Since opening in North Park last June, The Original 40 Brewing has had one person handling every aspect of the brewpub’s fermentation program. That individual is Chris “Giggles” Gillogly, who has six years of experience amassed at Groundswell Brewing (where he earned multiple awards at the Great American Beer Festival) Mikkeller Brewing San Diego, Pizza Port Brewing and Green Flash Brewing. Though a popular member of the local brewing community, last week, Gillogly made the decision to exit the beer industry to pursue a new job opportunity as Head Cidermaker at Scripps Ranch’s Newtopia Cyder.
“I’ve always been interested in other types of fermentation and have actually spent a lot of time researching cider. Now I’ll get to run with it,” says Gillogly. “It’ll be outside my comfort zone and that’s important for growth, so I’m shedding my skin and growing a new one.”
There are four key factors that motivated Gillogly: being able to manage every part of the process from orchard to package, having a solid pre-existing relationship with Newtopia owner Rick Moreno, the expectation that the global cider market will grow at a compound annual rate of 3.1% to reach $5.37 billion by 2025, and the fact he will gain an ownership stake in the business.
“We’re all working toward a common goal, and the opportunity to be the creative force behind that is both humbling and very exciting,” says Gillogly. “We’ll make the core brands, but beyond that, I’ve been given total creative freedom.”
“Chris is a new-school brewer and his ability to make unconventional, uniquely peculiar beers has made his craft stand out in the San Diego beer scene,” says Moreno. “We are excited to bring Chris on to continue to push the palate-driven limits in the West Coast cider scene. As a regional producer, we wanted an award-winning brewer to join our team to continue the tradition of making medal-winning cider while being reflective of our San Diego beer roots.”
Moreno reports that Newtopia is doubling its production each month to meet off-premise grocery store demand, which has spiked since the onset of COVID-19. The company is also in the process of launching distribution in Arizona, Nevada (Las Vegas, Reno and Lake Tahoe), and Los Angeles. The latter territory will occur via a partnership with Karl Strauss Distributing.
Gillogly’s departure left boots to fill back at The Original 40, and it didn’t take owner Steve Billings long to do so. Within 24 hours of accepting his head brewer’s resignation, he’d come to terms with a replacement that, like Gillogly, is well known in the San Diego brewing scene: Cosimo Sorrentino. A gregarious, award-winner who jumped from homebrewing to the pros in 2013 as the Head Brewer for the East Village’s now shuttered Monkey Paw Brewery, before heading to Denmark to work for a pair of avant-garde interests, Broaden and Build and To Øl, Sorrentino recently returned to the States and had been assisting at Kearny Mesa’s Kilowatt Brewing and participating in collaboration brews around San Diego when this offer arose.
“We are incredibly excited and honored to have Cosimo taking over our brewing operations. He is a San Diego legend and we look forward to giving him the freedom to work his magic,” says Billings. “There will be a seamless transition between Chris and Cosimo. We even have a hazy IPA on draft that they collaborated on called Playing with Fire.” The fact Gillogly and Sorrentino are longtime friends should also help make for a peaceful transfer of power.
When asked how, or even if, the beer program will change under his direction, Sorrentino says Gillogly left him with some great recipes, but he also expects to let loose some of the creative energy that’s been building within him for nearly a year. As for what he’s eager to brew: “West Coast IPA’s first and foremost. San Diego pale ales if we’re being honest,” he says. “I never thought I’d say this, but I am also excited to make some hazies. You have to make what people want to drink and I am stoked to apply the knowledge gained from drinking pints with such a variety of brewers the last few years. Lastly, I’m really excited about the lager program at The Original 40. Chris has kept a consistent variety of exceptional lagers available and I don’t plan to change that.”
Sorrentino has shared that he does plan on spreading his wings again at some point, departing San Diego as he did when he left for Europe in 2016. But for now, he’s happy to be in sweet home San Diego, working for a local business with a quality brewing setup and mechanism for brewing any beer he can dream up at a place he can ride his bike to on a daily basis. And that place is glad to have him and appreciative of his predecessor.
“We have enjoyed our time with Chris and are forever grateful for what he’s done for The Original 40,” says Billings. “He’s left us in a great position to continue moving forward.”
Even with one foot out the door, Gillogly is already hinting at a return to beer-brewing in some capacity. “I have a separate side project in the works that’s beer-centric, so I won’t be totally out of the beer side.”
The Original 40 Brewing Company is located at 3117 University Avenue in North Park