Portrait of a Brewer: Hayden Weir, Weir Beer Co.

There are hundreds of talented brewing professionals giving their all to help maintain the San Diego beer industry’s storied reputation. While these industrious practitioners share numerous similarities, each is their own unique person with individual likes, dislikes, methodologies, techniques, inspirations, interests and philosophies. The goal of San Diego Beer News’ Portrait of a Brewer series is to not only introduce readers to local brewers, but dig in to help them gain a deeper appreciation for the people making their beer and how they have contributed to the county’s standout craft-brewing culture.

Today’s featured brewer is…

Hayden Weir
of Weir Beer Co.

What is your current title?
Owner/Head Brewer

Where did you grow up?
Torrance, a suburb just south of L.A.

What brought you to San Diego (unless you’re a native, of course)?
I moved to San Marcos in 2012 to play baseball at CSU San Marcos, and fell in love with North County.

What was the first beer and/or alcoholic beverage you ever had?
I think my first sip of beer was an accidental sip of my dad’s Natural Light at the age of seven or so. We were using matching koozies while fishing and I thought it was my root beer. I absolutely hated it, of course.

What was your a-ha moment that turned you on to craft beer?
It was two moments really. What started the ball rolling was my best friend got gifted a Mr. Beer homebrew kit in high school. We brewed a batch on it having absolutely no idea what we were doing. It taught me the basics of what brewing was and it caught my interest a bit, but I don’t think I ever even drank the final product. Fast forward two years later to when I moved to San Marcos. Of course I go to parties, and some of the older guys would bring Sculpin IPA. Naturally, I was interested in trying it and I was instantly hooked.

What led you to consider a career in brewing?
My first job in college was working at Five Guys Burgers in San Marcos. After a year of working there and really enjoying it, a new manager came to our location and was really picking my brain. I told him that when I turned 21, I wanted to go around to local breweries and try to get a job brewing. Turns out he was a regular at Dos Desperados Brewery and went to Steve Munson, the owner, and told him that he must hire me based on the work ethic he saw from me. Luckily, Steve gave some young, inexperienced kid a shot!

What was your first brewing/brewery position?
I started at Dos Desperados in San Marcos a month after I turned 21, just a few years after their first anniversary. I had a day or two behind the bar serving beers and would be the assistant brewer every Monday for brew days. I was really just absorbing all the information I could and doing all the simple cleaning work.

What breweries have you worked for over your career and in what roles?
Dos Desperados was only my second job ever. By the time I left after almost nine-and-a-half years, I had done every job that there is in a brewery. With the small team that is over there, it’s really all hands on deck all the time. That is really what prepared me to open my own brewery.

Who have been the individuals that have helped you the most to learn and advance in your career, and how?
Steve Munson of Dos Desperados is the person who first gave me my shot in the industry. He is the reason I felt confident being able to run a business from the admin side and the people-management side. Dean Rouleau is the man who took the time to teach me how to brew on two different systems at Dos Desperados. He taught me the basics and the small details that I still think about every time I brew. When he moved back to the East Coast, I was given full reign of production at Dos right as I turned 24 years old.

What singular piece of advice would you give to someone interested in becoming a professional brewer?
Tell people that’s what you want to do. It’s just a matter of time until someone knows someone looking to hire a brewer. Hang out at breweries and ask questions until then. Also, be prepared for your body to hurt and for people to judge you!

What ultimate career goal would you like to achieve?
I’ve already done it. My wife, Kyndall, and I opened Weir Beer! This was our dream for 10 years and it still feels surreal. But we must move the goal post. So now our dream for the future is to be able to buy the building that we are now leasing, and one day open a second tasting room in the Florida Keys so we can “work” by drinking beer on the beach in paradise.

What is your favorite beer you’ve ever brewed, be it on a professional or amateur level?
The first finished beer at the start of Weir Beer was our West Coast IPA, Quit Playin’ Games with My Hops. After weeks of anxiety over how our first beers would turn out, I sampled the final product out of the brite tank and a long day of tasting-room buildout, and it was excellent. West Coast IPA is generally my favorite style and I knew how important my first few beers were going to be. That beer really helped fuel our last week of buildout.

What is your least-favorite beer you’ve ever brewed on any level?
Black Cherry Oatmeal Stout. It was very popular with customers, but I just don’t enjoy black cherry and I liked the base stout so much that the flavored version made me sad.

