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Operation: make organic beer
Former SEALs launch first-of-its-kind SD brewery
Sixty percent of Protector Brewery's founders formerly served as Navy SEALs.
As beer company origin stories go, it doesn't get more badass than Miramar's new Protector Brewery. In 2010, then-Navy SEAL Sean Haggerty brewed his first batch of beer in a five-gallon Gatorade cooler while serving in Iraq.
This was halfway through Haggerty's third combat tour, and he'd begun brainstorming post-military careers. Returning from a raid late one night, he found himself craving something unavailable in a combat zone. He remembers thinking, "It's not like I want to get hammered. I just got home at 3 a.m. — I just want a beer."
So, he found a way to make one. "Nobody else knew I was doing it," Haggerty says. "I had a few ingredients shipped out and was able to put something together." And his career path clicked. "At that moment I knew…let's start a brewery."
For a logo, Protector Brewery adopted the Spartan soldier helmet.
While he remained in the military until 2015, Haggerty began assembling a team of partners among friends and colleagues. He brought in fellow SEAL Ryan Sangster and friends Ryan Allis and Mark Thorsen, who brought experience in beer sales and design, respectively. The team also recruited Ben Betz — another SEAL who was also into brewing and also thinking about opening a beer company.
But they didn't just set out to make good beer — their goal was to make good organic beer. So, in July, Protector Brewery will officially open as San Diego's first certified organic brewery.
"I had people tell me," Haggerty says, "very respectable brewers — they said it couldn't be done…. And at their scale it couldn't be done, not for them, not at that time." But for Protector, working in small, four-barrel batches to brew about 200 barrels a year, the availability of organic ingredients has just about caught up to their need. "It's almost the perfect time to enter, because we have the hops supply we need for the size that we have."
Organic grains and even organic yeast have cost a little more but been relatively easy to come by. Organic hops have proven more of a challenge. "We have to source from five different states," Haggerty says, though he notes these do include several popular varieties, including Citra, Cascade, Centennial, and Mosaic.
Ryan Allis, a biologist who began working in beer after leaving the biotech industry, says the team is hoping that, as more breweries like Protector go organic, doing so will become easier for the industry as a whole. "As the demand increases for organic hops, more farmers will be willing to do it," he says. "The long-term goal is that more places will grow organic hops."
However, according to Haggerty, acquiring organic certification may remain a significant hurdle. In addition to using 100 percent organic ingredients and USDA-approved cleaning solvents, certification requires extensive paperwork.
"The funny thing is," Haggerty says with a laugh, "I had a security clearance in the military, and it was harder to get that organic application pushed through than my security clearance!"
Protector plans to soft-open on Fridays and Saturdays in June.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Operation: make organic beer
Former SEALs launch first-of-its-kind SD brewery
Operation: make organic beer
Former SEALs launch first-of-its-kind SD brewery
Sixty percent of Protector Brewery's founders formerly served as Navy SEALs.
As beer company origin stories go, it doesn't get more badass than Miramar's new Protector Brewery. In 2010, then-Navy SEAL Sean Haggerty brewed his first batch of beer in a five-gallon Gatorade cooler while serving in Iraq.
This was halfway through Haggerty's third combat tour, and he'd begun brainstorming post-military careers. Returning from a raid late one night, he found himself craving something unavailable in a combat zone. He remembers thinking, "It's not like I want to get hammered. I just got home at 3 a.m. — I just want a beer."
So, he found a way to make one. "Nobody else knew I was doing it," Haggerty says. "I had a few ingredients shipped out and was able to put something together." And his career path clicked. "At that moment I knew…let's start a brewery."
For a logo, Protector Brewery adopted the Spartan soldier helmet.
While he remained in the military until 2015, Haggerty began assembling a team of partners among friends and colleagues. He brought in fellow SEAL Ryan Sangster and friends Ryan Allis and Mark Thorsen, who brought experience in beer sales and design, respectively. The team also recruited Ben Betz — another SEAL who was also into brewing and also thinking about opening a beer company.
But they didn't just set out to make good beer — their goal was to make good organic beer. So, in July, Protector Brewery will officially open as San Diego's first certified organic brewery.
"I had people tell me," Haggerty says, "very respectable brewers — they said it couldn't be done…. And at their scale it couldn't be done, not for them, not at that time." But for Protector, working in small, four-barrel batches to brew about 200 barrels a year, the availability of organic ingredients has just about caught up to their need. "It's almost the perfect time to enter, because we have the hops supply we need for the size that we have."
Organic grains and even organic yeast have cost a little more but been relatively easy to come by. Organic hops have proven more of a challenge. "We have to source from five different states," Haggerty says, though he notes these do include several popular varieties, including Citra, Cascade, Centennial, and Mosaic.
Ryan Allis, a biologist who began working in beer after leaving the biotech industry, says the team is hoping that, as more breweries like Protector go organic, doing so will become easier for the industry as a whole. "As the demand increases for organic hops, more farmers will be willing to do it," he says. "The long-term goal is that more places will grow organic hops."
However, according to Haggerty, acquiring organic certification may remain a significant hurdle. In addition to using 100 percent organic ingredients and USDA-approved cleaning solvents, certification requires extensive paperwork.
"The funny thing is," Haggerty says with a laugh, "I had a security clearance in the military, and it was harder to get that organic application pushed through than my security clearance!"
Protector plans to soft-open on Fridays and Saturdays in June.
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