North County San Diego’s growing family of craft breweries gained a brand new member recently. We would like to introduce Offbeat Brewing Company. Located in Escondido, Offbeat brings together craft beer, brilliant art work and a wonderful sense of community adding to the already sprawling North County beer scene.

Offbeat Brewing Company is a long time dream come true for Escondido residents Tom and Sarah Garcia. Tom, being a home brewer, honed his skills as a professional brewer for Stone Brewing Company, and eventually became Stone’s Cellar Supervisor. With his vast knowledge of the industry, he decided to start his own brewery consulting business in America’s Finest City to share skills and insights with growing breweries. Sarah, also being a lover of beer and art, earned her Master’s Degree in Business, and is the rock that keeps Offbeat on beat. Once the idea started to become a reality, Tom and Sarah brought on Dan Reed to take charge of all things media and marketing.

From an outsider’s perspective, Offbeat Brewing Company might appear to be just a new brewery, creating craft beer. But once you step inside, you see there is so much more to it. An identity that goes much deeper than just craft beer. Offbeat strives to bring together a strong sense of community within their tasting room and brew house, one that creates a world of brilliant art of all mediums, like minded great people and of course, fantastic craft beer. Combining these elements to showcase and inspire creativity. Offbeat has lived by this sense of community since day one. The brewery itself was 100% planned, designed and put together by the Offbeat team, their families and a close group of good friends. The first time you walk into the tasting room, it is impossible to deny the hard work, both physical and creative, that was put into the building that Offbeat Brewing Company calls home. From the bar, built out of old wood planks that give it a beautiful rustic feel, to the 3 story tall mural that appears to just jump right off the tasting room wall into reality. The mural was a collaboration art piece by, Marc Allen, Mike McGaugh and Chris Cleary. Another great touch was the hand drawn logos for each beer, or mascot. Drawn by Mike McGaugh, you will see: A cat with a unicorn horn proudly representing their Caticorn IPA, a strong man with real bears for arms boldly bringing to life the Bear Arms Brown and even a Santa Claus with antlers embodying a currently unreleased brew. Offbeat Brewing Company is a friendly environment, bringing together great art, friendly people and of course, fantastic craft beer. They look forward to welcoming anyone with that outsider’s perspective, and transforming them into their personal guests with an undeniably warm atmosphere, and brilliantly crafted cold brews.

Offbeat Brewing Company, located at 1223 Pacific Oaks Place, Suite 101 in Escondido, officially opened its doors to the public on September 15th to a tasting room packed with anxious beer fans. Guests were invited to check out the new brewing space, hang out amongst friends new and old, as well as sample all of the Offbeat brews. The beers poured on opening day included, Girafficopter Session Pale Ale. A low ABV pale ale checking in at 4.2%, but packs a flavorful malt body with a crisp, citrus finish. This is a great beer to enjoy on a hot summer afternoon, (which fit perfectly for the blistering heat experienced in Escondido on opening day!) Caticorn IPA, which presents great, fruity aromas and finishes with a dry, strong, yet not over powering bitter IPA flavor. This is definitely a good IPA for San Diego. Bear Arms Brown, a brown ale as strong as the picture drawn to accompany it. Deep malt with chocolate and coffee flavors throughout, accompanied by a tasty hop touch, Bear Arms Brown keeps you wanting more. Also on tap was the collaboration brew with Mother Earth Brewing Company, Barefoot Harem Theft Scotch Ale. According to the Offbeat Brewing Company site, this collaboration was brewed with rich malts, agave, spiced with juniper berries, all-spice, and boldus. This is a great representation of the style, and a great collaboration between two North County Brewers. We overheard many guests mention how much they specifically loved this Scotch Ale. Along for the maiden voyage, was San Diego fish taco expert, Casanova Fish Tacos. Serving up those delicious taco dishes we all love, which washed down perfectly with Offbeat’s session pale and IPA. People mingled, tasted beer, ate good food and collectively enjoyed a great summer Saturday together, celebrating the opening of one of North County’s newest craft breweries.

Offbeat Brewing Company is currently open Friday through Sunday for tasting and growler fills. Check their official website for times and for special events coming soon.

