In April, Burgeon Beer Co. soft-opened its long-anticipated Little Italy tasting room, The Arbor. Equipped with plenty of indoor seating, a sidewalk patio and a kitchen operated by culinary partner The Good Seed Food Co., it’s fast become a popular venue, increasing the visibility of the Carlsbad company’s beers and brand to San Diego proper. Now that the venue and its staff are settled in and hitting their stride, Burgeon has a pair of high-profile events planned—its grand opening and the debut of a beer brewed for and in collaboration with San Diego Beer News.
The grand opening festivities will take place from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday, July 24 and feature a multitude of diverse beer-based offerings. In addition to a trio of fresh releases—a Simcoe- and Amarillo-hopped West Coast IPA called Special Day (draft-only), a strong pale ale brewed in collaboration with Faction Brewing dubbed Subtle Variance and Juice Land, a hazy IPA with blueberry, peach, vanilla bean (the first fruited IPA the company has canned)—several of the taps will be stocked with beers from the aforementioned Faction. A trio of beer slushies (Midway Mango, Strawberry Santa Fe Invitarita, Petco Punch) will also be available along with limited-edition glassware and merchandise.
The Good Seed will also devise dishes to pair with the special-release beers. It’s standard operating procedure at The Arbor and something that The Good Seed co-owner and Executive Chef Jesus “Chuy” de la Torre and his Burgeon counterpart, certified Cicerone (the beer-industry equivalent of the wine world’s sommelier certification) Jake Nunes are finding to be enjoyable and gratifying.
“We still have the same imaginative flavors that make The Good Seed what it is, but at The Arbor we get to experiment with new flavors designed to pair with Burgeon’s beers, and it’s been great working with their team to bring together a fun experience,” says de la Torre. “As part of the grand opening, we are starting a torta tradition. We’ll be collaborating with Tyson Blake to create an unforgettable torta that we will then try to top every year after.”
In addition to co-owning Kearny Mesa’s O’Brien’s Pub and La Mesa’s West Coast Smoke and Taphouse, Blake is well known in the beer community as a creative beer-and-food gastronome. He regularly collaborates with breweries (he is currently developing the food program for Rouleur Brewing’s upcoming North Park tasting room) and, this time around, he will be preparing one of a pair of meaty proteins for the grand-opening torta, which will also include a sauce made of guajillo and jalapeño peppers.
Beer-friendly food specials will also be a part of the release party for Cover Story IPA, a collaboration beer brewed to celebrate San Diego Beer News’ one-year anniversary, on Friday, August 6. A San Diego-style IPA hopped with Mosaic, Motueka, Citra, Simcoe and Cashmere hops, the beer comes in at 6.8% and is packaged in cans sporting a newspaper aesthetic, complete with a pair of faux articles and other fun periodical-themed Easter eggs.
“We have been fortunate to receive tremendous support from Brandon through the wide range of media outlets he has represented over the years. It was a great honor when he approached us about collaborating on San Diego Beer News’ first-anniversary beer,” says Burgeon co-founder and Head Brewer Anthony Tallman. “West Coast IPA was an easy style selection to start the conversation, which then led into the qualities we wanted to achieve in the beer. Cover Story features a light-colored malt profile, which results in an extremely dry and drinkable West Coast IPA that showcases the beautiful qualities of our hand-selected hop varietals.”
The release event will take place from 4 to 10 p.m. San Diego Beer News contributors will be on-hand and Cover Story IPA will be available on-tap and in four-packs of 16-ounce cans along with another new Burgeon release, a hazy IPA hopped with Galaxy, Citra and Idaho 7 called End of Day.
Burgeon Beer Co.’s tasting room, The Arbor, is located at 1326 Kettner Boulevard in downtown San Diego’s Little Italy community