It’s a common fantasy most everyone has indulged in at one time or another, posing the question: What would I do if I won the lottery? For many, that would mean a major real-estate purchase, a trip around the world or buying up items that are currently out of one’s price range. One thing that’s near universal is the fantasy of emailing a letter of resignation to one’s employer (or perhaps telling them off in-person). But what then? How would one meaningfully spend the rest of their days? Jake Wright has had the same answer to that for a decade-and-a-half: open a brewery.
“I’ve wanted to open a brewery since I made my first beer,” says Wright, an engineer by trade whose capstone project in college was developing an automated homebrewing system. He says it was a fire hazard and “an absolute death trap”, but given the later success of companies like Grainfather and Brewzilla he’s confident he was on the right track. Fifteen years later, he feels that way again. “Last fall I stopped daydreaming about starting a brewery and started getting serious about the numbers, the North County brewery scene and what it would take to make this work.”
Fast forward to present day, and Jake and his wife Nicole are in the process of permitting a 1,900-square-foot former collectibles shop in downtown Escondido, which will soon be home to Made Wright Beer Co. Jake will be responsible for the production and business aspects of the company, while Nicole will focus on branding and design extending to their eventual 60-seater tasting room. The duo envisions maple tabletops with comfortable walnut-accented chairs and a full-length mural running along one wall of the space. The other walls will be adorned with decorations and art pieces.
In the back of the house, Jake will start off with a three-barrel direct-fire brewhouse, which should allow for annual production of roughly 200 barrels of beer. Made Wright’s core line-up will include a Czech-style Pilsner called Life’s Grand, Midway Amber Ale, Daley Driver Pale Ale, Grape Day West Coast IPA and a yet-to-be-named New England-style (hazy) IPA. Once the above recipes and a few hard seltzers are dialed in, Jake looks forward to experimenting with a stout, additional IPAs and a dry-hopped Pilsner, for which he’ll use fellow North County business Burgeon Beer Co.’s New Zealand-hopped Clever Kiwi as a stylistic benchmark.
“My goal for opening a brewery is to make a welcoming ‘third space’ for people in the community,” says Jake. The Wrights have lived in Escondido for a decade and have lamented the loss of brewery venues in the city’s downtown area, notably Black Plague Brewing’s Purgatory Lounge taproom and Plan 9 Alehouse. “I loved Plan 9, but it was as much a restaurant as a brewery, and I never got the chance to talk to the folks making the beer. I want to make a place where you can come in, have a beer, relax and talk to the guy doing the brewing if you’re so inclined.”
Made Wright will initially sell all of its beer across its own bar. Jake likens it to local businesses like Mcilhenney Brewing in Alpine and Nickel Beer Co. in Julian, and hopes to reach that sort of destination-brewery status while providing a niche community-focused business his neighbors will enjoy and appreciate. With the departure of the aforementioned venues (as well as the possible closure of Citracado Parkway’s Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens), Escondido – particularly the downtown area – is sliding toward underserved status where local breweries are concerned. The municipality is currently home to just three brewery facilities – Backyard Brewery, Barley & Sword Brewing and MacDaddy Beer Co. (a nano that isn’t open to the public). It speaks to the struggles of keeping up with an industry and consumer tastes that are ever-changing, but Jake has analyzed the market and believes he knows what his future patrons will respond to.
“I think we can safely say the era of opening a brewery with good beers being enough to define a successful brewery is over,” says Jake. “It seems like the breweries that succeed now are places where you can go out and have a great social experience…or not have a social experience if you want to just drink beer and be on your laptop but be out of the house. In any case, that’s what we’re shooting for and I’m excited to start pouring beers for people.”
If all goes to plan and, as Jake puts it, “the construction gods are kind”, Made Wright will open to the public in September or October.
Made Wright Beer Co. will be located at 136 South Juniper Street in Escondido