SouthNorte Goes South

SouthNorte is living up to its name.

Today, this San Diego brewer of Mexican-themed beers becomes the first independent American brewery with a tasting room and full-time brewing operation in Mexico, partnering with Tijuana’s Telefónica.

While SouthNorte’s core beers — Sea Señor Mexican Lager, Agavamente and No Güey IPA — will still be made in San Diego, brewmaster Ryan Brooks and Telefónica founder Antonio Gamboa will create new beers in Tijuana.

Judging by the prepared statement released today, this is a win-win (or ganar-ganar).


Brooks said the arrangement will allow SouthNorte to “interact directly with our fans in Mexico.”

For Gamboa, this validates Tijuana’s role in the young Mexican craft beer movement.

“I believe that an American brewery willing to plant roots in Tijuana is proof that Baja is leading the craft beer movement in Mexico,” Gamboa said. “Our goal at Telefónica is to bring different styles and flavor profiles of craft beer to a thirsty Mexican audience and we know this SouthNorte partnership will help us achieve that end.”

Good for the Goose?

The 2011 sale of Chicago’s Goose Island brewery to Anheuser-Busch had coast-to-coast ramifications, and we deal with the fallout here in San Diego.


“The whole dynamic of the entire industry was turned on its head,” said Josh Noel, a Chicago Tribune reporter and author of a new book, “Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out.” (Chicago Review Press, $19.99). “This was really an industry that was built on small and independent breweries. We saw it evolve away from that at blinding speed.”

Founded in 1988, Goose Island won fans with standout beers like Bourbon County Stout and Matilda, its Belgian-style pale ale. Founder John Hall was a craft hero until he sold to the Brazilian-Belgian corporation Anheuser-Busch InBev.

“He took a risk, he saw a hole in the market and he built something, he built something good,” Noel said of Hall. “He had the right to do with it what he wanted to do. And A-B was an excellent and useful exit strategy for him.”

But craft beer’s appeal is based, in part, on its local roots. When your neighborhood brewery sells to a distant conglomerate, fans feel betrayed.


“The consumer gets upset by that,” Noel said, “and that’s totally valid.”

Goose’s sale set Big Beer’s pattern: they couldn’t beat craft breweries, so they bought them. A-B InBev snapped up nine more independent breweries. MillerCoors built its own chain, including San Diego’s Saint Archer, while New York’s Constellation Brands bought Miramar’s Ballast Point for $1 billion, a record price for a craft brewery.

While there have never been more independent U.S. breweries — 6,200 at last count — Noel notes that many pubs, sports bars and stadia pour beers from dozens of breweries, every one of them owned by a single conglomerate.

As Stone co-founder Greg Koch told Noel, we are faced with “the illusion of choice.”


House Beer

At Fourpenny House, La Mesa’s new Scottish-themed brewpub, brewer Davey Landeros is well aware of his rookie status.

“It’s super intimidating going to all these Brewers Guild meetings,” Landeros said about meeting ace brewers like Jeff Bagby of Bagby Beer and AleSmith’s Peter Zien. “I’m just a fanboy.”

Landeros should take a deep breath and some credit. While his professional brewing experience is limited — he was an assistant brewer at San Bernardino’s Brew Rebellion — he is, to use a Scottish-ism, a dab hand. His Fourpenny Ale is an expertly-crafted malt-forward beer that’s already won a rabid following.

“Our first batch was supposed to last three months,” Landeros said. “It was gone in five weeks.”


Kings of Beer

Today’s the first day of summer, time time to stock up on light-bodied quaffers like this week’s King: Seafarer (4.8 percent alcohol by volume). This Kölsch-style ale from Inglewood’s Three Weav3rs has a golden hue, shortbread-like malts, a dash of lemon, hints of pear and a peppery edge.

Maybe I should have been tipped off by the name, but I was surprised at how well Seafarer pairs with seafood. I drank a pint while dining on grilled salmon. Seafarer effortlessly sliced through the Omega-3 oils while adding a bright, zesty note to this rich fish.

Beer Basics: What’s a Kölsch?

Brewers in Cologne — or Köln, as locals call this German city on the Rhine — created the Kölsch style. While made with ale yeasts, unlike most ales it is kept in storage tanks for at least a month. This gives it a uniform crispness more common to lagers than ales.

Best of the Week, Local

There are two notable events this Saturday:


AleSmith’s fourth annual Tony Gwynn 5.5 K run/walk/hike starts 8 a.m. on the banks of Lake Poway, 14644 Lake Poway Road, Poway. Register at tonygwynn5k.org; packages begin at $50 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under.

91x’s BeerX Festival is an afternoon of beer, followed by an evening of music. The former starts at noon (VIP admission) or 1 p.m. (everyone else) at San Diego’s Waterfront Park, 1600 Pacific Highway. The 100-plus beers on tap include this week’s King, Seafarer, and Burgeon’s New England-style IPA, Blue Steel. Packages start at $79.50 and can be bought at beerxsandiego.com.


Beer Videos

Twitter: @peterroweut

peter.rowe@sduniontribune.com