Before abruptly closing in March, Little Miss Brewing held the record for the most satellite locations of any San Diego County craft-beer operation. The Logan Heights-based business operated nine taprooms, leaving numerous cold-box and tap-equipped sites for entrepreneurs to snatch up following the nine-year-old concern’s exit from the local brewing industry. Earlier this month, Hopnonymous Brewing announced plans to take over the previous home of Little Miss’ Normal Heights tasting room, and now an entrepreneurial trio with experience in bar management and the brewing industry has secured the space that formerly housed the company’s northernmost offshoot in Escondido.
Together, Aldo Barboza, Matthew Holden and Ethan Loos (pictured below, from right-to-left) are working to convert the downtown unit into an independent beer-and-wine bar called The Escondido Social Taproom. All three have a personal history with the space, having worked its bar. Holden and Loos helped Little Miss open the Escondido location in 2019, with the former leaving the company the following year to become an investor in San Marcos’ now-closed Rip Current Brewing and the latter managing it for years before departing last November. Barboza went from regular customer to staffer in 2023, eventually bartending beside Holden’s daughter from 2024 until it closed.
“Because of our connection to the space, when it became available we thought it would be a great opportunity to get back in touch with our regulars in a spot we felt very comfortable with,” says Holden, a graduate of San Diego State University’s Business of Craft Beer Professional Certificate Program who is also on the Board of Directors for the San Diego Brewers Guild. “Escondido Social will be a gathering place for old friends – and new ones – to meet up and enjoy a cold beverage. Our focus will be local craft beer and wine with some other alternatives mixed in.”
Fellow Escondidians, Holden and Barboza report that the city government is working hard on community development. They are eager to contribute to those efforts and believe their concept is a good fit in that regard. In addition to offering quality beverages, they intend to hold community-engagement events as part of a programming calendar that will also include live music and theme nights.
The trio is using their intimate knowledge of the space to upgrade it for their eventual clientele. This includes redesigning the roughly 600-square-foot unit’s footprint, opening it up to provide more elbow room and support its communal nature. They also intend to expand the back patio, bolstering its suitability for both private and public events. The patio revamp is planned as a phase-two improvement that will happen after launch.
The team hopes to open their new venue to the public by mid-July. Once operational, its hours of operation will be 3 to 10 p.m., Monday through Wednesday, 3 to 11 p.m. on Thursdays, 3 p.m. to midnight on Fridays, noon to midnight on Saturdays and noon to 9 p.m. on Sundays. Progress on the project can be tracked via the business’ Instagram account.
The Escondido Social Taproom will be located at 132 North Kalmia Street in Escondido