Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Biggest beer news 2018

Green Flash, Monkey Paw, Council, Toolbox surprise this writer

Beers served at Toolbox Brewing Company, two days before the business abruptly announced its closure.
Beers served at Toolbox Brewing Company, two days before the business abruptly announced its closure.

The financial fallout of Green Flash

Owner of the West Coast IPA trademark, and the first modern San Diego brewery to distribute to all fifty states, Green Flash Brewing Company spent several years in expansion mode prior to 2018, purchasing Alpine Beer Co. and establishing breweries in other states. But in April 2018, the company abruptly announced it had gone into foreclosure. Green Flash Brewing Company was dissolved, and its assets were sold by its lender, Comerica Bank. As it turns out, a private equity group led by Richard Lobo, who had joined Green Flash board of directors in April 2017, had prearranged a deal with Comerica to buy enough assets to keep Green Flash and Alpine brands going. Local beer fans rankled as they learned the new entity, WCIPA, LLC, would move forward, installing Green Flash founder Mike Hinkley as an executive in the new corporation, while investors and shareholders of the original businesses were left behind.

Beloved brewery closures

Sponsored
Sponsored

If the Green Flash saga proved that even larger, well-established, regional beer producers were vulnerable to rapid changes of a crowded craft beer market, 2018 showed that smaller breweries were even more at risk. This year, the number of breweries in the United States topped 7,000, increasing competition across the nation. With more breweries than all but three American cities, San Diego has started to feel this pressure, and 2018 witnessed the closing of several of the region’s most talked about breweries. Intergalactic Brewing Company, Monkey Paw Brewing, Council Brewing Company, ChuckAlek Independent Brewers, and Toolbox Brewing Company — all of them award-winning breweries — closed this year, surprising observers, including this one. Larger breweries attract beer drinkers to San Diego, but it’s the quantity and quality of our small brewery class that cements our city as a craft beer mecca. We count fewer of those heading into 2019.

Beer offered a positive border narrative

Nationally, the border with Mexico proved a source of controversy in 2018, which lingers into the new year. The relationship between San Diego and Mexican brewers grew closer than ever. Borderland collaborations became the norm, as beermakers crossed in both directions to share brewing methods and inspiration with one another. Over the summer, Bay Park based SouthNorte Beer Co. became the first San Diego craft brewer to establish a permanent brewhouse south of the border, operating within Tijuana’s popular Telefónica Gastro Park. The results have been beneficial to beer drinkers in both nations, and in particular Baja, whose craft breweries set the pace for their nation.

Hard kombucha finds its niche

Three years ago, the mixed fermentation tea known as kombucha was a musty topic restricted to health food circles. However, the success of Chula Vista’s Boochcraft has established high alcohol, or hard kombucha, as a thriving adult beverage market. As Boochcraft readies a massive brewery expansion that stands to grow its brand exponentially, other entrants joined the hard kombucha market around the nation in 2018, including North Park’s JuneShine. It seems to have more parallel than overlap to the beer market, but moving forward you’re likely to find hard kombucha most places beers are sold.

The return of brewpubs

San Diego craft beer didn’t start with production breweries, but with brewpubs. But as craft beer began to trend nationwide, startups mostly abandoned the brewery/restaurant model to open production breweries focused on serving beer only. However, 2018 saw a rise in breweries embracing food service as a facet of doing business. New to San Diego’s brewery community this year were Fourpenny House, The Bell Marker, Melvin Brewing, CAVU Brewing (formerly Absolution by the Sea), Julian Beer Co., and Attitude Brewing Company — each of them established as brewpubs. Meanwhile, breweries including Culver Beer Co., Belching Beaver Brewing, and Latchkey Brewing have added retail food to their breweries, with Latchkey Brewing soon to follow suit. Lastly, existing breweries Duck Foot Brewing Company, Amplified Ale Works, and Modern Times Beer each opened tasting room locations doubling as restaurants.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Coyote tracks in frail San Diego avocado grove

Second place winner in Reader neighborhood writing contest
Beers served at Toolbox Brewing Company, two days before the business abruptly announced its closure.
Beers served at Toolbox Brewing Company, two days before the business abruptly announced its closure.

