SUDS CHRONICLES / WHAT’S BREWING AT THORN STREET BREWERY?

NORTH PARK BREWERS--San Diego natives Eric O’Connor (left) with Dennis O’Connor (no relation) at Thorn St. Brewery. Not pictured is Thorn Street Brewery business partner Dan Carrico.

PART TWO--North Park’s Thorn St. Brewery (TSB) created their first beer, 11th Hole Pale Ale, in November 2012 on a 7-BBL system, and they have been steadily increasing production ever since. Recently they added a 10-BBL fermentation tank, and they’re set to replace three 7-BBL fermenters with two 15-BBL vessels soon.

Brewer Eric O’Connor told WC that the company is widening distribution by bringing beer to the beaches (Pizza Port Ocean Beach and Fred’s Mexican Cafe [PB]), as well as out east to Brody’s in Jamul and Main Tap Tavern in El Cajon.

They’ll soon be competing at the World Beer Cup in Denver with four beers: Golden Hills Pils, The Menace IIPA, Relay IPA, and Dark Tsar Russian Imperial Stout.

Back home, in North Park (just west of 32nd St.)  lots of beer is aging. Four whiskey barrels are currently housing Dark Tsar Russian Imperial Stout (some of which was kegged and tapped at the beginning of March), another two whiskey barrels are holding a Belgian quad, and the last two whiskey barrels have an imperial stout infused with vanilla and specially-roasted dark, oily coffee beans from Santos Coffee House right across the street. TSB has also added a couple more wine barrels for a sour program; an American strong ale just went in last week.

Another project in the works involves crowd-sourced hop growing. The brewery is planning to provide hop rhizomes and care instructions for local customers so that by the fall of 2015 the harvest will be large enough to brew a 7-barrel “92104″ fresh-hop beer, with a portion of sales going to local charities. Participating hop growers will also get discounts on beer.

More activities at TSB include a kids-eat-free from food trucks promo from 5-8 p.m. on Tuesdays (followed by movie night at 8 p.m.), trivia on Wednesdays, new beer releases on Thursdays, and a monthly Sunday brunch featuring local restaurants. The first brunch is scheduled for Sunday, April 6 with Carnitas’ Snack Shack—By Ryan Lamb, Executive Editor, West Coaster and author of the magazine’s “What’s Brewing” Series.

Suds Chronicles continues tomorrow with an update on the world's oldest beer maker.