Please enjoy our interview with Media and Marketing Manager Dan Reed.
 

 
What was the idea and motivation behind opening a new brewery in Escondido?
Opening the brewery in Escondido was one of the easiest decisions made by Offbeat, even if opening a business here can be a little (ahem) challenging. All of us grew up in Escondido, and we wanted to put our efforts and support back into our community. We all grew up loving art and music, and often lamented the struggle of finding things to do around here. We talked about the things we would change if it were up to us, and the potential of the city we were surrounded by. Well, now we’re older, and it is up to us, so we’re trying to put our money where our mouths are. Offbeat Brewing isn’t just a destination for beer, it’s an opportunity to form a community supporting the things we love. We have local artists on rotating exhibition in our tasting room, and will be doing events at the brewery and all around North County supporting art, music, food, and of course beer. Lots and lots of beer.

Where did you learn the process of brewing beer?
An avid homebrewer from an early age, Tom cut his teeth as a professional brewer at Stone in 2003, in the halcyon days of the San Marcos location. He eventually rose to Cellar Supervisor at Stone’s Escondido facility before starting his own brewery consulting business, TAG Brewing Solutions.

How did you decide to name your brewery Offbeat? What are some things you plan to do differently than other San Diego breweries?
While Offbeat certainly applies to the beer, I like to think that it describes Tom even better. Anyone who’s met or worked with him will tell you he’s a bit… unconventional. He’s also one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, hands down. Those things often seem to go hand-in-hand, in my experience. As far as the beer goes, we’re definitely a bit removed from your typical San Diego brewery. While we love big, hoppy IPAs as much as anyone, we’re even more interested in exploring different malt and yeast profiles, as well as incorporating local flora into our recipes (look for some Escondido plant-life in our upcoming beers). And we’re always up for interesting events: from morning Yoga at the brewhouse to costumed bar crawls, we’re going to have some fun stuff coming up!

What is your favorite Offbeat brew and why?
This is going to sound so cliche, I apologize. They’re all so new that I honestly can’t pick one. I really did think that I would have a clear favorite, but I find myself distributing my pours pretty equally. Although Caticorn IPA definitely has the cutest mascot.

The heart of the craft beer scene in North County is beating stronger than ever at this moment. What do you feel are some of the benefits of being in this part of San Diego?
I think you pretty much just said it! Brewing is a community as much as a business, and you want your contemporaries to be inspiring. When you have as many talented brewers around you as we do, it helps everyone. You learn from one another, you challenge each other to constantly improve. Oh, yeah. And you all get to drink each other’s awesome beer. Never mind the rest of that nonsense. That’s the best part.

The new brewery and tasting room is covered, literally floor to ceiling, with magnificent art work from local artists. From the murals, to the drawing bringing the beer names to life, What was the idea behind displaying original art work from so many great local artists? Also, who are the contributing artists?
We grew up with a lot of artists. Starting a business, utilizing their talents to make it more beautiful was almost a given. Outside of that, we know that there are so many people creating amazing things that aren’t even on our radar yet, and we want to provide a place for them to promote their craft. Our current contributing artists are: Marc Allen (mural as well as Offbeat’s logo and branding) www.onebadlanding.com, Mike McGaugh (mural and bottle art) and Chris Cleary (mural and our current “artist in residence” at the tasting room) www.uacgc.com. You can find info on all these guys on our website as well under “OBC Arts.”

Where can thirsty locals go to fill their craving for Offbeat craft beer? Do you have plans in the future to have your brews in San Diego bars and restaurants?
At the moment: The Offbeat Brewing Company. While we absolutely will be selling our beer outside of the brewery in the near future, there are only three of us at the company (aside from Tom and Sarah’s family who graciously volunteer on weekends), so we’re just making as much beer as we can for the tasting room. We should be ready to distribute all around North County by December/January, and will be bottling shortly thereafter.

What can we look forward to next from Offbeat Brewing Company?
More beer, more art, more fun events! I’m in the middle of solidifying a bunch of fun stuff at the brewery, so check out our facebook/website/twitter for more info!

Please finish this sentence… We love craft beer because…
…it makes us happy! The diversity of craft beer and its creators is a little microcosm of awesomeness in a world that can be far too predictable.