What are your favorite and least-favorite hop varietals at present?
Mosaic has always been my favorite hop, Motueka is my favorite of the last few years. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but Nelson is just not my jam. But because of that, I try to order as many beers with it as I can to wrap my head around it.

What are some of your favorite brewing ingredients that aren’t hops?
Now that I am brewing a lot of hard seltzers, I have been having a lot of fun tracking down different types of flavorings and coloring agents. I like trying to recreate nostalgic flavors in seltzers.

If you weren’t a brewer, what do you think you would do for a living?
I get asked this a bit and I never really have a good answer. I started in the industry so young and immediately knew this is what I wanted to do. I think I would have ended up working in baseball somehow if I hadn’t gotten into the industry. But if I were to leave it now, I would probably get into the golf industry. All I know is that I would need to be working with my hands and/or outside. I can’t do a desk job. Sitting at the computer for this interview is the extent of the computer work I can handle!

In your opinion, what non-brewing position is of great importance at a craft-beer company but often gets overlooked or less credit than those making the beer?
Taxes and accounting are always going to be incredibly important in any business. But for craft-beer, specifically, I think it’s marketing and events. Margins are all in the tasting room and the best way for people to hear about us is to use social media and plan some fun events!

What is your favorite beer style?
West Coast IPAs will always be my favorite. I am enjoying the contemporary version with lowered bitterness, allowing the softer side of hops to shine a bit, so long as there is some malt backbone still there.

If you could wipe one style of beer off the face of the earth, what would it be?
Get out of here with anything that has lactose in it. Blasphemy!

What single brewing company’s beers and/or ethos/style has been most influential on your style?
I think it would have to be Burgeon Beer Co. I went to their grand-opening weekend and was immediately impressed and jealous of what they had going on: young owners, a beautiful tasting room and a great staff. They have always been a business to look up to.

What is your favorite San Diego County brewing company?
I’m a big brewery-hopper. I try to check in with as many breweries as possible to keep my finger on the pulse, if you will. I can never answer this question well, I just love to go and visit my friends!

What is your favorite brewing company outside of San Diego?
I haven’t been in years, but Scholb Premium Ales in Torrance is a great spot. I went quite a bit when they first opened and enjoyed the mom-and-pop feel. That was going to be my backup brewing plan if I moved back to Torrance after college.

What are your favorite local beer events?
The San Diego Beer News Awards, of course! And Rhythm & Brews in Vista. I’m so glad that one is back! And the Guild Fest. I really enjoy when most of the breweries in San Diego get together and have a good time.

If you were to leave San Diego, where would be the next-best place you’d want to brew?
My wife and I have family in Portland, Oregon, and they have a similar beer culture there. As long as I’m not in a downtown area, I would love it.

Which musical genre or artists are on your brew-day soundtrack/playlist?
I’m usually listening to podcasts in my ear when I am alone, but if I have company, of course, it’s going to be ‘90s pop-rock and ‘90s alternative.

What motto rules the way you brew and approach brewing in a professional brewhouse?
Keep it clean, keep it safe and measure with your heart!

What do you consider your greatest professional accomplishments?
Winning a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 2020 for Hell Camino Belgian quad was exciting and validating. That was my first recipe I wrote from scratch and only the second batch of it I had made. Also, opening Weir Beer with my wife is quite the accomplishment!

What are you proud of having achieved in your personal life?
I’m proud to have been able to find and do the things I love early on. From playing college baseball, to finding a career that I love at 21, to finding the love of my life and getting married at 27, and starting a business at 30. I’m excited for what is next!

When you’re not at work, what do you like to do for fun?
Visit more breweries! Ride bikes along the coast, travel to visit friends and family and hangout with my wife.

Where do you like to drink off-the-clock?
Kyndall and I recently moved to South Oceanside, so we have been having fun walking to local bars and breweries or riding our bikes to Carlsbad Village. We like to go to new places or places we haven’t been yet.

What is your favorite beer-and-food pairing of all time?
Pepperoni pizza and a red ale is the perfect pairing.

If you could somehow plan your last beer dinner before dying, what would you drink and eat, and who would you invite to join you?
Beer brats and sauerkraut cooked in Coors Light, drinking Miller High Life in my best friend’s backyard with all my boys and their girls. My ideal day.

Who do you think you are (a purposely broad question)?
A hard-working guy that just wants to have fun with his friends and family. That’s why I started a hard business where you constantly have fun, and your customers turn into friends!

If you’re a brewer at a San Diego brewing company and would like to be featured in our Portrait of a Brewer series, drop us a line at [email protected].