Over the past year, more than a dozen brewery-owned venues have popped up throughout San Diego County. From brand new businesses to spinoffs, satellite venues and new faces in old places, the following is everything that has debuted over the past year.
Inland North County
The Roadies Brewing: Since opening last summer, this husband-and-wife dual-passion project celebrating beer and live music has become a popular spot for the latter, with genre-diverse acts taking the business stage Thursday through Sunday. On the beer front, Belching Beaver Brewery vet Peter Perrecone (who started his career launching Toolbox Brewing in the business-park suite that’s once again his domain) is pumping out hoppy ales and lighter-bodied lagers, as well as occasional sour ales (his personal specialty). | 1495 Poinsettia Ave., #148, Vista
Weir Beer Co.: After nearly a decade heading beermaking operations for San Marcos’ Dos Desperados Brewery, Hayden Weir departed so he and his wife could start a family business in the former home of Helia Brewing in south Vista. With a “summer in the ‘90s” thematic evocative of Saved by the Bell and a wicker-rich outdoor patio, this rookie op offers beers split into “hoppy” (all the IPAs) and “non-hoppy” (lagers, red ale, porter) categories augmented by a family of hard seltzers headlined by the vibrant blue-raspberry “Haterade.” | 1250 Keystone Way, Vista
Michi Brew Co.: After eight years working for the likes of Pizza Port, WestBrew and Carlsbad Brewing, brewer Cody Gagnon took over the 3,600-square-foot San Elijo-adjacent site that formerly housed Double Peak Brewing. In doing so, he tapped his wife to overhaul its interiors with tiki-inspired elements, while he filled the cold box with styles attuned to modern-day drinkers’ tastes, including Mexican- and Japanese-style lagers, an extra pale ale, IPAs and a beer flavored with dragon fruit, guava, strawberry, and hibiscus. | 1801 Diamond St, #101, San Marcos
Hop Habit Brewery: A handful of longtime Belching Beaver employees banded together to start their own side project using the brewing equipment at the company’s original Vista headquarters and the expertise of its most award-winning brewer, Thomas Peters. The result is a co-branded taproom and a new line of beers that leans heavy into modern hop varietals with a pale ale and IPAs of the West Coast, double, hazy, and cold varieties, and an outlier kettle-sour ale infused with apricots and peaches. | 980 Park Center Drive, Vista
Bear Roots Brewing Tavern: Launched as a nanobrewery inside a small homebrew-supply store in 2015, this Vista-based business expanded in a big way, opening a full-service, family-friendly restaurant in a north Escondido strip mall. Sited inside a revamped, 3,000 square-foot building that previously housed a payday-loan office, the new location (the company’s third) offers house beers with specialty pizzas, decadent burgers, hot dogs and sandwiches, plus county-fair-grade desserts (funnel fries, anyone?). | 190 W El Norte Parkway, Escondido
The Lost Abbey: Since leaving its original base of operations in San Marcos after a 2023 ownership split, this world-renowned maker of Belgian-inspired, barrel-aged and hoppy ales has struggled to find a new home meeting its production needs. That changed in January, when the business became a tenant at Eppig Brewing’s Vista facility (which is managed by Mason Ale Works) and gained the use of its brewery, which now houses a connected-yet-separate tasting room for this 19-year-old legacy op. | 1347 Keystone Way, Ste C (inside Eppig Brewing) Vista
Coastal Communities
Docent Brewing – Carlsbad Village: It took years, but a San Juan Capistrano beer company was able to complete its renovation of a ramshackle cottage off Carlsbad Village Road, converting it into a homey shotgun taproom giving way to a backyard replete with greenery, seating, fire pits, and cornhole. Included in the remodel is a kitchen serving creative salads, bowls, sammies, and “sidekicks” (gochujang deviled eggs, jalapeño slaw) to go with award-winning beers like the company’s Double Nickle Pale Ale. | 3060 State St,. Carlsbad
