It’s been a long and winding road for Alex Van Horne, the owner and brewmaster at Intergalactic Brewing (9715 Carroll Centre Road, #107, Miramar). He opened his science-fiction-themed nanobrewery in 2013 and garnered a robust enough cult following to expand his business in 2016 to include a stand-alone tasting room much larger than the one at the brewing facility he maintained. While the environs were a step up, the business struggled to attract enough patronage for it be feasible in its enlarged state.
In June of last year, Van Horne made it known he was entertaining investment offers from outside sources to keep Intergalactic in business, and this March, feeling he’d found the right partners and game plan, he announced plans to pare down his operation by 1,100 square feet. Today, Van Horne took to social-media to announce that he and his wife have decided to close the business following a final service on Tuesday, July 31.
“We had a couple of [potential deals] that almost came to fruition, but we ultimately decided that we wanted to get out of ownership roles, change the levels of stress in our lives and focus on ourselves and starting a family,” says Van Horne.
When asked if he is positive this is the end for Intergalactic—Van Horne has wavered a bit in the past due mostly to his passion for the business and intense desire to keep it going—he leaves the escape pod door open the slightest bit. “I am 100% sure that next Tuesday will be the last pint of beer I intend to sell in my tasting room, [but] nothing in life is permanent. We are just along for the ride and sometimes things come back around or go away. So who knows, maybe I’ll put a hat out?”
Intergalactic’s announcement is the second in as many weeks from a brewery pulling the plug. Last week, Ramona-based ChuckAlek Independent Brewers announced it would close at summer’s end after six years in business. This is the fifth San Diego County brewing company to shut down this year, and fifteenth to close since the start of 2017.
