S ER VIN G TH E S AN D IEGO C RAF T B EE R C OM MU N ITY


In the Chase Stone alumnus ruminates on his new venture and San Diegan brewing


By Jeff Hammett L TABLE OF CONTENTS


Plates & Pints - Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale Onion Rings


Brews in the News


Beer and Now - Rare Beer El Cajon Brewing Company


People, Places & Things of SD Craft Beer


Into the Brew - Brewing on the Night Shift


Homebrew Tip of the Month


October/November Craft Beer Events


Craft Beer Directory and Map


2 4 6 7


8-9


10 11


14 15


ee Chase is founder and brewer at Automatic Brew- ing Company, co-owner


of Blind Lady Ale House and his latest restaurant Tiger!Tiger! (and eventual brewpub) is opening later this year. Before his own business ventures, Chase was head brewer at Stone Brewing Co. from 1996 to 2006. From creating the infamous Arrogant Bastard Ale recipe to own- ing his own restaurants and brew- ing company, Chase is the trusted source to provide us some history on the past, present and future of San Diego’s craft beer industry. West Coaster sat down with him at Tiger!Tiger! to find out just that.


WC: How has the local beer industry changed since you started brewing? Chase: When I started homebrew- ing there was one homebrew supply shop in El Cajon. It was Beer and Wine Crafts, and that was it. Shortly after I got into homebrewing, Jack White from Ballast Point opened Home Brew Mart. If that’s an indi- cator, it’s changed a lot since then.


I think that was in 1990. I was like, “There’s one place to buy home- brew ingredients?” Not that I had any knowledge of good ingredi- ents and bad ingredients, but the ingredients Beer and Wine Crafts would sell you were in a can. So I wondered: “can we get something that doesn’t come in a can?” Part of this whole thing is trying to avoid


buying packaged sh*t and mak- ing it from raw materials instead. Considering Blind Lady Ale House and Tiger!Tiger! I guess we’re still working off that idea.


WC: When did you get your profes- sional start? Chase: I started at Stone at the end of 1996; they started in the summer of ‘96. When they were building out Stone I was brewmaster at a place called Brewer’s Union which was an on-premise 7 barrel micro- brewery. The owners of Stone, Greg and Steve, came in and introduced themselves to the brewing com- munity—which at that point was pretty small. There was AleSmith, San Diego Brewing Company, and La Jolla Brewing Company. Karl Strauss was around and Pizza Port of course. Then there was this wave of breweries that came along with this idea of producing beer for bars, restaurants and stores; and now I think there’s a second wave that is producing beer and selling most of it on tap or in growlers, and maybe kegs. They figure out how much beer can go outside the building later, using the same real estate model but a whole different busi- ness model.


WC: What’s the new model for opening a beer establishment? Chase: This is the model for a lot of these second wave breweries—get an industrial space, build a bar, get a brewery. Actually, you don’t even


Works in Progress W


By Mike Shess


ith over 82 draft ac- counts and counting in San Diego County,


Oceanside Ale Works (OAW) currently produces 1200 barrels annually. Mark Purciel and Scott Thomas co-own the brewery, along with their wives. Purciel, a former teacher, and Thomas, a firefighter, tapped into their


respective home equity lines of credit for the initial capital to start OAW in 2005. OAW originally opened their doors at a smaller location, 3800 Oceanic Dr. In Oc- tober, they’ll celebrate one year in their newer, bigger, and current location at 1800 Ord Way.


Continued on Page 13


Lee Chase holds a piece of the puzzle at Tiger!Tiger!


really need a real brewery, just take your homebrew setup over. Then get a type 23 license which allows you to make beer and sell pints of it to people. That wasn’t something that was possible before. The ABC used to say that you weren’t allowed to sell pints of beer and you could only give really small tastes. It’s a really huge change. There’s a good and bad thing about it. With Blind Lady, a personal goal or ideal was to have a brewpub in a neighborhood, but as it turns out plenty of people work near these new


Continued on Page 12


he morning after the countywide blackout (9/8) West Coaster fired up its social media to ask how social you really got when the lights went out and your beers warmed up. Here’s some responses to our Facebook poll: “Did your blackout story involve beer? Let’s hear it!” Bo W. We started our BBQ by drinking the Green Flash Hop Head Red I bought at Trader Joe’s two days ago. During a blackout, you must begin with your most superior beverages in the fridge before they get warm. Robert G.


Blackout Beer Tales T


It was a great way to find out what all the neighbors drank! We all hung out and put all the beers in big ol coolers and made the best of it! Mike S.


All my good beer was consumed in multiple fantasy football drafts, so I was left with the crap beer that people left at my house that I usually bum off on guests. It was devastating. Elizabeth M. We kept Green Flash open until the brewery was too dark. Packed house full of great people and great beer!! Annie W.


Power went out shortly before kids soccer practice. Made to practice (manually shut garage door, crazy), confirmed that power was out for a long while, and also that Iron Fist was open. Hauled my 4 kids over there to play while


Continued on Page 11 Head Brewer Scotty Bevilacqua checking the gravity of an upcoming OAW beer


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