As we reported a while back, master fermenter Rey Knight was closing a deal on a San Diego location for his Butcher’s Brewing Company. And now he’s locked up Manzanita Brewing’s original space in Santee (9962 Prospect Ave.) for his first nano-brewery and tasting room. Already with the city’s top Thai food and Phil’s BBQ, Santee’s mouths are increasingly less torporific. Knight first made his name with Knight Salumi Company (his finnochiona was fantastic), then moved onto beer with the successful Butcher’s. Some high-profile spots—from Downtown’s Cowboy Star to Sprouts markets—carry the original line as well as the spinoff, Mucho Aloha. Landing this 4,000 square-foot space will allow him to produce and distribute up to 1,400 kegs of the seven Butcher’s Brewing beers—six IPAs and a barleywine—all over the San Diego market.
“It’ll also give me a place to tinker and create eclectic, one-off beers that are very high-quality, small-batch and only for a few taps,” he says. “I’m not going to lie. I like all the beers I’ve made so far. But just making them over and over again is humdrum. I want to get creative with something a local farmer brings me. This allows me to do that.”
Butcher’s Brewing looks to open by March. After that, Knight says he’s looking to open five more locations—in Orange County, L.A., Santa Barbara, San Francisco and Hawaii. To talk with Knight personally about the plans, he’ll be at Solace & The Moonlight Lounge—owned by his brother-in-law Matt Gordon—on Feb. 5 with tastes of Mucho Aloha beers.
Manzanita Brewing is still all-systems-go, having moved into a larger space down the road.
