“You’re opening a brewery? In this economy?”
This is the question I posed to Erik Fowler, executive director of the San Diego Brewers Guild. He and his wife Shannon just announced they’re opening Good Pressure Brewing Company in Allied Gardens at the end of the year.
Don’t get me wrong—this is fantastic news coming from great people. But I’m sure I’m not the only incredulous inquirer. The latest Brewers Association report says more breweries are closing than opening across the country, and craft’s overall volume has dropped 5 percent since 2024. Even San Diego, the self-proclaimed “Capital of Craft,” isn’t immune.
Goal Brewing pulled out of the Brewery Igniter space in North Park in March. Little Miss Brewing shuttered all nine locations earlier this year. Half Door Brewing sold to Villains Brewing Company. Division 23 Brewing closed in May. The owners of Jacked Up Brewery retired. Border X Brewing tried launching a GoFundMe before closing up shop in Barrio Logan. It feels a little bleak out there.
But Fowler is far from a naive beer newbie. On the sensory side, he’s a certified Cicerone and BJCP beer judge with sommelier training. He’s studied beer at UC Davis, and gone through the San Diego State University Professional Certificate in the Business of Craft Beer program. He worked in wine retail before managing the taproom and distribution for ChuckAlek in Ramona. He was a taproom lead at Stone Brewing, head of education and hospitality at White Labs for nine years, and the executive director for the Guild for two years. He just had one more thing to cross off his beer bucket list—open his own brewery.
“I’ve always wanted to own a business in the beverage space,” he says. “That’s been a goal since I turned 21. I’ve always had the entrepreneurial mindset, and I’m at an age and an experience level where the leap and the risk makes sense.”
The Fowlers had been looking for a space to realize their dream for 18 months, hoping to stay close to their home in East County. Of all of San Diego’s 150-plus breweries, less than 10 percent of them are in East County. El Cajon, La Mesa, Valley Center, and Ramona have one apiece; Julian and Alpine each have two; there are three in Santee; and a couple production facilities that aren’t even open to the public.
“There’s still a lot of opportunity there, especially for underserved neighborhoods,” he explains.
But after a year without any luck, they decided to expand their search slightly. When they saw the former Poochie’s Hooch Urban Cidery space in Allied Gardens that came with two patios, a cellar, existing tasting room, infrastructure for a kitchen, and a wine license, it just fit. “It’s in a great neighborhood that doesn’t have a whole lot to offer,” says Fowler. “We wanted a spot that could be family-friendly, and it just ended up working out.”
Despite an address in the city of San Diego, Fowler says they plan to focus heavily on serving the eastern side of the county, both in distribution and in their marketing approach. As residents of East County, the San Diego stereotype of beaches and surfing doesn’t always resonate with them.
“San Diego to a lot of people is the beach, but from growing up and being in East County, the San Diego that we know and see isn’t that at all,” he explains. Shannon works for the Escondido-based nonprofit Center for Plant Conservation, which inspired them to incorporate a more nature-based, plant-inspired motif for the brand that better reflects the San Diego East County locals might feel more attuned to.
They’ll initially launch with food trucks and mostly beer, but hope to expand to other beverages like wine and cider and eventually build out an in-house food program. Fowler says they want to first and foremost be a place for families, and an approachable destination for people who aren’t beer experts.
“I want somebody like my mom to be able to come in and feel comfortable, and be comfortable ordering, and just be focused on themselves and having a good time,” he says. He already took the tests at beer school—guests won’t need to feel like they’re taking a quiz to place an order.
“We never want anybody to have to pull out a phone to look something up,” he says. “We want people to come in and have a good time… we want to be the brewery that people are wrapping up their kids’ soccer games.”
Good Pressure Brewing Company will open in late 2025 at 7559 Mission Gorge Road in Allied Gardens.
San Diego Restaurant News & Food Events
The Second Annual Taste of College Area Arrives This September
For decades, College Area has been more defined by fast-casual concepts and taco shops than as a serious dining destination. (I totally get why—who else remembers being a broke college kid without a car?) That’s completely changed over the last couple of years, and the College Area Business District is showing off the restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and other eateries along El Cajon Boulevard—like Scrimshaw Coffee, The Luau, The Mesa Bar & Grill, and more. The second annual Taste of College Area starts at 11 a.m. on Sunday, September 28, with stops between 54th Street and 73rd Street. Don’t want to walk? Hop on the free trolley that runs until the event ends at 3 p.m.
Beth’s Bites
- If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times—San Diego needs more pupuserias. It seems the Salvadoran food gods have heard my prayers, and opened FiveO3 Pupusas at Fashion Valley Mall. It’s the second location for the Cathedral City-based restaurant, and if the business license is to be believed, another is on the way to Las Americas Premium Outlets. May all our pupusa dreams continue to come true!
- You don’t have to work in the beer industry to attend the 2025 Craft Beer Con at Mira Costa College’s San Elijo campus, but you should probably be a pretty big beer nerd. The annual half-day conference kicks off at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 5 and offers multiple education tracks for attendees to learn about how beer competitions operate, what makes a wet hop beer, how alcohol distribution works, and more. And don’t worry—after a day of learning, there is a happy hour at 4 p.m.
- Breakers in Encinitas is officially open! Pro surfer Benji Weatherley revived his family’s former restaurant in Hawai’i, bringing Hawaiian-inspired drinks and food to the coastal neighborhood as an all-day respite for locals (and I’m sure plenty of visiting surfers, as well). I’m on my way for a midafternoon Mai Tai…
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