For the past eight years, a tiny, tucked-away brewery has operated in the almost-literal shadows of large-scale neighbors, Ballast Point Brewing and Athletic Brewing, churning out small-batch creations in a cozy rec-room-style tasting room. That business, Division 23 Brewing, has racked up scores of regulars who enjoy being in on one of Miramar’s best-kept secrets. Owner Kellen Smith relishes providing an ale-stocked hideaway and wants to make sure his tasting room’s beer board reflects what his customers actually want to drink. The recent arrival of new head brewer Reed Miller has provided an opportunity to wipe the slate clean, start from scratch and create brand-new beers that regulars can provide feedback on, essentially allowing them to shape Division 23’s eventual tap list. It’s a laborious process, but one Miller, who has always enjoyed the customer-facing aspect of his job, is excited about. We caught up with him to find out about how it’s going and the career lessons that equipped him with the skills to take Division 23 in a new direction.
How did you get into craft beer and what inspired you to join the industry?
After college, I started trying beers from local and craft options that were more flavorful than what macro beer could offer. I’d visit Karl Strauss brewpubs with friends, get Stone, Coronado, Red Hook and Mendocino Brewing six-packs. I tried beers from more and more new breweries that were opening up all over town and ended up visiting Mike Hess Brewing pretty soon after they launched. I volunteered there eon brew days to learn how everything went together and got hooked. What I love about brewing is that it’s the combination of something so simple – just four ingredients – with so many different permutations that you get to show some creativity and have fun.
Where did you work prior to Division 23 and how did that experience help you grow as a brewer?
I started as a tasting-room employee at Green Flash Brewing when their facility opened. I really liked talking with customers and learning what they were interested in and enjoyed. From there I was hired as an assistant brewer at Stone Brewing. There was a steep learning curve there, because it was always busy – production didn’t stop. That created plenty of opportunities for training on new tasks. I learned that running a brewhouse or the centrifuge and filter meant you had to multitask. With production moving along 24/7, it also meant communication was key. I also got the chance to learn some of the packaging side of things and the production planning. After that, I worked at Mike Hess as a brewer and AleSmith Brewing as a brewery supervisor. I tried to apply what I had learned at Stone but also stay open to other methods of getting things done. At Hess, I asked Brewing Manager Jason Stockberger who to contact if there was a maintenance problem. He replied, ‘You’re looking at the maintenance guy…what needs fixing?” I learned you have to come up with workarounds to get tasks done. And AleSmith produces a lot of barrel-aged beers, so I got to see and help with that.
How would you describe your brewing MO as far as style preference and overall approach?
What I’ve learned from production brewing is that you need to be able to repeat a great beer. So far at Division 23, I’ve been making different styles each brew day, but I can apply that repeatability to the process. As for style-selection, I’ve spent my whole brewing career and time as a craft-beer enthusiast in San Diego, so IPAs are a favorite. We’ve made a couple of those so far and are always looking to change things up so we can have something new guests can look forward to. In the next few months, we’ll see what our customers have liked and what recipes we need to tweak. I could make beers that I think should be on-tap all the time – an ESB, old-school pale ales and IPAs – but if those beers don’t sell, then that doesn’t help the business side of things.
What new Division 23 beers have you brewed so far and what’s in the hopper?
So far, I’ve brewed Groundbreaker pale ale, All in a Haze Work hazy IPA, RPM IPA, a coffee stout and a New Zealand-hopped Pilsner developed with an award-winning homebrewer. I’m excited about always getting to try new things on this system. We may end up with a few core or regular beers, but for not it’s something new each time. Being small with no distribution outside our tasting room allows flexibility in what we make. There’s less small places like ours along Miramar than there used to be, but the small and out-of-the-way breweries are worth checking out.
Division 23 Brewing is located at 7408 Trade Street in Miramar