It doesn’t take much to get local beer fans excited about a new brewery opening its doors, but anticipation for a certain soon-to-open beer interest has been remarkably high thanks to the proven experience of its head brewer. That fermentationist, Derek Gallanosa (pictured below), has deep roots in and beyond San Diego, having made his mark locally at Abnormal Beer Co. and Karl Strauss Brewing before boosting his credentials by opening and elevating Northern California’s Moksa Brewing. Now he’s back and conjuring first drafts in anticipation of his current company’s upcoming opening. That business goes by the name of GOAL. Brewing and will debut at North Park’s Brewery Igniter facility on Saturday, July 22.
“It’s been amazing being back home. From hanging out with my family to seeing all my longtime friends and colleagues, I sometimes feel like I’m on vacation,” says Gallanosa. But that’s not to say that birthing a new brewing company hasn’t been a lot of work. “Pro brewing is a young person’s game. As I’m getting older and have taken over all the brewing and cellar work, I’ve come to realize the importance of staying physically fit to prepare for all the tasks at had. Being in the brewery the first couple of weeks was brutal with my body having a hard time adjusting to the workload, but I am slowly getting used to it all and feeling better every day.”
Gallanosa has amassed a dozen Brewers Cup of California awards (more than half of which are gold) and won a pair of bronze medals in stout categories at the country’s top brewing competition, the Great American Beer Festival. Internationally, he took silver at this year’s World Beer Cup in the heavily contested Hazy IPA category, and had four of the top 10 rated beers (out of 530-plus) at 2022’s Mikkeller Beer Celebration in Copenhagen. Additionally, online resource RateBeer included Abnormal among the top 100 breweries in the world when he was at its helm in 2017, then named Moksa the sixth best new brewery on the planet the following year.
Few are the brand-new beer companies that open with a brewer of that caliber, making for a blaring buzz and high expectations…even if most people don’t know what to expect from GOAL.
“The focus of the beers I will produce at GOAL. will be drinkability with the intention of them being drunk in a social setting. There will be more emphasis on 5.5-to-6.8% (alcohol-by-volume) IPAs, 4.5-to-5.2% lagers, fruited sours and the introduction of my first hard seltzers, which we’ll have fun with by incorporating a variety of fruits and spices in very small batches,” says Gallanosa. “Although the majority of the offerings will be on the sessionable side, multiple stronger hoppy beers and treated imperial stouts will be released monthly.”
The following are what figures to be flowing from GOAL.’s taps when its tasting room soft-opens…
- Suchen, Helles-style Premium Lager (5%)
- Metallic Blue Ones, Hazy Petite IPA with Citra Cryo & Idaho 7 (5.7%)
- Bred Ones, Hazy IPA with Simcoe Cryo & Nelson (6.4%)
- Chicago Ones, Hazy IPA with Citra Cryo & Citra (6.7%)
- Speed Yellow, West Coast IPA with Mosaic Cryo & Simcoe (6.2%)
- Racing Yellow, West Coast IPA with Mosaic Cryo & Citra (6.7%)
- Shine, Hard Seltzer (5-7.5%)
Four beers are on deck to hit GOAL.’s taps following its debut. That quartet includes a Czech-style premium lager called Kvalitni, a hazy double IPA hopped with Simcoe Cryo and Citra called Legends of Summer Twos, a sour ale with calamansi and Chardonnay grapes called Juice, and an imperial stout with Congolese vanilla beans and Guatemalan cacao nibs called Awe. As is the case with all GOAL. beers, they will be brewed to be gluten-reduced.
Gallanosa says that once the initial brewing rush slows down a bit, he’ll shift his attention to filling barrels as the initial step in building up an oaken inventory. The first of GOAL.’s barrel-aged beers are projected to debut around the end of 2024. Gallanosa will lean on lessons learned throughout his career in crafting those oak-tinged ales, but as with every aspect of the new venture, he’s also taking a step back and thinking hard—and outside the box—about the decisions he’s making now which will shape GOAL. for years to come.
This new opportunity has me rethinking everything, from water profiles to hop combos to the mix of products and merchandise that we will offer. Everything is getting reevaluated for this new project. I am excited to see where we can take this business within and beyond beer.”
Derek Gallanosa, GOAL. Brewing
Beyond the beer is a unique, buttoned-up motif and aesthetic GOAL. founder Jayson Pizarro is excited to unveil. GOAL.’s lease-to-brew Brewery Igniter space has had three previous occupants: Attitude Brewing, hard-kombucha producer Juneshine and original tenant San Diego Brewing. In reimagining the unit, Pizarro stripped the public tasting room potion down to its studs.
“The taproom transformation experiment shows a modern Japandi motif,” says Pizarro, referencing a concept melding Japanese and Scandinavian design elements. “We’ve made the space our own by redecorating the taproom, mixing natural wood and decorative smith work to accomplish a minimalist, welcoming vibe while maximizing the limited area at our disposal.”
The tasting room has bar and table seating for 50 guests, plus additional seating care of a patio shared with the facility’s other tenants, Barley & Sword Brewing and Seek Beer Co.
“We hope the new décor will encourage our visitors to stay,” says Pizarro. “GOAL. is about Derek and I finding fulfillment through the pursuit of passion, and guests will find intentional details that give a nod to some of our personal interests throughout the space.”
GOAL.’s hours of operation will be 3 to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday, noon to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and noon to 8 p.m. on Sundays. Following the soft-open period, GOAL. plans to hold its official grand opening in the later half of August. If all goes to plan, that occasion will include the company’s first bottle release.
GOAL. Brewing is located at 3052 El Cajon Boulevard, Suite 101, inside the CRAFT by Brewery Igniter facility in North Park