Vista has long been home to a thriving craft-beer culture and a growing roster of breweries, brewpubs and tasting rooms. Only the City of San Diego boasts more brewery-owned venues than the North County municipality, which will soon welcome another local brewery to town, Burgeon Beer Co. That Carlsbad-based business has secured a space on the base level of Vista’s newly constructed Paseo Artist Village mixed-use development where it will build its fourth location. It’s the realization of a long-held goal shared by the company’s founders.
“Vista has been on our radar since the early stages of planning the brewery. We were close to opening there originally, but the location fell through,” says co-founder Matthew Zirpolo. “Since then, we have watched downtown Vista evolve into a vibrant shopping, dining and entertainment district that we can’t wait to be part of.”
Burgeon’s new tasting room is 1,820 square feet and supplemented by 300 square feet of outdoor patio space that will allow for a total capacity of 100 guests. Eighteen taps will dispense the company’s array of West Coast and hazy IPAs, assorted lagers and other largely English-inspired beers. The space does not have a kitchen, but Zirpolo says his team is looking forward to working with local eateries and food trucks to provide high-quality on-site food options.
Aesthetically, the company will install foundational components of its deep-rooted motif—a plethora of plants, live-edge reclaimed wood bar and cold box resembling a shipping container—all of which will be bathed in natural light thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows. Burgeon also hopes to tap into the local artist community to supplement their natural, outdoor environs with their unique, colorful works.
Aesthetically, the company will install foundational components of its deep-rooted motif—a plethora of plants, live-edge reclaimed wood bar and cold box resembling a shipping container—all of which will be bathed in natural light thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows. Burgeon also hopes to tap into the local artist community to supplement their natural, outdoor environs with their unique, colorful works.
In addition to Vista’s impressive growth and established status as a craft-beer hub for North County ale-and-lager fans, Zirpolo and his colleagues are excited about working with the city’s government, which has a longstanding reputation for recognizing the economic benefits presented by breweries and providing assistance as well as a hospitable operating environment for such operations.
Geography is another key to setting up shop in Vista. The new location is equidistantly positioned in between Burgeon’s Carlsbad headquarters and Escondido beer garden, The Oasis.
“Our goal as a North County-based brewery is to serve all our local customers on a local level. We have three locations, but it’s a bit of a trek for some of our fans, so adding a location in Vista will allow us to better serve our current customers while also allowing us to build a new audience,” says Marketing Director Mackenzie Kline. “And since we self-distribute our beer, it makes sense for us to have a connected route that allows us to get out beer to our locations and accounts in a way that minimizes our carbon footprint and synchronizes with our well-established distro routes.”
Kline says ownership will employ that same strategy when it comes to future satellite venues, and that the company’s next tasting room will likely be located somewhere between Carlsbad and Burgeon’s Little Italy venue, The Arbor.
Burgeon produced 7,000 barrels of beer in 2022 and is on track to exceed 8,000 barrels this year. Roughly 30% of the company’s beers are sold across its own bars. That percentage figures to increase once the Vista tasting room opens. Burgeon anticipates that will happen by the end of the year, and invites those who are interested in keeping apprised of the project’s progress to subscribe to the company’s email newsletter.
“We’re excited to grow in this unique community,” says Zirpolo. “We look forward to attracting new consumers to the area with excellent customer service and high-quality craft beer.”
Burgeon Beer Co.’s new taproom will be located at 501 South Santa Fe Avenue in Vista