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| Manager Sarah Devine serves up a practice pour at The Original 40 brewpub in North Park |
GUEST BLOG / By West Coaster Craft Beer Magazine &
Website’s Brandon Hernandez--It’s been many months in the making, but San Diego’s The Original 40
brewpub (located in historic North Park) is very close to opening. The
brainchild of the owners of the nearby U31 Bar on University Avenue, it is
scheduled to debut in soft-open form the second week of June, following a few
friends-and-family and industry training nights. When it does, it will have a
distinct look and feel that Steve and Patricia Billings spent a great deal of
time realizing with Tijuana-based firm Duhagon Design.
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| Original 40 brewpub late Spring 2019 debut. |
“The first generation of
breweries did not need to focus on décor and atmosphere. Patricia and I both
come from hospitality backgrounds and felt it was important to implement,” says
Steve. “I have so many friends whose wives won’t come to breweries. We wanted
to create a fresh, clean and inviting atmosphere that was equally inviting to
males and females. We are also excited about utilizing the brewery to achieve
diversified employment in the industry. Of course, it is equally owned by my
wife, and it is currently led by a female general manager, Sarah Devine.”
The kitchen is the charge of
executive chef Luke Johnson, a veteran of fine dining and, most recently,
Cutwater Spirits, who is taking a reserved, compact approach with The Original
40’s menu. That bill of fare is split into four sections: snacks, shareables,
soups and salads, and shareable entrees. The draft menu can be viewed here.
Meanwhile, the brewpubs 24 taps will feature a mix of beers meant to pair with
the cuisine.
“There are so many things we
are incredibly excited about with this project,” says Steve. “One, of course,
is a great beer. This is a brewery first and a restaurant second. We will
sacrifice anything we need to in order to create amazing beer. As a matter of
fact, we dumped a 15-barrel batch down the drain because we didn’t think it was
perfect.”
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| Head Brewer Chris Gillogly surveys his new digs from the brew deck |
“The plan is to always have
a diverse cross-section of styles, with the staples on all the time, and new
beers and old favorites cycling through,” says head brewer Chris Gillogly. “For
example, we’ve brewed a helles lager, a German-style pilsner, a Hefeweizen,
brown ale, dry stout, but we’ve also brewed a hazy IPA and a huge pastry stout
with Lion Bars and a ridiculous amount of vanilla and cacao nibs. We’ll be
doing plenty of one-offs, small batches, and collabs as well, thanks to the one-barrel
pilot system that’s on the way, which also happens to be the size of an oak
barrel.”
Three collaboration beers
have already been completed with local companies Creative Creature Brewing,
Horus Aged Ales, and Pure Project Brewing. Creative Creature and Pure Project
both contributed their elbow grease for hazy IPAs, while the Horus Aged Ales
collab is the aforementioned pastry stout, a portion of which is now aging in a
Buffalo Trace bourbon whiskey barrel.
The Original 40 is located
at 3117 University Avenue. Once it opens, its days and hours of operation will
be 3 p.m. to midnight, Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to midnight on
Saturdays and Sundays.
PERK: For a free online copy
of the June 2019 West Coaster print
magazine click here.
Source: West Coaster is a media partner
of PillartoPost.org
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