How many breweries in San Diego? November 2018 update

There are now TWO HUNDRED breweries and tasting rooms in San Diego, plus 14 craft-but-not-locally-brewed brewpubs. The subtotals are 159 breweries (net +1 since last update), including 6 non-craft; 41 satellite tasting rooms of local craft breweries (+2 since last update), plus one non-craft satellite tasting room; and fourteen non-San Diego craft brewpubs. The grand total of all locations is now at 214 (net +3 since last update). If all 36 venues in currently in planning open, we’ll hit the 250 venue mark. Follow this link for the full LIST.

I have removed several “in planning” breweries from my list since there is no indication anywhere that they are still live projects; let me know if you have other information (College Landing, Degenerate Brewing, Knox Corners, Legatus, Theiving Magpie). Although information online is contradictory, that fact itself plus the difficulty of obtaining information at all leads me to believe that KO Underground Brewery (which no one seems to have heard of anyway) ceased operating earlier this fall.

New Breweries

Hodad’s is a small local burger restaurant chain. They have entered the brewing space now, too. (Ketch Brewing is a similar kind of venture, a brewery owned by the local seafood restaurant chain, Brigantine.) Hodad’s Serra Mesa brewery is now in operation. There is no tasting room at the brewery, though, so the only place to get their beer is at the restaurants in Ocean Beach and Downtown. That is an addition of one brewery and two tasting rooms in one fell swoop. When baseball season starts up again, you’ll also find Hodad’s beer at their Petco Park concession stands.

Melvin Brewing’s East Village brewpub soft-opened in mid-November. This article from SD City Beat is relevant to your decision whether to give this Wyoming-based company your business. I had originally thought this to be just a tasting room but it turns out they will be brewing on-site, too.

New Entries on the In-Planning List

Bay City Brewing is going to open a tasting room in the suddenly-crowded East Village area of downtown (home to Mission Brewing, Half Door, Stone Tap Room, Knotty Brewing, Duck Foot, Amplified Ale Works, 10 Barrel Brewing, Hodad’s, Melvin Brewing, and soon Little Miss Brewing and whatever is going into the old Monkey Paw space, not to mention the other breweries downtown).

Ebullition Brew Works of Vista will open a tasting room in Bressi Ranch, quite close to the Pizza Port production brewery and near the Culver, Burgeon, Rouleur, Papa Marce, Gaudalupe breweries.

Harland Brewing, founded by several of the people who started and then sold Saint Archer, is gearing up. Their website says “coming winter 2018”; I just saw an Instagram post indicating that their beer is for sale at some San Diego bars already, but it isn’t clear to me if their own brewery is up and running or whether they have guest brewed somewhere. Their website gives an address that is quite close to Newtopia Cider and the Scripps Ranch locaiton of Ballast Point. They have an extremely well-produced video on their site that tells the life-story-so-far one of their owners. It is about growing up in Oakland, turning pro skateboarder and riding Harleys. There isn’t a single beer or a mention of beer in the 12 minute video, so I’m guessing Harland is going to be a lifestyle brand, like Saint Archer.