Not only have the majority of San Diego’s craft-beer producers survived during the pandemic, but the overall number of breweries has increased in the COVID-19 era. To-date, newcomers to the industry have forged ahead in a traditional manner, opening public venues at which to pour their liquid wares, the husband and wife behind upcoming venture Itza Brewing are going another route. They have run scenarios, crunched numbers and determined the pandemic isn’t the right time for them to open a taproom. Instead, they will launch their business online, selling beers produced on the nano-sized system at their similarly tiny 450-square-foot Ocean Beach headquarters through their website.
“We currently have a one-barrel brewing system. It was the best way to start during COVID. We realize it takes a lot more brewing hours to keep up with production and we already have plans to upgrade to a larger brewhouse when the time comes,” says co-owner and Brewmaster Javier Garcia Itza, who has already logged many early-morning and late-night hours working on his eponymous interest’s test batches ahead of a May brand launch. The new system, which should be in place within the next few months, will allow Itza’s output to quadruple, but even then, the company’s projected annual capacity will be just 100 barrels. While Itza and wife Anna-Kaisa say the sky is the limit for their business, right now they are simply excited to join the county’s brewing ranks.
The couple first moved to San Diego from the Bay Area in 2018. The first restaurant they dined at was OB’s South Beach Bar and Grill. There, they had their first San Diego beers, Thorn Brewing’s Hopster Pot hazy IPA and Aztec Brewery’s Amber Ale. They refer to those first sips as “an experience on another level,” that drove them to seek out more and more local product from the likes of Ballast Point Brewing, Belching Beaver Brewery, Pizza Port, OB Brewery and more. All of that sampling gave them appreciation for the region’s brewers while inspiring them to open their own business and informing the types of beers they would produce.
“When you are surrounded by so many craft breweries that each make good beer—and we are fans of many of them—it inspires you to make your own good beer,” says Anna-Kaisa, who works as a neonatologist at Rady Children’s Hospital in addition to the family business. “Everyone wins.”
Javier studied environmental law in his native Yucatan, Mexico, and San Francisco, and taught ecological cultivation to Mayan youth as a volunteer for several local and non-profit organizations. He plans to put his knowledge of the environment to use at the brewery by optimizing water use, maximizing recycling efforts and minimizing the business’ impact on nature.
While Javier and Anna-Kaisa have experimented with a number of styles over the past year, they plan to focus primarily on two types of beer: IPAs and porters. The former is a no-brainer in San Diego, where India pale ales are life, but local porter production has fallen off over the past decade, providing an opportunity for Itza to reacquaint coastal consumers with the English-style dark beer.
In addition to online sales, Itza will sell kegged and canned beers to restaurants in and near Ocean Beach. A list of retail establishments selling Itza beers will be included on the company’s website and announcements about developments such as new beers and a future tasting room will make their way to the public through Itza’s Instagram account. But for now, it’s about taking the first step toward a shared goal.
“We did not want to give up on our dream just because of COVID. We just had to plan it wisely, knowing sales would not start right away, but also knowing we would have time to brew, experiment, taste and perfect our beers. That’s what 2020 was all about,” says Javier.
Adds Anna-Kaisa, “Life goes by fast. You really have to do what you love. Starting a brewery was one of those things for us and that is what we are doing now.”