New beers from a brewer with experience garnered within the famed Pizza Port family of brewpubs is plenty enough reason to look forward to the opening of a new brewing interest. But throw in SoCal-style Mexican food and what sounds appealing quickly rises to the level of irresistible. Enter Craft Coast Beer and Tacos, a purveyor of two of San Diegans’ favorite things that opened on Friday, August 28 at the base of a multi-use development on Mission Avenue a short walk from Oceanside Pier.
This seemingly no-brainer double-decadence concept was conceived by Blake Masoner, who served as a brewer and lead cellarman at Pizza Port’s packaging brewery in Carlsbad’s Bressi Ranch development. The project was partially funded through sales of merchandise via a crowd-funding campaign and buildout of the project took place in the midst of the pandemic.
The opening beer list included a 4.8% alcohol-by-volume (ABV) Mexican-style lager dubbed Agua Baja, a 5% blonde ale infused with local wildflower honey called T.H.B., and a 6.9% ABV IPA brewed with four-pounds-per-barrel of Mosaic hops that takes its name from the brewpub’s address, 275 (Mission Avenue, that is). The tap list is filled out by guest breweries, including Burgeon Beer Co., Pure Project Brewing, Culver Beer Co. and Masoner’s friends at Pizza Port.
The food menu couldn’t be simpler or more geared towards local tastes. A variety of highly seasoned and slow-cooked proteins—birria, adobada, pollo and carne asada—find their way into Baja-style tacos, nachos and mulitas (a meaty variation on a quesadilla employing two corn tortillas). Veggie versions of the aforementioned dishes are also available, as are sides of beans, rice and a consommé from the birria-braising process.
Celebrating simplicity is the key to Craft Coast. In a time when simple pleasures are both harder to come by and more appreciated than ever thanks to the enhanced perspective of COVID-19, that figures to be a winning business plan.
Craft Coast Beer and Tacos is located at 275 Mission Avenue in Oceanside