In so many ways, 2023 was a big year for the San Diego brewing industry. As we prepare for 2024, we are taking a moment to look back, combing through our daily reporting from the past 365 days to see which stories garnered the greatest interest from you, our valued readers. In doing so, we are omitting sure-fire items like winners from brewing competitions such as the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup, neighborhood brewery guides, beer-centric travel articles and features such as Portrait of a Brewer, Rear View Beer, What’s Tapping and Beer of the Week. What’s left are the news stories that generated the most traffic on our site and sentiment from the local beer community.
15. Contraction and Expansion for Kings & Convicts
Thursday, February 2
At the same time Ballast Point Brewing was preparing to open its long-awaited brewery-restaurant in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood, its parent company, Kings & Convicts Brewing, was working to condense operations back in San Diego County. The year prior, Kings & Convicts had taken over the Miramar brewery and Leucadia tasting room previously operated by Molson Coors Beverage Co.‘s Saint Archer Brewery prior to that brand’s 2022 discontinuation. A year later, they were ready to offload both, shuttering the satellite venue and moving their production operations to Ballast Point’s Miramar headquarters.
14. The State of Stone under Sapporo
Wednesday, July 5
Last year, when Sapporo USA acquired San Diego County’s largest brewing concern, Stone Brewing, many wondered how the oft-brash, staunchly independent company would function under its new owners. A year in, the Senior Manager of Stone’s Innovation Program and Supply Chain, Jeremy Moynier, provided a first-hand account of vocational life under the Sapporo regime via our guest-article series, Voices of San Diego Beer. In it he shared about the day Stone’s acquisition was announced, his feelings on the matter, what has changed, what hasn’t and whether he still thinks Stone is “craft”.
13. The Beer Queen signs off
Wednesday, November 15
In November, longtime 91X morning show DJ Danielle Stuht left the alt-rock station to take a full-time role as an events manager for Carmel Mountain-based Second Chance Beer Co. Dubbed “The Beer Queen”, she had spent her eight years on the air advocating for local beer and spotlighting San Diego brewing companies, primarily through her weekly Beer for Breakfast segments. As she prepared for her transition from the airwaves to local beers’ rising tide, we caught up with her to find out how her love of craft began, her most memorable moments on the radio and the members of the beer industry she holds near and dear.
12. Karl Strauss nabs old digs, new blood
Monday, October 9
2023 was a momentous year for Karl Strauss Brewing. The company was able to take ownership of a spot it had called home for 34 years. That brewpub on Columbia Street in downtown San Diego is the longest continually operating craft-beer establishment in the county and is set to be revamped in the near future. That project is being spearheaded by Jennifer Briggs, a brewing-industry veteran that Karl Strauss brought aboard to serve as the company’s Chief Experience Officer. As if all of that weren’t enough, the company also brought its beers to Nevada this year care of a partnership with a distributor in The Silver State.
11. GOAL. Brewing to debut next week
Monday, July 10
The opening of a new local brewery is always big news, but the arrival of North Park Brewery Igniter tenant GOAL. Brewing was made even more intriguing for San Diego craft enthusiasts because of the individual helming the brewhouse. That brewer, Derek Gallanosa, was a local product who cut his teeth at Karl Strauss and Abnormal Beer Co. before heading to Northern California in 2017 to open a new business, Moksa Brewing. After six years away, local beer fans were eager to get a taste of Gallanosa’s first drafts at his new company, the aspirational brainchild (GOAL stands for “get out and live”) of founder Jayson Pizarro.