Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Barrel Harbor brewery branches out into gaming center

Unique business models in Miramar

An example of the sort of intricate model miniatures on display in the back of At Ease at Barrel Harbor.
An example of the sort of intricate model miniatures on display in the back of At Ease at Barrel Harbor.

Three-year-old Vista brewery Barrel Harbor has been getting active of late. It began releasing cans of Fenris IPA earlier this year and aims to begin canning South Island pilsner by the end of the month. It's also finally putting the barrel in Barrel Harbor, beginning an aged sour program with eight barrels of its Blunderbuss Belgian Blonde.

At Ease at Barrel Harbor is a Barrel Harbor Tasting room with an At Ease gaming tournament center in the back.

Its biggest move has been the opening of At Ease at Barrel Harbor, a tasting room on Miramar Road, just across the street from the Marine Corps base. The large space offers a unique tasting room amenity — gaming tables and miniatures. It's also connected by a swinging door to At Ease Games, the gaming shop that brought Barrel Harbor to this storefront.

Sponsored
Sponsored

At Ease Games doubles as a tournament center. It specializes in hobby games, including card-based games, role-playing games, and miniatures. The latter hobby features model armies that enact battles on model terrains, with outcomes determined by cards or dice.

"It's much more of a thing in Europe and on the East Coast," explains Kent. However, it must be gaining popularity in San Diego, because At Ease Games was getting pretty packed. "These types of games take up a lot of space," he continues, "You need a four-by-six-foot table to play." The vacant suite next door offered 6000 square feet he wanted to put to use. Not just with gaming, but with beer.

Three miniatures stand before a tasting flight of beers.

"That's the model that's all over Europe," says Kent. "They've got places like this, tournament centers where you can go and play miniatures, and they have a bar built in. I wanted to copy that concept." He adds, "When I'm playing a miniatures game, when we're sitting around the table, I like to have a beer."

So Kent reached out to Barrel Harbor owner and childhood friend Tim St. Martin, who, it happened, was actively looking to open a satellite location in the vicinity. "I actually had an application in with the ABC for a second tasting room in Sorrento Valley," recalls St. Martin. "I was tens of thousands of dollars already in to that tasting room. That deal went sideways a little bit."

When the offer to sublet within a planned Fightertown Brewing Company fell through, St. Martin, an army vet, embraced the opportunity to partner with At Ease and move into a military neighborhood. "It was a natural fit," he says, noting that Barrel Harbor had an existing policy to give a 20 percent discount on beer to military and first responders. "I think I'm going to be in a better position than what would have been."

So At Ease at Barrel Harbor opened in November, with bar and board games in the tasting room and bar up front, and a large tournament space in the back. That's where visitors will also find the model armies of At Ease regulars on display. Miniatures gamers typically build and paint their own plastic or die-cast models, which may range from historically accurate Napoleonic soldiers to futuristic robots or characters out of fantasy realms. The delicate models tend to feature elaborate, minute, and imaginative details.

At Ease at Barrel Harbor will end its soft-open phase with a grand opening slated for mid-January.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Hockey Dad brings UCSD vets and Australians to the Quartyard

Bending the stage barriers in East Village
Next Article

Bringing Order to the Christmas Chaos

There is a sense of grandeur in Messiah that period performance mavens miss.
An example of the sort of intricate model miniatures on display in the back of At Ease at Barrel Harbor.
An example of the sort of intricate model miniatures on display in the back of At Ease at Barrel Harbor.

Three-year-old Vista brewery Barrel Harbor has been getting active of late. It began releasing cans of Fenris IPA earlier this year and aims to begin canning South Island pilsner by the end of the month. It's also finally putting the barrel in Barrel Harbor, beginning an aged sour program with eight barrels of its Blunderbuss Belgian Blonde.

At Ease at Barrel Harbor is a Barrel Harbor Tasting room with an At Ease gaming tournament center in the back.

Its biggest move has been the opening of At Ease at Barrel Harbor, a tasting room on Miramar Road, just across the street from the Marine Corps base. The large space offers a unique tasting room amenity — gaming tables and miniatures. It's also connected by a swinging door to At Ease Games, the gaming shop that brought Barrel Harbor to this storefront.

Sponsored
Sponsored

At Ease Games doubles as a tournament center. It specializes in hobby games, including card-based games, role-playing games, and miniatures. The latter hobby features model armies that enact battles on model terrains, with outcomes determined by cards or dice.

"It's much more of a thing in Europe and on the East Coast," explains Kent. However, it must be gaining popularity in San Diego, because At Ease Games was getting pretty packed. "These types of games take up a lot of space," he continues, "You need a four-by-six-foot table to play." The vacant suite next door offered 6000 square feet he wanted to put to use. Not just with gaming, but with beer.

Three miniatures stand before a tasting flight of beers.

"That's the model that's all over Europe," says Kent. "They've got places like this, tournament centers where you can go and play miniatures, and they have a bar built in. I wanted to copy that concept." He adds, "When I'm playing a miniatures game, when we're sitting around the table, I like to have a beer."

So Kent reached out to Barrel Harbor owner and childhood friend Tim St. Martin, who, it happened, was actively looking to open a satellite location in the vicinity. "I actually had an application in with the ABC for a second tasting room in Sorrento Valley," recalls St. Martin. "I was tens of thousands of dollars already in to that tasting room. That deal went sideways a little bit."

When the offer to sublet within a planned Fightertown Brewing Company fell through, St. Martin, an army vet, embraced the opportunity to partner with At Ease and move into a military neighborhood. "It was a natural fit," he says, noting that Barrel Harbor had an existing policy to give a 20 percent discount on beer to military and first responders. "I think I'm going to be in a better position than what would have been."

So At Ease at Barrel Harbor opened in November, with bar and board games in the tasting room and bar up front, and a large tournament space in the back. That's where visitors will also find the model armies of At Ease regulars on display. Miniatures gamers typically build and paint their own plastic or die-cast models, which may range from historically accurate Napoleonic soldiers to futuristic robots or characters out of fantasy realms. The delicate models tend to feature elaborate, minute, and imaginative details.

At Ease at Barrel Harbor will end its soft-open phase with a grand opening slated for mid-January.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The Art Of Dr. Seuss, Boarded: A New Pirate Adventure, Wild Horses Festival

Events December 26-December 30, 2024
Next Article

Born & Raised offers a less decadent Holiday Punch

Cognac serves to lighten the mood
Comments
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
July 13, 2018
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader