It was 2014 when former Pizza Port brewer Johnny Johur and his business partners, Tom and Nicholas Coardato, founded Artifex Brewing in San Clemente. Though all three reside in coastal San Diego, they were motivated to cite their business in Orange County because, at the time, it was home to less than 20 breweries. By contrast, there were more than 100 brewhouses operating in San Diego County. The decision has worked well for them as Artifex has been able to build a solid reputation throughout Southern California, but it’s been a goal of the trio to have a San Diego presence since day one.
Over the last seven years they’ve searched for satellite sites in Del Mar, Encinitas, Carlsbad and San Diego proper, but it wasn’t until coming upon a conceptual collective in South Oceanside last year that they felt like they’d found the right fit. Now, construction is underway on Mercantile, a pair of shared buildings on Vista Way separated by South Freeman Street. Artifex’s tasting room will be located in the 1,600-square-foot building labelled Mercantile 2, which will also house new stores for established local concepts, Corner Pizza and Northside Shack.
“San Diego has been our home for years and we have always wanted to have a tasting room here,” says Johur. “We started Artifex by self-distributing our kegs in the back of our trucks and vans, and over our first two years in business, 75% of the beer we produced was distributed in San Diego County.”
The full design of Municipal 2 is still underway, but Artifex’s indoor bar will segue to an outdoor area at the rear of the building. There will also be a pass-through window built into the wall separating Artifex and Corner Pizza, allowing customers at the former to order food from the latter.
Though primarily known for hoppy beers—IPAs and pale ales—Artifex’s other offerings run the gamut of styles, from traditional lagers to tart and fruited ales, to boldly malt-forward and lighter-drinking fare, plus barrel-aged releases. Prior to the pandemic, the company’s annual production was at 4,000 barrels. COVID slowed demand and manufacturing, but Johur reports they are slowly working their way back to pre-pandemic numbers. He and his partners are glad to return to some sense of normalcy and feel opening their Oceanside space will go a long way towards that.
“Geographically, Oceanside couldn’t be more of a perfect location with our production facility located just a 20-minute drive up the road in San Clemente,” says Johur. “South Oceanside is a neighborhood rich in culture and identity, and these are values that we share as an ownership group. Having the opportunity to be a contributing member of the South Oceanside community and be neighbors with some amazing breweries is a dream come true.”
Artifex’s arrival will follow that of recent neighborhood entrant South O Brewing, which opened as the inaugural tenant at Brewery Igniter’s lease-to-brew facility in Oceanside in December, as well as Municipal Taco, a restaurant mere steps for the Municipal project that crafts beers in-house under the Municipal Beer label. The Artifex team hopes to debut its new tasting room this spring.
Artifex Brewing’s satellite tasting room will be located at 1940 South Freeman Street in Oceanside