Long time head brewer for Rock Bottom La Jolla and former President of the San Diego Brewers Guild Marty Mendiola is setting off to start Second Chance Beer Company. Opening in 2015, the brewery will be located in the Rancho Bernardo area of San Diego County and feature his English Brown, Irish Red and Robust Porter recipes.

Under the auspices of Rock Bottom, Marty’s earned a hearty share of accolades from the two major brewing competitions: the annual Great American Beer Festival (GABF) and the bi-annual World Beer Cup (WBC). His Longboard Brown won Gold at the 2012 WBC and 2009 GABF, Silver at the 2010 WBC and Bronze at GABF 2013. Moonlight Porter earned Gold medals at GABF 2013 & 2011, and a Silver award in 2010. Two different Red recipes: Rudolph’s Red and Ragtop Red won as well, with a 2010 Gold World Beer Cup award and two GABF Bronze medals (2013/10), respectively.

Three World Beer Cup awards and seven Great American Beer Festival medals is a very respectable amount of hardware for a small brewpub brewer. Larger breweries tend to hold the recipes of their brewers as proprietary. Even if Marty’s beers aren’t the exact same as his Rock Bottom recipes, it’s a safe bet that the beer brewed at Second Chance will be world class.

As San Diego County nears 100+ breweries, Marty and his business partner, Curtis Hawes, are optimistic in regards to over-saturation and competition. “Marty has been brewing in San Diego since before brewing was cool,” says Hawes. “He has over 15 years’ professional experience here, he attended the UC Davis Master Brewers Program…If you look at places like Denver and Portland, you see there is always will be room for another great brewery…” Marty adds, “[the] Carmel Mountain / Rancho Bernardo area is far from saturated.” Keep an eye on Second Chance’s Facebook page for updates.

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