Over the past few years, the Miralani Makers District, a duo of industrially zoned complexes in the heart of the Miramar area, has seen a formerly robust roster of craft-beverage producers dwindle. At the height of its artisanal tenancy, the Makers District was occupied by four breweries as well as a cidery, meadery, winery and sake brewery. Just one of those beermaking interests remains—all-organic operation Protector Brewery—but come next year, some new ale-and-lager blood will be on tap when newcomer Niuhi Brewing teams with Setting Sun Sake Brewing to debut a shared tasting room.
Founded by hospitality veteran Rhett Terrebonne this summer, Niuhi produces its beers using the brewhouse within the historic Mission Brewery Plaza in San Diego’s Middletown neighborhood. A former base of operations for the likes of New English Brewing, Coronado Brewing and Acoustic Ales Brewing Experiment (now Carlsbad Brewing), it was left vacant when Latchkey Brewing opted not to renew its lease last December. Terrebonne, who had long dreamt of getting into the beer business saw it as an opportunity and mobilized to take advantage of it, albeit in a less typical way.
Terrebonne has enlisted the services of Josh Hembree, the co-founder and President of Setting Sun, who answered his job advertisement for a head brewer earlier this year. As it turned out, Terrebonne was familiar with Setting Sun, having previously purchased the products of San Diego’s only sake brewery. They developed a fast rapport and decided to take their teaming a step further.
“We hired Josh to be Niuhi’s brewmaster and brew all of our beers at the Mission Brewery Plaza location, then decided to partner with Setting Sun,” says Terrebonne. “This partnership will open Niuhi’s first tasting room at Setting Sun Sake’s location in Miramar, turning it into the West Coast’s first and only sake brewpub.”
In joining forces on a shared sampling space, Niuhi and Setting Sun will make a significant upgrade, adding a kitchen for culinary component, Ono Kine Grindz. Developed by Terrebonne, who graduated from culinary school then worked in international kitchens while also plying his trade under chefs back home in Maui, it’s a concept fusing Hawaiian and Asian cuisines. The plan is to wait until debuting the kitchen before making Niuhi beers available at Setting Sun. That is expected to take place sometime next spring.
Terrebonne and Hembree don’t plan to stop there. The duo intend to expand by opening a network of shipping-container-based taprooms installed throughout Southern California. Each will serve food prepared on-site. Areas of interest to Terrebonne include coastal Oceanside, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.
“We are looking to brew and release a lineup of traditional and experimental beers, as well as expanding Setting Sun’s brewing capacity,” says Terrebonne. When asked for his definition of “experimental beers”, he mentions milkshake IPAs and slushy seltzers. “Our beers will be thoughtfully created to pair well with the type of cuisines we plan to offer, not just in Miramar, but our additional brewpubs.”
So far, the majority of Niuhi’s beers have been the products of collaborations with other local breweries, such as Tiger Shark, a hazy IPA produced with the aforementioned Protector. That beer was poured at 91X’s Beer X festival and is currently on-tap at Protector’s tasting room. And over the weekend, Niuhi took part in Chula Vista’s Amps & Ales and Coronado’s Beer by the Bay beer festivals, where it served its Bull Shark American IPA and Nurse Shark brown ale.
The Hawaiian word niuhi translates to “man-eating shark”. That oceanic predator is the mascot for Niuhi Brewing and will be prominently featured on cans of the company’s beer. Terrebonne is making packaging a priority and hopes to have product on shelves in the very near future. But for now, look for Niuhi beers to pop up at brewery taprooms and events.
“This has been a dream of mine for over 20 years,” says Terrebonne. “I’m looking forward to being San Diego’s newest, and soon, top brewery. We will grow and evolve along with the craft-beer industry.”