While 2020 will go down in history as the year of the pandemic, as far as the local brewing industry is concerned, it may go down as the year of Pizza Port alumnus. Last month, one of the SoCal brewpub chain’s former brewers, Blake Masoner, debuted beers at his new concept, Craft Coast Beer and Taco Stand in Oceanside. Later this month, a new, multi-venue concept called WestBrew will launch with beers from former Porter Cody Gagnon. On top of that, another Pizza Port veteran, Adam Jester, is hard at work on a brewery project that will be a key component of the transformation of Carruth Cellars Urban Winery’s Oceanside production facility into a multi-faceted public venue that will be called The Hangar.
Jester and business partner Dominic Burns have signed on as tenants, and will bring their company, The Tipping Pint Brewing, to life via a brewhouse that will be installed inside The Hangar and utilize 1,300 of the building’s 15,000 total square feet. It will operate independent of the wine business and have its own dedicated tasting room located in close proximity to a Carruth Cellars tasting room (the winery’s fourth in the county) and both businesses will share a 3,000-square-foot outdoor area which will be furnished with picnic tables and shade trees.
Carruth Cellars has been in operation for a decade and has grown into San Diego County’s largest urban winery. The company produced 25,000 cases of wine in 2019 and has earned numerous awards. It opened its Oceanside production facility this spring. The Hangar is a reference to the Oceanside Municipal Airport, which is located directly across Highway 76. Addition of an on-site brewery was made possible by the passage of Assembly Bill 1825 last August, which amended the state’s existing alcoholic beverage regulations to, among other things, allow producers to hold overlapping licenses to make beer, wine and spirits on the same premises.
Jester started out as a regular patron at Pizza Port’s Carlsbad Village brewpub, where he got to know brewers he viewed as “otherworldly” for their award-winning craftsmanship. He volunteered to help them out if they ever needed it. They took him up on it and so began a six-year career with the company. Jester started out at the Carlsbad brewhouse before moving to the original Solana Beach location to become its head brewer, where he earned a bronze medal in the Double Red Ale category at the Great American Beer Festival before making a move. “I quit when my son was born to have some tie at home with the new family unit,” he says. “But it wasn’t long before I was back in the brewery, working as the assistant at Pizza Port Carlsbad. Making beer is such a passion that I just couldn’t stay away.”
A self-professed hop head, Jester will use the experience gained brewing many a hoppy beer at Pizza Port in crafting multiple IPAs for The Tipping Pint. But he won’t be limiting himself. He also plans to brew lagers, sour beers and stouts, as well as culinary-inspired beers infused with fruit and other adjunct ingredients. Those beers will be produced on a seven-barrel system.
Phase one of The Hangar, which will include the brewery, pair of tasting rooms and shared beer and wine garden, is expected to be completed by spring 2021. Phase two of the project will see a commercial kitchen installed to provide customers with food on-site.
Jester is chomping at the bit, ready to get back to some semblance of normalcy where human-interaction is involved. “If we have learned anything from the pandemic, it’s that we are social animals. We crave social interaction and are currently in a place where it’s just not possible in any satisfying way,” he says. “When we get through this, a lot of people—myself included—are going to want to go out and have a drink and just socialize. We hope to provide the place and the libations to do just that. We want The Tipping Pint to be the place you hang out and everyone knows you. Bring your friends, bring your family, everyone is welcome.”
The Tipping Pint Brewing will be located inside The Hangar at 3229 Roymar Road in Oceanside