Here's something you might be interested in.
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
Meet Bay City Brewing
Upcoming Point Loma brewery led by former Monkey Paw talent
Chris West will head brewing operations for Point Loma's upcoming Bay City Brewing Company
The San Diego brewing scene is growing so quickly that the open positions for brewing personnel seemingly outnumber the pool of qualified candidates. This means digging through droves of homebrewers for potential blue chips capable of making the successful transition to the pros, a la a minor league call-up. Or, there’s the road becoming more and more traveled these days…the restricted free agent route, wherein a company makes an offer to an already employed brewer, typically offering them more. “More” can mean many things: higher salary, greater freedom, a stake in the business. But most often, it’s what was offered to Chris West — the opportunity to be the head honcho.
West’s name may be familiar to those with a grasp of the players in the local brewing scene. When Cosimo Sorrentino was invited to the bigs by Monkey Paw Pub & Brewery owner Scot Blair, he brought his long-time friend and homebrewing teammate along with him as his cobrewer. Brewing at Monkey Paw includes the task of bartending. It was while slinging suds that West became acquainted with a pair of Point Lomans with a pie-in-the-sky idea for opening a brewery. Months later, a few stars aligned (the duo had a nice location fall in their lap and found a third investor from Yakima, Washington who had numerous connections to hop growers in that area) and all that was needed to get the project off the ground was a qualified brewer. They remembered impassioned conversations about beer at Monkey Paw and asked West if he’d be interested in helming their project from a brewing standpoint. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse and, six months later, he’s putting the finishing touches on a new 20-barrel system from Premier Stainless Systems and ramping up for a targeted April debut for Bay City Brewing Company.
The name references a longtime but lesser-used nickname for America’s Finest City. Everything from hotels to restaurants to saloons and even Mission Brewery — which was originally established as Bay City Brewery — have used this moniker as a mark of locality. The name conveys the “coastal urban” thematic the brewery will feature. In referencing San Diego, West intends to honor the San Diego brewing tradition by using his scientific knowhow (his education and inherent interests are in the cognitive sciences) to craft 11 core beers (that is not a misprint) split into three categories: hoppy beers, malty beers, and sour beers. He will do this from a patio-equipped space at 3760 Hancock Street that borders the freeway and Point Loma’s Valley View Casino Center and is a few short blocks away from Modern Times Beer’s brewery and tasting room.
West had been on the inside track to head brewing operations at upcoming Monkey Paw spin-off, South Park Brewing Company, but cited the liberty to make a vaster array of beer styles as a primary reason for eschewing that opportunity in favor of Bay City Brewing. His plan to brew nearly a dozen year-round offerings certainly speaks to his desire to create great variety.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Meet Bay City Brewing
Upcoming Point Loma brewery led by former Monkey Paw talent
Meet Bay City Brewing
Upcoming Point Loma brewery led by former Monkey Paw talent
Chris West will head brewing operations for Point Loma's upcoming Bay City Brewing Company
The San Diego brewing scene is growing so quickly that the open positions for brewing personnel seemingly outnumber the pool of qualified candidates. This means digging through droves of homebrewers for potential blue chips capable of making the successful transition to the pros, a la a minor league call-up. Or, there’s the road becoming more and more traveled these days…the restricted free agent route, wherein a company makes an offer to an already employed brewer, typically offering them more. “More” can mean many things: higher salary, greater freedom, a stake in the business. But most often, it’s what was offered to Chris West — the opportunity to be the head honcho.
West’s name may be familiar to those with a grasp of the players in the local brewing scene. When Cosimo Sorrentino was invited to the bigs by Monkey Paw Pub & Brewery owner Scot Blair, he brought his long-time friend and homebrewing teammate along with him as his cobrewer. Brewing at Monkey Paw includes the task of bartending. It was while slinging suds that West became acquainted with a pair of Point Lomans with a pie-in-the-sky idea for opening a brewery. Months later, a few stars aligned (the duo had a nice location fall in their lap and found a third investor from Yakima, Washington who had numerous connections to hop growers in that area) and all that was needed to get the project off the ground was a qualified brewer. They remembered impassioned conversations about beer at Monkey Paw and asked West if he’d be interested in helming their project from a brewing standpoint. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse and, six months later, he’s putting the finishing touches on a new 20-barrel system from Premier Stainless Systems and ramping up for a targeted April debut for Bay City Brewing Company.
The name references a longtime but lesser-used nickname for America’s Finest City. Everything from hotels to restaurants to saloons and even Mission Brewery — which was originally established as Bay City Brewery — have used this moniker as a mark of locality. The name conveys the “coastal urban” thematic the brewery will feature. In referencing San Diego, West intends to honor the San Diego brewing tradition by using his scientific knowhow (his education and inherent interests are in the cognitive sciences) to craft 11 core beers (that is not a misprint) split into three categories: hoppy beers, malty beers, and sour beers. He will do this from a patio-equipped space at 3760 Hancock Street that borders the freeway and Point Loma’s Valley View Casino Center and is a few short blocks away from Modern Times Beer’s brewery and tasting room.
West had been on the inside track to head brewing operations at upcoming Monkey Paw spin-off, South Park Brewing Company, but cited the liberty to make a vaster array of beer styles as a primary reason for eschewing that opportunity in favor of Bay City Brewing. His plan to brew nearly a dozen year-round offerings certainly speaks to his desire to create great variety.
Comments