The oddness of a business run by the Corona family opening during the COVID-19 crisis isn’t lost on the folks behind Five Suits Brewing. Shortly before the pandemic changed everything, co-founder and brewmaster Nick Corona had struck a deal with the owner of Vista’s struggling Barrel Harbor Brewing, Tim St. Martin, that would see Five Suits take over his business. Hands were shaken and papers signed. Work got underway. Then came the Coronavirus.
Suddenly, friends went from high-fiving and congratulating Corona to telling him he was doomed. But that’s not all that shifted. A big part of the Coronas’ plans for Five Suits was to celebrate old Las Vegas by decorating its tasting room with a Rat Pack era motif complete with memorabilia from the 50’s and 60’s, theater curtains, vintage lighting, a chandelier, old photos in ornate gold frames, and a solid oak bar shaped like a grand piano outfitted with tufted vinyl and a brass kickplate. But with tasting rooms shut down, the family had to focus its efforts elsewhere.
“The hardest part beyond the uncertainty of when we’d be able to open was when we had to shift our momentum from fine-tuning the tasting room to securing packaging supplies almost immediately,” says Corona. “This was a special challenge because every brewery in the nation suddenly put a huge demand on packaging equipment and supplies. Many of those breweries had already established working relationships with those suppliers and here we were, the news kinds on the block starting fresh.”
What hasn’t been impacted by the Coronavirus is Corona’s approach to beer. He says variety is the spice of life and what he’s brewed to date echoes that. Thus far, he’s produced his “bread and butter” hefeweizen, a SMASH (single hop and single malt) pale ale brewed with Golden Promise and Mandarina Bavaria hops, a West Coast IPA and a chocolate stout for which there are two variations (vanilla-coconut, barrel-aged). Offerings on the near horizon include a Berliner weisse, hazy IPAs and Five Suits’ version of the Black Is Beautiful imperial stout, a beer brewed as part of a national initiative to promote equality and raise funds for foundations that support police brutality reform.
Although the pandemic has made things tougher on Corona and his family, he’s found a few silver linings. Being required to stay home from work allowed him to work on the tasting room and customize the brewery. That included dialing in Five Suits’ water-filtration system and fixing any issues that arose early on with the 10-barrel brewing system he inherited from Barrel Harbor. Then, there was all the good will he received from others in the local brewing industry.
“In the midst of the COVID-19 shutdown, as we were trying to get up and running, long-time, established breweries were facing the most difficult time in their company’s histories, so getting offers of supply help from places like The Lost Abbey and Belching Beaver Brewery is something we won’t soon forget,” says Corona. “As daunting as this journey has been for me and my family, I’ve never felt alone. In fact, I’ve been damn lucky. When people like that are truly looking out for your best interests, there’s not enough good things I can say to let them know how much that means.”
Five Suits is currently open solely for to-go crowler and growler fills from 3 to 9 p.m. on Fridays, 12 to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and 12 to 6 p.m. on Sundays. Five Suits beers are also available at Notorious Burgers in Carlsbad as well as Cocina Del Charro and Old California Mining Co. in San Marcos. Once life is restored to what it was prior to the pandemic, Corona intends to finish outfitting Five Suits’ tasting room then hold live music and comedy nights.
Five Suits Brewing is located at 2575 Pioneer Avenue, #104 in Vista