Since opening Deft Brewing on a less-traversed side-street in an industrial section of Bay Park five years ago, owner Mo Nuspl has cultivated a communal vibe that his neighbors have appreciated, adhered to and advanced. A key conspirator has been Lost Cause Meadery, an award-winning honey-wine operation that moved in next-door to Deft in 2020. Together, they’ve drawn a great deal of attention and patronage to their would-be obscure spot thanks to their quality wares plus co-marketed events and promotions. Now they’re working with newer neighboring entities Oddish Wine and Pizza Cassette on a project that will create a communal compound of sorts dubbed The Gärten.
“We recently took over the property next door to the meadery for Oddish Wine, and it includes a 2,500-square-foot outdoor space,” said Lost Cause co-owner Billy Beltz. “It quickly became a shared vision to build out a European biergarten-inspired outdoor space featuring all four neighboring businesses.”
Lost Cause and Deft were the first businesses in San Diego County to take advantage of a 2019 legislative update from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) that made it legal for breweries and wineries to co-license tasting room space. In 2020, they teamed to co-license the small outdoor patio outside their respective tasting rooms.
“This new biergarten space will be a much larger outdoor space that, with the addition of the winery and the pizza, will be pretty unique for San Diego,” says Beltz.
It’s a bold statement given the current popularity and prevalence of local collective operations, including those that include breweries or wineries. That roster includes a production facility and tasting room co-operated by a quartet of beverage-makers (Barrel & Stave Brewing, Breakwater Brewing, Laguna Beach Beer Co. and Propaganda Wine Co.) called CoLab Public House, which is set to open later this month in Vista.
But Beltz points to the diversity of the consumables offered by The Gärten’s partner businesses…
- Deft Brewing: A decorated brewing operation that, unlike most local breweries, focuses its energies on producing traditional beer styles from Belgium, Germany, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
- Lost Cause Meadery: A modern mead-making interest that has won scads of international awards since launching from a small space in Miramar’s Miralani Makers District in 2017.
- Oddish Wine: An offshoot of Lost Cause offering sparkling wines from a variety of fruit, including co-ferments such as pineapple with Chardonnay and guava with Sauvignon Blanc.
- Pizza Cassette: A new artisan wood-fired pizza business led by two pizzaiolos whose résumés include locally renowned Buona Forchetta, pizzerias in Brooklyn and competing in the World Pizza Championships.
“The outdoor eating-and-drinking space is, of course, becoming a popular trend in San Diego, and for good reason,” says Beltz, “but here, customers will be able to enjoy craft beverages they can’t find anywhere else in San Diego.”
The Gärten is currently under construction and scheduled to debut this September. Once open it will offer a plethora of events, including live music more than 100 nights of the year.
The Gärten is located at 5322 Banks Street in Bay Park.