Travis Johnson got into homebrewing in a big way during his early-twenties. It’s a hobby he stuck with, crafting batch after batch, until taking a six-year hiatus while serving his country in the U.S. Army. While his focus may have temporarily shifted, the artisanal itch remained. After rejoining the civilian world in 2015, he got right back to kettles, carboys, and sharing his homespun ales and lagers with family, friends and homebrew-club comrades. Last year, his love of recreational fermentation inspired him to take things a step further and establish an online homebrew-supply outlet. Dubbed SoCal Brewing Supply, it’s been a great side-hustle for the full-time procurement professional, enough that earlier this month, he and his wife, Celeste, expanded the business into the physical realm, opening a 1,500-square-foot brick-and-mortar homebrew shop in Vista. With our fourth-annual Homebrew Summer program (for which SoCal Brewing Supply is the banner sponsor) underway, this seemed the perfect time to check in with Johnson for details about his new store and what inspired him to open it, especially when the market for such venues has proven so difficult of late.
What inspired you to go from homebrewer to homebrew-outlet proprietor?
It’s not a really cool story, more of a tale of my friends knowing how to egg me on. After getting back into homebrewing, I was refining a special hazy beer recipe. I had been ordering my ingredients online for some time, and I hated it because, while those outlets had a broad selection, it seemed like it took them one-to-two weeks just to process my order. And then I still had to deal with the transit time. Because of this, I tried to find the Cosmic Punch yeast strain from Omega Yeast at a local shop. Their website said they sold it, but after driving there to pick up other goods, they informed me it was not, in fact, in stock. Those experiences were frustrating to me, and when I shared the stories with a few friends over dinner, they said, “Well, why don’t you start your own store?” I laughed it off initially, but then I started thinking about it and thought it would be pretty cool to always have what I needed without any lead times. Over the next few weeks, I began researching the industry and decided to dive in headfirst. Well, after I convinced my wife it was a promising idea. I’m sure she didn’t believe me, but she said “yes” and the rest is history. SoCal Brewing Supply has grown to more than I ever expected, and I am excited for this next chapter.
What made the location you selected ideal for your first brick-and-mortar?
We approached our building selection with a few key requirements. Proximity was at the top, knowing that with the sheer amount of time we would spend at the shop and going back-and-forth between home, our kids’ schools and our full-time jobs, we would need something close. SoCal Brewing Supply is 1.7 miles from our home, the place where it all started. Secondly, we wanted something easily accessible to customers. After looking at a few sites, this one took the cake as far as providing the best parking and access to a major highway. We are located right off the Sycamore Avenue exit off State Route 78. It’s part of a larger strip mall I’ve actually been coming to for years, because one of our neighbor businesses, Beverage House Liquor, carries beers from Russian River Brewing. Prior to us taking our unit over, it sat vacant for some time, locals speculate as long as 15 years. This brings challenges to bring it up-to-date, but we’ve never been afraid of hard work.
How are you striving to make the space your own?
All the homebrew shops I have patronized have been rather utilitarian. We are taking a risk and mixing things up a bit. We want to highlight the ingredients, since they truly are the most critical aspect of making great beer. To this end, we have a wall entirely dedicated to showcasing grains. It is equipped with five 11-foot-long shelves with 160 glass bottles of grain, so customers can see, taste and smell them. We also wanted to bring in some of our favorite things that came out of the COVID-19 pandemic, with contactless order pick-up being the most notable. This way, customers can take their time at home and order exactly what they want in a stress-free setting.
Is there an overarching tenet that guides the way you run your business?
We have tailored our product offerings to allow brewers to brew the beer they want to. We do not want homebrewers to have to substitute a grain, hop or yeast strain for something different simply because we don’t offer it. Our goal is to offer customers a homebrew shop they’d willingly drive 60 miles to visit, even though, luckily, they don’t have to because we ship.
What inspired you to open a homebrew shop when many have shuttered in recent years?
It is really unfortunate to see so many shops closing. It’s a tough business with relatively low margins. This is further complicated by the fact we are selling perishable items like yeast, which has a very short shelf-life when you consider we have anywhere between 200-300 yeast strains at any given time. We feel it is critical to have high-quality local homebrew shops to support homebrewers’ passions, especially in a beer-centric city like San Diego, which is home to outstanding homebrew groups like QUAFF and the Society of Barley Engineers. I’d suspect nearly all great commercial brewers were influenced in some way by homebrewing. We want to be a part of that legacy, supporting our local beer scene. Also, I want to teach my children the meaning of hard work and purpose. I hope to be able to employ them when they get older. What better life lesson could I offer them?
SoCal Brewing Supply is located at 747 Shadowridge Drive in Vista