Latitude 33 Brewing & Mission Brewing – Brewers Deck: Del Mar Highlands’ Sky Deck opened in 2021 with Northern Pine Brewing and Rough Draft Brewing serving beer from a shared top-floor, open-air bar called the Brewers Deck. Those tenants have since moved on, making room for Latitude 33 Brewing (a 13-year-old business that had been without a public-facing venue since 2020) and the second coming of pre-Prohibition brand, Mission Brewing, which was revived in 2006 and restructured in 2021. | 12925 El Camino Real (inside Sky Deck) Carmel Valley
Mission Brewing – Miramar & La Jolla: Last year, Mission acquired Rough Draft’s assets when that company closed down after 12 years in the beer industry. That included its 12,000-square-foot combination production brewery and tasting room in Miramar, as well as the aforementioned Brewers Deck stall, plus a taproom located inside UCSD’s Mesa Nueva student-housing complex (pictured above). The company has since moved its operations to Miramar while keeping the taproom at its old East Village headquarters open. | 8830 Reche Road, Miramar; 3869 Miramar St, La Jolla (inside UCSD Mesa Nueva)
The Mill Room by South O Brewing: The hospitality veterans behind Oceanside’s South O Brewing are back in the restaurant business after taking over and transforming the onsite eatery at nearby Pacific Coast Spirits. That 3,000-square-foot space now offers an eclectic, innovative menu of starters (birria croquettes, Philly-style pretzels), mains (Cajun pasta, chicken schnitzel, 16-ounce ribeye), and more, all of which pair with (or in some cases incorporate) South O beers, which are available along with craft cocktails. | 404 S Coast Hwy, (inside Pacific Coast Spirits) Oceanside
Editor’s Note: Ownership announced that The Mill Room ceased operations on Friday, July 18.
Central San Diego
Mason Ale Works – Barrio Logan: After 10 years of using beer as a medium for presenting Latino culture and art, Border X Brewing closed the doors to its Barrio Logan taproom, making room for Mason Ale Works and culinary partner, Tacos El Villasana. Now, the former’s largely hoppy and hazy beers are on tap along with those from Eppig Brewing, Second Chance Beer Co., and Las Vegas-based brand, Beer Zombies Brewing, all of which are part of the distribution portfolio maintained by Mason’s parent company. | 2181 Logan Ave, Barrio Logan
Embolden Beer Co. – Rising Sun Collective & Ramen Station: What began with a Miramar brewery and Matcha Café Maiko collaborating on events celebrating Japanese culture has grown into a full-fledged partnership, with both parties bringing other local businesses into the fold to open a combo bakery, bar and restaurant in North Park called the Rising Sun Collective, as well as a Kearny Mesa taproom offering beer, assorted Asian alcoholic beverages and self-serve noodle cups dubbed the Ramen Station. | 3914 30th St., North Park; 8068 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Kearny Mesa
Brewery X – Harbor Island: Orange County’s largest brewery has set up a satellite inside the Sheraton San Diego Resort. Located off the main lobby, it’s replete with beer-can and brand iconography, indoor and outdoor seating options, plus views of the harbor. In addition to the company’s core beers (light lagers, blonde, Pilsner, IPAs), visitors can indulge in dishes with Mexican (taquito nachos, carnitas pizza with Oaxaca cheese, churros) and southern (hot chicken sandwich, shrimp and grits) accents. | 1380 Harbor Island Dr., (inside Sheraton San Diego Resort) Harbor Island
Editor’s Note: Since this article’s original publication date, Anaheim-based Villains Brewing has opened a brewpub in the former home of Half Door Brewing in the East Village a block north of Petco Park. Meanwhile, another Anaheim business, Asylum Brewing, has debuted in the taproom that formerly housed both Black Plague Brewing and Rouleur Brewing in a building it shares with live-music venue The Observatory in North Park.
A version of this article originally appeared in the Business section of the Friday, July 4, 2025 edition of The San Diego Union-Tribune