This has been a busy week for the San Diego brewing industry, enough to inspire the return of a quick-hit format I utilized back when I was Editor at Large for long-gone local beer publication, West Coaster Magazine. Here’s the latest and greatest from the local beerosphere.
After years of searching for an ideal spot to house his company’s first-ever satellite location, Remy Zurita, owner of Kearny Mesa’s Hopnonymous Brewing, has closed on the Normal Heights spot that previously housed one of defunct Little Miss Brewing’s many tasting rooms. Located at 3514 Adams Avenue, the roughly 1,000-square-foot-space sports 18 taps, all of which will soon dispense Hopnonymous’ wide variety of ales and lagers taking influence from brewing cultures around the world. While there is no firm opening date, Zurita hopes to reopen the venue under his company’s flag in mid-to-late summer. Those interested in following the progress of this project can do so on the new Instagram account that’s been set up for the work-in-progress venue.
Last Sunday, nearly two years after opening its second satellite taproom in North Park, Black Plague Brewing shuttered that location, which abutted popular University Avenue live-music venue, The Observatory. Given how badly the owner of the company wanted to set up shop in the crowded community and the fact it took several years to find a workable site (not to mention a false start at a location on El Cajon Boulevard), it was a difficult decision, but ultimately the right one as it will allow for a greater focus on Black Plague’s other higher-performing public venues, which include the taproom at its Oceanside headquarters and its food-equipped Purgatory Lounge in Escondido.
After 12 years operating as Thorn Street Brewery, that North Park business has changed its name to Little Bird Brewing. While significant from a branding perspective, the moniker alteration does not signal any other changes for the company, which is still owned and operated by its founders and will continue producing the same beers it always has. The change was made solely to avoid any potential licensing issues with the Thorn Brewing brand, which the owners of Latitude Brewing LLC (the parent company of Latitude 33 Brewing) purchased last September.