rant out of it.
No craft brewer has to use sex to sell beer, it’s the beauty of what we do. We make quality beer that really speaks for itself, and don’t have to use women’s boobs to make the beer more attractive. Really sets us all back when someone launches a campaign using this type of imagery.
I don’t agree with it and thankfully I can choose not to buy their beer and support them anymore! Plenty of other breweries in San Diego who don’t have to “sell out” to convince me their beer is worthy.