Most local breweries that have been in operation for a decade or more have achieved household-name status among San Diegans. Strauss, Stone, Societe, San Diego Brewing…and those are just the ones that start with an “s”. Yet, the county’s coast is home to a pair of tasting rooms operated by an 11-year-old operation that’s a bit of an anomaly in that it’s not widely known and has exclusively sold every drop of beer it’s brewed during that span across its own bars. That outlier is Culture Brewing.
Established in 2013 in the heart of Solana Beach’s Cedros Design District, the business performed well out of the gate, enough that it was able to open satellite venues in Ocean Beach and Encinitas in its first four years, before adding a farther flung taproom in Los Angeles’ Manhattan Beach in 2020 (the same year it closed its OB location following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic).
For the most part, Culture doesn’t employ catchy beer monikers, opting instead to call most of its beers by their styles (e.g., Blonde, Brown, Mosaic IPA). Despite that, the business has a clearly communicated identity, manifesting a laid-back, SoCal vibe through its public venues’ beach-adjacent locales, interior design and local-art elements. Each conveys a sense of place while building off the basic, wood-augmented monochromatic aesthetic of Culture’s Solana Beach spot. It’s at that very flagship venue that Tony and Jenna Dellamano fell in love with Culture.
“My wife and our two boys have been residents of Solana Beach for over five years and have always loved Culture Brewing. Whether it was bringing out-of-town friends to Culture or meeting with local Little League parents after a weekend game, we always found ourselves being attracted back to Culture for a pint,” says Tony. “Over a year ago, when doing work for our non-profit Solana Beach Backpacks for Kids, we were introduced to the ownership group through a charity connection and started discussing the opportunity to invest in or purchase Culture. A little over a year later, we closed on the business.”
A Major League Baseball prospect coming out of UC Davis, Tony pitched in the Texas Rangers’ farm system from 1996 to 1998 before transitioning into the hospitality industry, where he began his career as controller for San Diego’s Cohn Restaurant Group. He spent the following 18 years in executive and managerial positions, the most recent of which was Chief Operating Officer for Woodstock’s Pizza. Meanwhile, Jenna is a finance professional of two decades, with executive-level experience in the areas of banking and investment portfolio management.
When asked what he’s most excited about in his new ownership role, Tony says it’s rolling up his sleeves and getting to work.
“Coming from the restaurant business, I frankly don’t know any other way,” says Tony. “You need to be an owner-operator, especially when it comes to this type of business, as you are getting connected to the community. There is also, of course, valuable time spent with the team…getting to know them, their strengths, their vision and what they want out of Culture. We really have the good fortune to build on what has already been built in Solana Beach, Encinitas and Manhattan Beach.”
Tony says Culture has established solid fan bases in all three of the aforementioned markets, so there are no major issues to address. Instead, he and his partners will focus their attention on drawing new customers to join their existing patrons. Key to this, says Tony, will be providing quality food options at their tasting rooms. Whether that means building kitchens, enhancing in-house snack options or working with more food trucks has yet to be determined, but all of those options are on the table, as is the notion of making Culture’s next location a full-service brewpub.
On the beer side, Culture is working toward breaking away from the on-site only availability of its ales and lagers.
We plan to be in a small handful of restaurants and grocery stores in each of our markets. We want our local communities to be able to get our beers in more places than just in the local tasting rooms.”
Tony Dellamano, Co-owner, Culture Brewing
The Dellamanos’ addition to Culture’s ownership team was not offset by the subtraction of any investors or the company’s remaining duo of founders. The group believes their beer is “the best on the coast” thanks to a pair of talented fermentationists in Head Brewer and Stone Brewing expat Jason Smith and former head brewer Aleks Kostka, who returned to the business after helping launch another Southern California brewery several years ago, providing Culture what it needs to grow within a standout craft-beer region.
“We are very humbled and excited to be a part of the craft-brewing scene in San Diego,” says Tony. “San Diego is where the rest of the world looks for new trends in the industry, and we hope we can bring something to the table to keep pushing our local industry forward.”
Culture Brewing’s brewery is located at 111 South Cedros Avenue in Solana Beach, and its satellite tasting room is located at 629 South Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas