Bill Carter says he’s always been a blue-collar worker. His résumé includes 15 years in cabinetry, plus time spent installing and servicing x-ray equipment. He is currently a maintenance mechanic at Palomar Medical Center Escondido, but for the past three years, he’s also been hard at work applying elbow grease to a labor of love he calls Backyard Brewery.
Carter has been a homebrewer for the past quarter-century and has dreamed of opening up his own operation for around 15 years, but it wasn’t until he spotted a for-sale sign on a one-barrel brewing system that he started to seriously consider turning that ambition into reality.
“In 2018 I was visiting Quantum Brewing in Kearny Mesa and the system was sitting in the tasting room with a sign that read, ‘make an offer’,” says Carter. “About a month later, it was still there. As I sat and had a beer, I talked with the owner, Martin Beaulieu, and when I went to close out my tab I made him an offer, which he accepted. This was the beginning of a long project.”
From there, Carter went about finding a site to house his eventual nanobrewery. The Escondido resident wanted to stay close to home where there were only three brewhouses in operation. He wanted something that wasn’t too big but provided enough space for him to create an inviting and comfortable base of operations.
In the end, he took over The Sand Crab, a bar and restaurant that had been in operation for close to 50 years. That 1500-square-foot-space includes a 600-square-foot patio. While Carter kept the former business’ original bar, tables and chairs, he had his way with the kitchen, converting it into his brewery and cellar. The new plan for eats is to have food trucks on-site on Fridays and Saturdays.
Backyard Brewery will be equipped with a dozen taps, all dispensing house beers, though it will take a while for Carter to stock all of them. He expects eight beers to be on-tap when the business debuts to the public either later this month or in early-December. The exact timing is dependent on sign-offs from the City of Escondido.
“Backyard Brewery will be a nice neighborhood brewery, a simple, friendly place where you can have a beer, kick back and visit with friends,” says Carter before citing some friends who have been instrumental in helping him navigate the early stages of his brewing interest. “Jacked Up Brewery has been a great help during the planning and set-up of my project. [Owners] Mike and Carly Poulson are amazing people.”
Like most nanobreweries, Carter’s plan is to sell 100% of his beer across his own bar, making a trip to Escondido a necessity for anyone looking to try his assortment of IPAs, porters, stouts and Belgian-style ales as well as a variety of hard seltzers.
Once open, Backyard Brewery’s hours of operations will be 3 to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 3 to 11 p.m. on Fridays, noon to 11 p.m. on Saturdays, and noon to 9 p.m. on Sundays.
Backyard Brewery will be located at 2229 Micro Place in Escondido