Before he ever brewed a drop of commercial beer, Adam Jester had brewed lots and lots of coffee. In 1993, he used his credit card and a $5,000 loan from his parents to open Vinaka Cafe, a second-story java house overlooking Carlsbad Village Drive. It has been his main source of income ever since, allowing him a fiscal foundation and safety net to pursue other dreams that might have otherwise been impossible.
“The business afforded me the opportunity to follow my passion for making beer and go to work at Pizza Port in 2012. I would not have been able to live on an assistant brewer’s pay at the time,” Jester chuckles.
Jester ascended the ranks at Pizza Port to become the head brewer for the Carlsbad-based chain’s original brewpub in Solana Beach. He later departed the business to open his own brewery. That concern, Tipping Pint Brewing, debuted in March 2022 as a tenant at Carruth Cellars’ Oceanside headquarters, the publicly accessible portion of which has been rebranded as Hangar 76, a beverage collective of sorts where patrons can purchase the company’s wines in tandem with Jester’s assortment of IPAs, lagers and stouts.
With Tipping Pint having found its footing, Jester and his wife, Julia, have taken much of the last year to consider their original enterprise. In doing so, they decided they wanted to change things up a bit. For them, that means doing something most coffee establishments can’t: adding not only craft-beer offerings, but their own ales and lagers. Hence, they have applied for a license with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) so they can do just that.
“Applying for and receiving a license are not the same, but we are hopeful,” says Jester. “We are using our Type 23 license to apply for a ‘tasting room’ location at Vinaka. We have a vision of a unique space with craft beer and coffee. We’re not 100% sure what all the ABC will allow us under the Type 23, so it’s a work in progress, but it is finally time to bring my two passions under one roof and we are super excited.”
If licensing goes through, the Jesters plan to install eight taps serving their beer, along with a crowler machine for to-go purchases. They are also in the market for a small canning apparatus.
As for updating the aesthetics of the 1,400-square-foot cafe, Tipping Pint signage and merchandise will carry the day for the brand. Beer-centric art may also be added to help drive home the house-beer side of the updated business.
If authorized, Tipping Pint will be one of several new and upcoming craft-beer projects to debut in Carlsbad’s Village area. If approved, it will join Shoots Fish & Beer’s bar and eatery within The Cottages on Roosevelt collective, and Docent Brewing’s work-in-progress kitchen-equipped tasting room in a former home on State Street off Carlsbad Village Drive.
Vinaka Cafe is located at 300 Carlsbad Village Drive, #211, in Carlsbad