For entrants into the brewing industry, opening a tasting room is a big deal. Often, it comes after months or years of hard work for business owners and their staff. For small breweries, in particular, which are typically labors of love from people driven to make a living out of their passion and have dreamt of someday sharing their beers with the public, debuting the business is fulfillment of a long-time goal. That’s how the trio behind Santee’s Three Frogs Beer Co. envisioned their coming-out party, but the timing of it—June 5—didn’t make for a standard opening-day scenario.
It took Thee Frogs four long years to get to the point where they had beer and a place to serve it. At that point, the latter was a moot point due to governmental regulations imposed due to COVID-19. According to co-founder Andy Lloyd, he and his fellow amphibians, Trevor Anderson and Jerren Zeferjahn, didn’t have time to worry about that. “We were at a point where we had to open and make money or we weren’t going to be able to sustain, so for us it was really no choice. We had to open during the pandemic. It was definitely a bummer—something we’re still struggling with—but a silver lining has been seeing the support we have received from the local and beer communities. It’s been great seeing all the people who truly enjoy our product coming back for more. It gives us great pride.”
One of the beers on the inaugural tap lists was the aptly named Citra-, Amarillo- and Mosaic-infused Just Get Open IPA. Frog’s Dirty Blond, Golden Frog White (wheat) IPA, a black IPA and hibiscus wheat ale rounded out the first-day offerings. Thee Frogs has since added a blueberry wheat, BRAVO! single-hop pale ale, a smoky American ale called Stumblin’ Bullfrog, plus a single and double IPA that are both Citra-heavy.
Three Frogs’ beers are brewed on a well-used three-barrel system that was the initial production vessel for Santee’s Manzanita Brewing (which later went by the name Twisted Manzanita Ales), before being inherited by Butcher’s Brewing, then acquired by Ramona-based ChuckAlek Independent Brewers. All of those businesses have since closed, but the Frogs, who all live in Santee, appreciate having a hyper-local piece of brewing history in-house. Now if they could just bring customers into said house, they’d be all set.
Someday, their 800-square-foot of air-conditioned interior space will be able to house up to 33 people. The décor is resourceful versus flashy, with recycled pallet wood and a bar-top made from beams extracted from the home of one of the company’s partners during a recent remodel. Whether or not that space can be utilized, a belated celebration is in the works.
“We hope to have a late grand opening sometime in August, possibly September. Something in conjunction with Motorcycle Monkey Coffee, which is in the same building we are in and owned by Clint August, the afternoon DJ on 101.5 KGB. We hope to have a coffee-infused beer using his coffee, possibly a coffee blonde or coffee stout,” says Lloyd. “We will have a food truck and most of the parking lot turned into patio seating with parking tentatively available at nearby Lloyd’s Collision. Possibly live music, as well.”
For now, Three Frogs is all about to-go sales of its beers in 32-ounce twist-top cans or growlers (customers must bring their own) as Lloyd works on securing a temporary food component to meet mandate requiring breweries to provide a bona-fide meal in conjunction with beer purchases, and is hoping to partner with nearby Ferny’s Mexican Food.
Three Frogs’ hours of operation are 3 to 7 p.m., Wednesday through Friday, and 12-7 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
Three Frogs Beer Co. is located at 10366 Mission Gorge Road, Suite A, in Santee