In January 2021, with hospitality venues reeling from state-mandated pandemic closures, Karl Strauss Brewing opted not to renew the lease on its La Jolla Village location. The birthplace of numerous award-winning beers, the brewpub had operated there for 25 years. That closure followed the 2020 shuttering of CAVU Brewing, a short-lived brewpub in the site that previously housed both La Jolla Brewing and, before that, the long-tenured La Jolla Brew House. The Jewel has been without a brewery or brewery-owned venue ever since, but that’s about to change. Today, the owners of Vista-based Eppig Brewing signed a lease on a 1,300-square-foot space on Prospect Street in the heart of La Jolla Village.
The Eppig team had been searching for a new spot to site a satellite venue since the closure of a pop-up North Park tasting room it operated in the former Waypoint Public bar and restaurant from December 2020 to August 2021. Initially, the search was centered in North Park. A deal for a street-level unit at the base of a 30th Street multi-use high-rise nearly came to fruition before falling apart. That development inspired ownership to expand its search to other neighborhoods.
“The success of our North Park pop-up proved that new locations were not only viable, but necessary to get more of our award-winning beers in the hands and mouths of our fans across the country,” says co-founder Todd Warshaw. “We’ve been eyeing multiple options for a more permanent outpost ever since, and this was an obvious choice in terms of prime location, as well as working with a property owner eager to have us join the neighborhood.”
Also key to Eppig’s selection was the La Jolla site’s abundance of non-replicable elements. As with the company’s satellite tasting room in Point Loma, which benefits from a high volume of foot traffic and offers unique views of the San Diego bay front as the only brewery-owned waterfront locale in the county, the new spot has a lot of positives elements. Among them is high visibility from a constant flow of locals and tourists, proximity to iconic restaurants such as George’s at the Cove, Eddie V’s and Duke’s, and a view of the Pacific Ocean. And the significance of being the only local beermaker in the area can’t be understated.
Eppig is at the onset of the license-application process with the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Warshaw hopes to be able to open to the public by Labor Day. From there, he and his team will apply for permits which will allow for renovation of the space to make it more their own and enhance its amenities.
“We expect to close for a couple of months to extensively renovate and reimagine the space in early spring 2023,” says Warshaw. “The plan is to add cold storage with an integrated tap system, an open storefront to take advantage of the ocean breezes, expanded outdoor seating and more signature Eppig Brewing touches.”
The Prospect Street space was previously home to an art studio. In its future iteration, it will display the art of traditional lager-brewing care of Eppig’s renowned takes on Old World bottom-fermented beers.
When asked if future locations are in the cards for Eppig, Warshaw says he and his colleagues remain on the lookout for spots that present the right blend of amenities, features and opportunities. And opening a permanent location in North Park—the neighborhood where the company debuted at H.G. Fenton’s CRAFT by Brewery Igniter facility—would be really cool.
Eppig Brewing’s La Jolla Village tasting room will be located at 1273 Prospect Street