Brian Carl is living a brewer’s dream, solely in charge of a brand-new, state-of-the-art facility of his own devising with no one to answer to but himself and his patrons, while working with similarly passionate people in a unique environment that fosters creativity and collaboration. And it never would have come to be if he hadn’t fired off an email simply titled “Employment Opportunities” in the autumn of 2021.
“I live in Encinitas, and a few years back the community was notified about a proposed development called Fox Point Farms. The head of the project, Brian Grover, kept telling us all how great it was going to be, so one day I emailed him,” says Carl. The Managing Partner of Nolen Communities responded and soon the two were chatting over pints at Leucadia watering hole, The Regal Seagull.
Grover told Carl about his plan for a farm-to-table-and-back-again “agrihood” built around the notion of full-circle sustainability, a community hub with its own farm yielding produce to stock an on-property market, restaurant and brewery, with scraps and spent materials sustaining animals that, in turn, provide eggs and other natural items while fortifying the soil. Everything for everyone fostered and crafted in one intimate space. It was an enchanting idea for the nature-loving, outside-the-box brewer, who saw an opportunity and seized on it.
“I told him, give me 600 square feet and I’ll put a seven-barrel brewpub there,” says Carl. “Brian’s eyes lit up and he ended up giving me 1,500 square feet.” Such was the birth of Fox Point Brewing, Encinitas’ only current beer-making operation, and just the second ever for the coastal municipality (the other was Callahan’s Pub expat Paul Holborn‘s short-lived early-nineties brewpub, The Red Kettle).
A graduate of the Siebel Institute with 20 years of experience working for brewpubs throughout the country as well as local beer concerns Benchmark Brewing, OB Brewery and Ketch Brewing, Carl took advantage of the extra square-footage, installing a 10-barrel brewhouse, plus four 10-barrel fermenters and eight 10-barrel serving tanks. It’s a manageable setup that allows for maximum flexibility and creativity, two things Carl believes visitors to Fox Point Farms will benefit from, even if smaller batch sizes may mean some of his more popular beers aren’t always available. Case in point, the first batch of his hazy IPA, which sold out in just 11 days in the midst of Fox Point’s grand-opening festivities last weekend.
I’m not worried about running out of beer. I’m not brewing for the man.”
Brian Carl, Head Brewer, Fox Point Brewing
By “the man”, he is referring to the corporate structures of larger breweries with sizable distribution footprints and the manufacturing conundrums that come with supplying retailers, something Carl will never have to concern himself with at Fox Point Brewing. Every drop of beer he produces will be sold at an on-property bar-equipped grocery called Harvest Market and Haven, a restaurant set to open on Saturday, August 10. The beer won’t even be kegged. Instead, ales and lagers will travel directly through 120 feet of subterranean piping connecting the serving tanks to the aforementioned venues’ taps.
Carl’s opening-day lineup of beers included the following:
- Little Oaks Vienna-style Lager: Encinitas translates to “Little Oaks”
- Konichiwager Japanese-style Lager: A crisp, clean rice lager
- Sunset Pale Ale: A 100% Mosaic pale coming in at 5.5%
- Hibiscus Haze Hazy IPA: An early fave dry-hopped with Cascade, Chinook and Palisade
Hibiscus Haze is a sign of things to come, as Carl intends to infuse estate-grown herbs, peppers, fruits and vegetables into his beers once his brewhouse and the farms are further along in their respective lifespans. A cucumber saison and habanero-infused beer are on the far horizon, while soon-to-come styles include a 100% New Zealand-hopped Pilsner, hefeweizen, red IPA, festbier, dank West Coast IPA and robust porter. The latter will also be served on nitro.
While not a USDA-certified all-organic business, Fox Point Brewing uses organic ingredients and practices, and is San Diego County’s only farmhouse brewery. That is both important and exciting to Carl. He is equally stoked about having 120 hop rhizomes representing seven varietals planted on the farm. Those hops will take one or two years to mature, but once they do, he looks forward to producing fresh-hop beers using cones taken straight from the bines to his tanks.
Prior to Carl reaching out, Grover had been contemplating installing a satellite tasting room from one of several local brewing companies that expressed interest, but thought the idea of producing beer onsite was much more fitting for the agrihood. While designed as a multi-use centerpiece for a Shea Homes development, with its large outdoor courtyard, pair of live-entertainment stages and a separate structure for group activities and events, Fox Point Farms’ public component has plenty to offer non-residents, as well, not the least of which are Carl’s farm-to-table beers.
Harvest Market’s hours of operation are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays.
Fox Point Brewing is located at 1150 Quail Gardens Drive as part of Fox Point Farms in Encinitas