How Many Breweries in San Diego? September 2018 Update

San Diego now has a total of 157 breweries, including six non-craft. San Diego is also home to 37 satellite tasting rooms of local craft breweries, plus one non-craft satellite tasting room and fourteen non-San Diego craft brewpubs. The grand total of all locations is now at 209. Follow this link for the full LIST.

In the last twelve months, the number of breweries in San Diego increased by six, and the number of tasting rooms increased by 13, for an overall increase of 19 locations. I am aware of 33 projects currently in planning (22 breweries and 11 tasting rooms); my guess is that at least 18 of those will open in the next twelve months.

Closures

Monkey Paw Brewing was closed down suddenly at the end of August. Coronado Brewing bought Monkey Paw in summer 2017, but it seems conflict with the former owner (who still owns South Park Brewing and Hamilton’s Pub) in addition to other business pressures caused Coronado to rethink their decision and they put Monkey Paw up for sale earlier this year. I’m sure there is plenty we don’t know, but the upshot is that this iconic SD beer brand is no more. Officially, Coronado made the move to focus on their core brand, plus their SouthNorte offshoot.

The ChuckAlek Biergarten tasting room in North Park closed at the beginning of September. Their brewery in Ramona closed in July, so this was inevitable. It is a lovely outdoor venue, so hopefully someone else can make something of it.

Openings

Attitude Brewing soft opened in Barrio Logan on Sept. 28, 2018.

Embarcadero Brewing Company in National City also soft opened this weekend.

Ketch Grill & Taps is open in Point Loma.

Not an opening but an addition to the list: For some reason I hadn’t included Tiger!Tiger! as a tasting room for Automatic Brewing.

Coming Soon

Creative Creature Brewing is set to soft open in El Cajon on the first Friday of October 2018.

Helia Brewing (originally planned as White Fence Brewing) has announced they will open in Vista in the first week of October. I’m concerned about brand confusion with the already-established Helix Brewing in La Mesa.

Speaking of Helix Brewing, they just had a second set of tanks delivered for their expansion into the space next door. Look for big things to come soon, including a barrel-aged sour beer program.

Carlsbad’s Gaudalupe Brewing is planning to open their downtown Vista tasting room soon, probably before November.

Mike Hess published a video on Instagram revealing their in-progress Imperial Beach tasting room for the first time. It is going to be cool! Beer, tacos and a patio just steps from the beach. Look for it to open near the end of this year.

Double Peak Brewing is planning to open in San Marcos. Though they are new to the list, they are well along with construction and their brewing system has been delivered. Waiting to hear a planned opening date but my guess is early 2019.