A Miramar bar that was regularly leaned on by local craft-beer fans is once again in use. That live-edge stretch of wood, which was originally installed by the founders of Thunderhawk Alements is now the centerpiece of Wolf Larsen’s Alehouse, a bottle shop on the south end of the Miralani Makers District.
While a cult-favorite brewery, Thunderhawk Alements shuttered three months into the pandemic. That left the manager of that property, Jeremy DeConcini (pictured above), with an empty 1,300-square-foot unit. Instead of bringing in another tenant, he decided to team with friends to take advantage of the on-site coldbox, tap system and bar by fashioning his own beery enterprise.
This isn’t DeConcini’s first foray into the beer world. He is part-owner of MotoSonoro Brewing, a brewery in Tucson, Arizona, which was established with guidance from Port Brewing/The Lost Abbey Managing Partner Tomme Arthur. That operation debuted less than a month before the onset of the pandemic.
“Since the prospects for MotoSonora were dicey at best, I kept my job managing the industrial park, and I’ve been bouncing back and forth ever since,” says DeConcini. “I am friends with Thunderhawk’s founders, Jon Barbarin and Bill Lindsay, and spent many hours having beers at their spot, so I was very sad to see it go. As time went on and the place stayed vacant, some friends of mine talked about wanting to start a taproom and bottle shop there. They asked me to help out since I was already in the beer business, and the rest is history.”
Named for a character out of Jack London’s “The Sea Wolf”, Wolf Larsen’s soft-opened in April with limited days and hours. The oceanic twist of fate at the heart of London’s novel combines with local beach culture to present a dual motif.
“We wanted to create a space that reflects the oceanic nature of San Diego life without being too kitschy, so we have a few surboards, some pictures from the San Diego Historical Society and a mural of Point Loma in the taproom,” says DeConcini. That nautical theme carries through to flight cards labeled as ship’s manifests, and menus for food from mobile vendors presented as ration books. Curation of the tap and bottle lineup is equally thoughtful if less pelagic.
“The goal is to have a selection of the best beers and wines that we can find that you might not also find at other places. For instance, we recently picked up two kegs at Culver Beer Co. in Carlsbad, the thinking being that people who aren’t from North County might not know about those guys and would be stoked by it.”
Numerous other local breweries are represented at Wolf Larsen’s, but part of its appeal is the array of harder-to-procure ales and lagers from out-of-state beermakers. Recent arrivals along those lines include a hazy double IPA from Iowa’s Toppling Goliath Brewing, a fruited IPA from Portland, Oregon’s Great Notion Brewing, a coffee imperial stout from San Antonio’s Weathered Souls Brewing, and a fruited sour collaboratively crafted by New York’s Mortalis Brewing and Florida’s Tripping Animals Brewing.
Wolf Larsen’s hours of operation are 3 to 10 p.m., Monday through Friday, noon to 10 p.m. on Saturdays, and noon to 6 p.m. on Sundays.
Wolf Larsen’s is located at 8675 Miralani Drive, #100, in Miramar