In recent years, there are few San Diego brewery-owned spots that have been more highly anticipated, short-lived or lamentedly lost as the Bay Park tasting room constructed by defunct Benchmark Brewing. That cult-favorite, family-run operation announced it would be building its first and only satellite sampling space in April 2017, but numerous factors delayed the project’s delivery until July 2018. Even then, the site opened in something of a “bare bones” fashion and phase two—an extensive backyard beer garden—never came to fruition. The tasting room shutdown when the company went out of business in June of last year and has sat dormant since. But the Bay Park spot is about to be born anew as the latest venue for Scripps Ranch-based Harland Brewing.
In searching for a community to expand into, the Harland team’s short list also included Oceanside, Normal Heights and Point Loma. They thought highly of all of those locales and saw plenty of opportunity within them, but Bay Park was tops on their list from the get-go and remained there throughout the company’s search.
“We love the neighborhood. We learned very quickly how powerful a great neighborhood can be for business in Scripps Ranch. Our goal was to find a location that replicates that local destination we created at Scripps,” says Jeff Hansson, CEO of Harland’s parent company, Ocotillo Holdings. “Bay Park is full of young families, which was also important to us. Many of us at Harland have young families and having a place to go to enjoy a beer while the kids play is gold.”
This will be Harland’s second satellite tasting room. The company operates another at the One Paseo retail development in Del Mar Highlands. Though both its existing public venues have been well received and patronized, Hansson says Bay Park will be a bit different.
“It’ll be a slight departure from our two other tasting rooms; much brighter and more inviting while maintaining the masculine aesthetic that Harland currently has,” he says. “We plan on building out a section specifically for kids, which we are really excited about.”
Since debuting last year, Harland has been a fast-growing brand. Hansson credits the company’s popularity to its brewing team and their ability to push the envelope where beer styles are concerned. Their innovation—and management’s flexibility to embrace it—have been key to gaining and continuing to please fans.
“When we started, we kept things simple, offering six-packs of our West Coast IPA, Mexican Lager and Hazy IPA,” says Hansson. “We quickly realized that four-packs of 16-ounce cans were what our consumers wanted, and they wanted less pedestrian beer styles in favor of more progressive styles and ingredients. We eliminated the 12-ounce-can six-packs and our packaged beer sales doubled literally overnight.”
As 2020 comes to a close, the company’s projects include the launch of its new, limited-membership beer club, “Harland Seekers,” and another potential tasting room within San Diego County. For now, revamping and readying the Bay Park facility is the top priority. Hansson hopes to be able to debut the project in February or March of next year. In anticipation of still needing to meet government COVID-19 mandates requiring food to be served with alcohol, Harland is working with several vendors to ensure they’ll “have the goods.”
Harland Brewing’s tasting room will be located at 4112 Napier Street in Bay Park