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

Meet Kilowatt Brewing Company

Beer plot thickens in brewery-dense Kearny Mesa

The exterior of Kearny Mesa's Kilowatt Brewing Company

It’s hard to believe that, although two-and-a-half-years ago there had never been a brewery in Kearny Mesa, there will soon be five. It’s even more inconceivable that three of those share a strange, unplanned thematic thread. First there was Quantum Brewing, then work-in-progress Magnetic Brewing, and in a matter of a month or so, Kilowatt Brewing Company (7576 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, Kearny Mesa) will join the industrial neighborhood’s ranks. The latter is the product of a sextet of entrepreneurs who originally planned to operate under the name Illumination Brewing Company. Like many monikers in the liquor business, it was already taken. Still, they wanted something that conveyed a unique facet of the business — innovative lighting design — so Kilowatt was chosen.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Work-in-progress Kilowatt Brewing Company in Kearny Mesa

Innovative lighting design? You were likely expecting something beer-related — "Kilowatt beer is electrifying!" But in all seriousness, non-conventional and aesthetically pleasing lighting will help to set Kilowatt’s tasting room apart from competition in and beyond Kearny Mesa thanks to co-owner Steve Kozyk, who has many years of experience designing and installing lighting for Southern California bars and restaurants. That said, the ownership team hopes the influence of co-owner and brewmaster Chris Calva will have just as much, if not more, impact on the tasting room’s visitors.

Calva is a long-time homebrewer who openly admits that he’s not addicted to humulus lupulis. Kilowatt will have an IPA and other hoppy beers, but his focus will be on producing styles that are different from most on the market in San Diego, or anywhere, really. When asked for a rundown of what patrons can expect when the business opens, he lists a mint chocolate porter, coconut porter, honey nut brown ale, goji berry mountain honey ale, chai beer, and a smoked stout that will be the first in a series of brews given smoldered character care of grains he smokes over applewood from his very own property. These are certainly not the contents of a typical beer board in San Diego.

Kilowatt Brewing Company co-owners Chris Calva, Rachel Fischer, and Steve Kozyk

Calva will produce the beers using a German 10-gallon system. Translation: this is a nanobrewery that will produce less beer than the majority of the county’s larger, more well-known players. Though small, they hope to make a significant splash, not just as an individual interest, but in association with the rest of San Diego’s small-production class via an in-progress local nanobrewery guild. Kilowatt is bringing this brainchild to life with fellow conceptualizers at Miramar’s Intergalactic Brewing Company. Together they will put together a website and events that help to promote the county’s growing number of nanobreweries, with a qualification that all member businesses produce beer in batches that are four barrels or less.

Originally, ownership had planned to open a brewery in Ontario, California, but after strategizing about how they could be most effective in pooling their collective energies, they decided to bring the business (and their Ontario-based brewmaster) to San Diego. Having a brewer on-site for visitors to speak to and learn from is particularly important for co-owner Rachel Fischer, who considers interaction with the people making the beer to be the best value-added of a small, local brewery. So, Calva will be as much a fixture as rotating artwork and the food trucks which Kilowatt plans to work with to produce beer-and-cuisine pairings.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

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

Norteño, Mariachi, and Banda groups hire out at T.J. cemeteries

Death always comes with music
The exterior of Kearny Mesa's Kilowatt Brewing Company

It’s hard to believe that, although two-and-a-half-years ago there had never been a brewery in Kearny Mesa, there will soon be five. It’s even more inconceivable that three of those share a strange, unplanned thematic thread. First there was Quantum Brewing, then work-in-progress Magnetic Brewing, and in a matter of a month or so, Kilowatt Brewing Company (7576 Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, Kearny Mesa) will join the industrial neighborhood’s ranks. The latter is the product of a sextet of entrepreneurs who originally planned to operate under the name Illumination Brewing Company. Like many monikers in the liquor business, it was already taken. Still, they wanted something that conveyed a unique facet of the business — innovative lighting design — so Kilowatt was chosen.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Work-in-progress Kilowatt Brewing Company in Kearny Mesa

Innovative lighting design? You were likely expecting something beer-related — "Kilowatt beer is electrifying!" But in all seriousness, non-conventional and aesthetically pleasing lighting will help to set Kilowatt’s tasting room apart from competition in and beyond Kearny Mesa thanks to co-owner Steve Kozyk, who has many years of experience designing and installing lighting for Southern California bars and restaurants. That said, the ownership team hopes the influence of co-owner and brewmaster Chris Calva will have just as much, if not more, impact on the tasting room’s visitors.

Calva is a long-time homebrewer who openly admits that he’s not addicted to humulus lupulis. Kilowatt will have an IPA and other hoppy beers, but his focus will be on producing styles that are different from most on the market in San Diego, or anywhere, really. When asked for a rundown of what patrons can expect when the business opens, he lists a mint chocolate porter, coconut porter, honey nut brown ale, goji berry mountain honey ale, chai beer, and a smoked stout that will be the first in a series of brews given smoldered character care of grains he smokes over applewood from his very own property. These are certainly not the contents of a typical beer board in San Diego.

Kilowatt Brewing Company co-owners Chris Calva, Rachel Fischer, and Steve Kozyk

Calva will produce the beers using a German 10-gallon system. Translation: this is a nanobrewery that will produce less beer than the majority of the county’s larger, more well-known players. Though small, they hope to make a significant splash, not just as an individual interest, but in association with the rest of San Diego’s small-production class via an in-progress local nanobrewery guild. Kilowatt is bringing this brainchild to life with fellow conceptualizers at Miramar’s Intergalactic Brewing Company. Together they will put together a website and events that help to promote the county’s growing number of nanobreweries, with a qualification that all member businesses produce beer in batches that are four barrels or less.

Originally, ownership had planned to open a brewery in Ontario, California, but after strategizing about how they could be most effective in pooling their collective energies, they decided to bring the business (and their Ontario-based brewmaster) to San Diego. Having a brewer on-site for visitors to speak to and learn from is particularly important for co-owner Rachel Fischer, who considers interaction with the people making the beer to be the best value-added of a small, local brewery. So, Calva will be as much a fixture as rotating artwork and the food trucks which Kilowatt plans to work with to produce beer-and-cuisine pairings.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

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

Trump names local supporter new Border Czar

Another Brick (Suit) in the Wall
Next Article

Birding & Brews: Breakfast Edition, ZZ Ward, Doggie Street Festival & Pet Adopt-A-Thon

Events November 21-November 23, 2024
Comments
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