In recent years, as San Diego’s craft-beer landscape has shifted and metamorphosed, the county’s newcomers have largely been, well…not large. Nor have the majority of their owners been interested in growing them into something sizable. It’s a sharp contrast to breweries that opened in the twenty-aughts and -tens, many of which were founded as step one in business plans geared for home-region domination and multi-state distribution. Times and the industry have changed, allowing brewers with goals that, while less traditional, are quite lofty in their own right and, ultimately, adding variety to the county’s beer scene. Perhaps no such local business is as emblematic of this as one most people have never heard of, Lyons Peak Brewing. The latest passion project of lifelong fermentation enthusiast, Siebel Institute of Technology grad and former beer importer Chad Stevens (pictured above), Lyons Peak is located in Jamul and based around dual, dovetailing goals: preservation of a rare breed of cherry tree and utilization of their fruits in the manufacture of authentic Belgian-style kriek. Stevens has been producing spontaneous, barrel-aged lambic-style beers for two decades and is a longtime member of North County’s Société du Lambic homebrew club. That experience and arboricultural lessons handed down from his grandfather are at the heart of Lyons Peak, where he tends to hundreds of trees yielding Schaerbeek cherries, a variety of stone-fruit prized by European kriek producers for their unique flavor and poignant tartness. Stevens is equally enamored and excited to show off just how special those cherries are as the guest of honor at a Lyons Peak night at Kearny Mesa’s O’Brien’s Pub on Thursday, November 6, starting at 5 p.m. It will be the first time the fruits of Stevens’ labor have been on display outside of his Jamul estate (which is open Saturdays, from noon to 2 p.m. for those who would like to sample at the source or purchase their own Schaerbeek tree). We caught up with him ahead of the event to find out more about what may be San Diego’s least-known brewery, not to mention one of very few – if any – that’s currently crafting kriek.
How did this project get started?
I opened the San Diego territory for Shelton Brothers, and because I sold beer from Cantillon (a world-renowned Belgian lambic producer), I knew there was an effort to bring back Schaerbeek cherries. I met with the company’s founder, Jean Van Roy, at Cantillon in 2017, and asked him where I might be able to obtain Schaerbeek. He turned me on to Kris Michielsen, who had written a monograph on Schaerbeek about a decade before and was growing trees to provide to Cantillon and (fellow Belgian lambic brewery) Drie Fonteinen. Kris started growing trees for us, and in 2019 I obtained USDA approval to import them to my property in Jamul. I received and planted 200 trees in 2020. While I only got two cherries off them the following July, in 2024 I harvested 1,200 pounds. That year we provided cherries to Bay Park’s Lost Cause Meadery for a cherry-infused mead called Boom, and I did a collab at AleSmith Brewing in Miramar with owner Peter Zien and Head Brewer Anthony Chen, resulting in the first release of Handgeplukte Kriek.
What lessons have you learned over the past half-decade?
Most of my knowledge comes from interactions with guys like Bill Sobieski (former head brewer at Wild Barrel Brewing) and Andy Gamelin who are both Société du Lambic members. Brewing with them provided one perspective, and the AleSmith collaboration provided another perspective, an entirely different approach controlling parameters through very selective introduction of organisms. It’s opposite of the Société du Lambic approach. which is “the more the merrier”; throw every organism at it you can to obtain as much funk as possible. This approach does result in some interesting products, but not necessarily the flavor profile the average consumer can wrap their palates around. A third perspective resulted from a visit with Inga Lindheim and her husband Eiven Eilertsen at Lindheim Ølkompani. She is sixth-generation on her family’s fruit farm in Norway. We showed up on a Sunday, when they were closed and, long story short, we spent a wonderful day with them and her father. Her husband was wearing a Pizza Port hat, had learned to brew on a Pizza Port system and knew Pizza Port co-founder Vince Marsaglia. They had imported Schaerbeek cherries and were making wild sour beers with various fruits from their orchard, some really amazing products. This was the same trip when I met with Jean at Cantillon, and I decided right then and there, if these people can do it, I can do it too.
How often do you aim to release beer under the Lyons Peak label?
Lambic is tied to nature. I brew December through April. Fermentation takes place in wooden barrels. Wood is important in that it creates a micro-oxygen environment. To get barnyard funk, you need three things: ferulic acid, Brettanomyces and a micro-oxygen environment. I make sure I provide all three to ensure our beer has funk. When the cherries ripen in August, I rack lambic onto the fruit, where a secondary fermentation occurs. The beer spends about two months on the cherries, then it’s bottled. Bottles are then primed with sugar for yet another fermentation in the bottle. Kriek is traditionally laid down until May when it is released to the public. Since San Diego Beer Week takes place in November, I’m pushing young lambic out the door for my friends at O’Brien’s, Tom Nickel and Tyson Blake. I’ve known Tom for a long time and dragged him into managing the San Diego County Fair’s professional brewing competition years ago. And Tom later dragged Tyson into it.
What will be available at the O’Brien’s event?
On tap will be Handgeplukte Kriek – Fermenter 1, which had 650 pounds of cherries, and Fermenter 2, which had 200 pounds of cherries. The two were blended to create the Handgeplukte Kriek. This will allow the consumer to see just how different the two constituents can be to make the desired end-product. Six hundred and fifty pounds of cherries is too fruity, while 200 hundred pounds of cherries results in phenomenal horse-blanket funk. The two combined create the desired lactic/funk/fruit balance. There will also be a sixtel of 100% pure Schaerbeek cherry wine. I have never seen it available anywhere, not even in Belgium. This may be the one and only opportunity to taste the incredible intensity that is the Schaerbeek cherry. One sip and it all makes sense. This cherry belongs in a lambic.
What are your ultimate goals for the business?
To not suck. Business plans, sales meetings, benchmarks, goals…these are the path toward mediocrity. The beer is all that matters. There have been plenty of guys who have thought, all I have to do is make great beer and everything else will fall into place, and then ten years later they are out of business. Well, Schaerbeek cherries are different. This is special. And I’m a guy who loves to grow trees, loves to make beer and loves to make people happy. That’s it. That’s the plan. Period. And that is what I shall do and keep doing as long as nature grants me the ability to do so.
Lyons Peak Brewing is located at 17602 Lyons Valley Road in Jamul, and O’Brien’s Pub is located at 4646 Convoy Street in Kearny Mesa