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

Acoustic in Middletown: Unplugged beer comes to oldest brewery!

Expect noise. Acoustic Ales Brewing Experiment about to rock old Mission Brewery

Actually it was the nose, not the noise.

Started twitching as I walked up Washington from the trolley. That sexy, sweet, rich malty smell can mean only one thing: someone is brewing inside the old Mission Brewery Plaza courtyard again.

Always felt sentimental about this beautiful old brewery...

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/14/40154/

...because it survived from back in the day, when it was one of dozens, till Prohibition wiped them all pretty well out in 1918.

It’s dusk. See a couple of guys talking outside a glass-walled building with stainless vats glinting from inside...

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/14/40155/

...Oh yeah. This used to be Five Points Brewing Company, and Coronado Brewing, and New English…quite a turnover.

This is now the brewhouse of Acoustic Ales Brewing Expermient (Mission Brewery Plaza, 1795 Hancock Street, Suite P1, 619-299-2537).

I see they have about a dozen taps under the sign. When this was Five Points you could buy a pint if you wanted, and drink it right here, feet from where it was born.

I see they still have about a dozen taps under the sign, just in the door, along with a real antique wind-up Victrola.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/14/40160/

Turns out these are test batches for the new company, although they are distributing to about 20 restaurants, according to Pershing, who’s a pre-med student interning with Acoustic.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/14/40157/

Brewer Zach and intern Pershing have been able to experiment with brewing new beers in the lead-up to opening

Some guy comes around holding a big plastic bucket of live yeast. Hoses are everywhere.

“We’re making beer but we haven’t been really operational yet,” says Tommaso Maggiore. He’s running things. “But we just finally got approval from the different regulators, and so pretty soon we can actually selling beer. It's been a long process."

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/14/40158/

Tommaso Maggiore

One beer experiment they won’t continue: trying to make gluten-free beer. “That involves sorghum and sorghum can produce cyanide. Seemed a little risky,” says Maggiore.

He hasn’t got a license to sell me a beer from one of these taps yet, but he can give me a sample taster. I choose one called Oatmeal Belgian Milk Chocolate Stout.

“We put 30 pounds of Belgian Milk Chocolate into this baby,” Maggiore says. “That’s one pound per fifteen-gallon keg.”

He pours me a small glass...

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/14/40159/

...Ooh. Substantial. Dark, true stout style. Sweet, deep, but a twang to it.

Reminds me of…oh yeah. A great beer called Dark Seas Russian Imperial Stout by - is this ironic? - the young company who moved outa here to relocate in the Wonderbread factory near Father Joe's… Mission Brewery.

Meanwhile back in the old Mission Brewery, even with maybe six dozen craft breweries in the county, these guys look set to create quite a noise, from where it all began, hey, 1913! Exactly 100 years ago.

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

Previous article

Jazz guitarist Alex Ciavarelli pays tribute to pianist Oscar Peterson

“I had to extract the elements that spoke to me and realize them on my instrument”
Next Article

The vicious cycle of Escondido's abandoned buildings

City staff blames owners for raising rents

Actually it was the nose, not the noise.

Started twitching as I walked up Washington from the trolley. That sexy, sweet, rich malty smell can mean only one thing: someone is brewing inside the old Mission Brewery Plaza courtyard again.

Always felt sentimental about this beautiful old brewery...

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/14/40154/

...because it survived from back in the day, when it was one of dozens, till Prohibition wiped them all pretty well out in 1918.

It’s dusk. See a couple of guys talking outside a glass-walled building with stainless vats glinting from inside...

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/14/40155/

...Oh yeah. This used to be Five Points Brewing Company, and Coronado Brewing, and New English…quite a turnover.

This is now the brewhouse of Acoustic Ales Brewing Expermient (Mission Brewery Plaza, 1795 Hancock Street, Suite P1, 619-299-2537).

I see they have about a dozen taps under the sign. When this was Five Points you could buy a pint if you wanted, and drink it right here, feet from where it was born.

I see they still have about a dozen taps under the sign, just in the door, along with a real antique wind-up Victrola.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/14/40160/

Turns out these are test batches for the new company, although they are distributing to about 20 restaurants, according to Pershing, who’s a pre-med student interning with Acoustic.

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/14/40157/

Brewer Zach and intern Pershing have been able to experiment with brewing new beers in the lead-up to opening

Some guy comes around holding a big plastic bucket of live yeast. Hoses are everywhere.

“We’re making beer but we haven’t been really operational yet,” says Tommaso Maggiore. He’s running things. “But we just finally got approval from the different regulators, and so pretty soon we can actually selling beer. It's been a long process."

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/14/40158/

Tommaso Maggiore

One beer experiment they won’t continue: trying to make gluten-free beer. “That involves sorghum and sorghum can produce cyanide. Seemed a little risky,” says Maggiore.

He hasn’t got a license to sell me a beer from one of these taps yet, but he can give me a sample taster. I choose one called Oatmeal Belgian Milk Chocolate Stout.

“We put 30 pounds of Belgian Milk Chocolate into this baby,” Maggiore says. “That’s one pound per fifteen-gallon keg.”

He pours me a small glass...

http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/feb/14/40159/

...Ooh. Substantial. Dark, true stout style. Sweet, deep, but a twang to it.

Reminds me of…oh yeah. A great beer called Dark Seas Russian Imperial Stout by - is this ironic? - the young company who moved outa here to relocate in the Wonderbread factory near Father Joe's… Mission Brewery.

Meanwhile back in the old Mission Brewery, even with maybe six dozen craft breweries in the county, these guys look set to create quite a noise, from where it all began, hey, 1913! Exactly 100 years ago.

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

Beer Touring: Belching Beaver Brewery

Next Article

Paon Restaurant & Wine Bar Presents a Stone Brewing Company Dinner

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