The financial fallout of Green Flash

Owner of the West Coast IPA trademark, and the first modern San Diego brewery to distribute to all fifty states, Green Flash Brewing Company spent several years in expansion mode prior to 2018, purchasing Alpine Beer Co. and establishing breweries in other states. But in April 2018, the company abruptly announced it had gone into foreclosure. Green Flash Brewing Company was dissolved, and its assets were sold by its lender, Comerica Bank. As it turns out, a private equity group led by Richard Lobo, who had joined Green Flash board of directors in April 2017, had prearranged a deal with Comerica to buy enough assets to keep Green Flash and Alpine brands going. Local beer fans rankled as they learned the new entity, WCIPA, LLC, would move forward, installing Green Flash founder Mike Hinkley as an executive in the new corporation, while investors and shareholders of the original businesses were left behind.

Beloved brewery closures

Sponsored
Sponsored

If the Green Flash saga proved that even larger, well-established, regional beer producers were vulnerable to rapid changes of a crowded craft beer market, 2018 showed that smaller breweries were even more at risk. This year, the number of breweries in the United States topped 7,000, increasing competition across the nation. With more breweries than all but three American cities, San Diego has started to feel this pressure, and 2018 witnessed the closing of several of the region’s most talked about breweries. Intergalactic Brewing Company, Monkey Paw Brewing, Council Brewing Company, ChuckAlek Independent Brewers, and Toolbox Brewing Company — all of them award-winning breweries — closed this year, surprising observers, including this one. Larger breweries attract beer drinkers to San Diego, but it’s the quantity and quality of our small brewery class that cements our city as a craft beer mecca. We count fewer of those heading into 2019.

Beer offered a positive border narrative

Nationally, the border with Mexico proved a source of controversy in 2018, which lingers into the new year. The relationship between San Diego and Mexican brewers grew closer than ever. Borderland collaborations became the norm, as beermakers crossed in both directions to share brewing methods and inspiration with one another. Over the summer, Bay Park based SouthNorte Beer Co. became the first San Diego craft brewer to establish a permanent brewhouse south of the border, operating within Tijuana’s popular Telefónica Gastro Park. The results have been beneficial to beer drinkers in both nations, and in particular Baja, whose craft breweries set the pace for their nation.

Hard kombucha finds its niche

Three years ago, the mixed fermentation tea known as kombucha was a musty topic restricted to health food circles. However, the success of Chula Vista’s Boochcraft has established high alcohol, or hard kombucha, as a thriving adult beverage market. As Boochcraft readies a massive brewery expansion that stands to grow its brand exponentially, other entrants joined the hard kombucha market around the nation in 2018, including North Park’s JuneShine. It seems to have more parallel than overlap to the beer market, but moving forward you’re likely to find hard kombucha most places beers are sold.

The return of brewpubs

San Diego craft beer didn’t start with production breweries, but with brewpubs. But as craft beer began to trend nationwide, startups mostly abandoned the brewery/restaurant model to open production breweries focused on serving beer only. However, 2018 saw a rise in breweries embracing food service as a facet of doing business. New to San Diego’s brewery community this year were Fourpenny House, The Bell Marker, Melvin Brewing, CAVU Brewing (formerly Absolution by the Sea), Julian Beer Co., and Attitude Brewing Company — each of them established as brewpubs. Meanwhile, breweries including Culver Beer Co., Belching Beaver Brewing, and Latchkey Brewing have added retail food to their breweries, with Latchkey Brewing soon to follow suit. Lastly, existing breweries Duck Foot Brewing Company, Amplified Ale Works, and Modern Times Beer each opened tasting room locations doubling as restaurants.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mid-range fleet scoring bluefin limits off Ensenada

Rockfish to open at all depths April 1st (no foolin’)
Next Article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.