The Prohibition Era’s speakeasy concept has enjoyed a renaissance over the past decade or so. Even breweries—businesses where consumption of alcoholic beverages is the obvious lure—have taken to this archetype for undercover imbibing. Sometimes a brewery will offer its rarest beers in an enclave within its tasting room like Miramar’s AleSmith Brewing with the barrel-aged blends available at its oak-ensconced Anvil and Stave. Or in the case of Kearny Mesa’s Kilowatt Brewing and its Forbidden Cove venue, an underworld tiki bar secretly awaits on the other side of the tasting room wall. Belching Beaver Brewery is about to get into the clandestine quaffing game, and even in an industry where it can sometimes seem like it’s all been done, they’re taking the model in a direction unseen in San Diego by opening a speakeasy devoted exclusively to hard seltzers.
Oceanside-based Belching Beaver has operated a tasting room in North Park since 2012. That spot has done well for them and helped fuel multiple expansions, including this one, which will see the company take over the lease in a suite next-door to the 30th Street satellite to install this new concept.
“Prior to COVID, the space behind us came available and the owners were having a difficult time renting it, so we came up with the idea of building out a full kitchen and a seltzer bar to differentiate the space from the storefront,” says Belching Beaver owner Tom Vogel. “We had just released our seltzers and they were doing very well for us. I did not see anyone with a seltzer bar, but the traction our seltzers were getting was undeniable, so we went with the concept.”
At first blush, one might think this beverage category—despite its rampant growth and popularity over the past few years—to be too narrow for a dedicated bar, and in the case of most hard-seltzer producers that would be a legitimate concern. But no local manufacturer is taking seltzer in as many directions as Belching Beaver. While the company offers all-natural, fruited seltzers that fall in line with the many other seltzers on the market, they have worked to innovate in this subcategory, and fast.
Belching Beaver just released its new Blender Series of seltzers, which are crafted to mimic fruit drinks. The initial mixed pack includes Concord Crush (grape), Pretty in Peach, Citrus and Hibiscus, and Tiger’s Blood (a mix of watermelon, coconut and strawberry). Next up will be the smoothie hard seltzer series, with its own flavor line-up applied to even more viscous offerings. The first two—Slush Nado Blackberry Piña Colada, and Slush N’ Crush Banana, Mango and Guava—will make their debuts tomorrow at the North Park tasting room’s eighth anniversary celebration. Further down the road, Belching Beaver will launch a cocktail-inspired seltzer line with gin and tonics, Margaritas and Moscow mules as their inspiration.
“We are really happy with our Smoothie-style slushies, and I do not know of anyone in San Diego that has released anything like them yet,” says Vogel.
As demonstrated above, there will be plenty to fill out the 10-tap menu at the seltzer bar, which will come in at 1,500 square feet and seat up to 49 people. The speakeasy will be accessible through the existing tasting room, likely through a turnstile bookcase entrance. Inside, there will be a raw-edge Torrey Pine bar consistent with the service divider in the main bar, plus neon accents pulled from the packaging for Belching Beaver’s seltzers.
Another bonus of acquiring the suite abutting their existing venue is that it includes an outdoor patio where the company will be able to install fire pits as it has at its popular brewpubs in Vista. A wood-fire pizza oven will also be installed for on-site food service.
Construction is currently underway on the seltzer bar with a projected debut time frame of July. The North Park tasting room’s anniversary festivities will take place tomorrow and Sunday, featuring various food trucks plus specialty offerings such as Micheladas, “beer-mosas” and a limited-edition IPA called Sip One Nine.
Belching Beaver Brewery’s North Park tasting room is located at 4223 30th Street