All around San Diego County, brewing-company owners were biding their time and licking their chops, ready to pounce on used brewery equipment, the leftovers of URBN Restaurant Group’s discontinued El Cajon fermentation operation, URBN St. Brewing Company. Bids were submitted and there would likely have been a flurry of action on the last day of the auction, which would have been today, but yesterday it was communicated that, due to circumstances beyond the auction-house’s control, the auction had been canceled. As it turns out, the entire system was purchased by a single-buyer—the team at work-in-progress interest, Wild Barrel Brewing Company.
Last month, former Stone Brewing employee Bill Sysak announced he was teaming with brewer Bill Sobieski to open Wild Barrel in the North County city of San Marcos. Originally, Sysak and company were on the lookout for a steam-generated brewhouse. They were finalizing three different bids when, on November 30, Sobieski brought up that URBN St.’s brewhouse was up for bid. Having visited another former Stone employee, Callaway Ryan, when he was managing brewery operations at URBN St., Sysak had observed the system in action. To be safe, he and Sobieski did some due-diligence, ultimately making the decision to put in an offer.
Sysak reached out to URBN owner Jon Mangini, who willingly received Wild Barrel’s bid proposal. After a last once-over in El Cajon, a final price was negotiated (which included payment to the auction-house) on December 5. Sysak says that, even though it’s a direct-fire system, it was too good of a deal to pass up, citing a savings of both money and time. The next order of business is to negotiate a lease for Wild Barrel’s future home. Sysak hopes to make an announcement on where the business will be located within the next week or so.
