Arcade section of Newtopia Cyder in Scripps Ranch
My son was one week old the first time I took him to a brewery. Anyone who has birthed a child can relate to my precarious condition at the time: a maelstrom of hormones swirling around my brain, significantly impaired physical mobility (I’ll spare readers my gruesome birth story that left me hobbling), and a heaping scoop of new parental responsibility, a field in which I had zero experience. I’ve never deserved a beer more than at that moment, and it never tasted so good.
In the years since, my son has accompanied me to myriad breweries, cideries, and restaurants. He’s gotten to see firsthand how to act in adult-oriented spaces, and we’ve made thousands of happy memories together, none of which involve anyone getting drunk or him running amok. (I promise, it can be done!) That hasn’t stopped certain people from insisting that parents shouldn’t bring kids anywhere where there’s alcohol present or, god forbid, just other people.
Kids on airplanes? The horror! Kids in restaurants? Let me clutch my pearls! Kids in 21-plus bars? Okay, that’s a legitimate line in the sand. But the debate rages: Is it ever wise, acceptable, or responsible to bring a child to an alcohol-centric space, like a brewery? (One might ask the same about dogs, but some people aren’t ready to hear it.)
Rick Moreno, founder of Newtopia Cyder in Scripps Ranch, answers with a resounding yes. “Kids are an amenity to our life,” he says. He started Newtopia with his wife around the same time they had a child. Knowing the challenges and time it takes to start a new business, neither of them wanted to sacrifice one for the other. “[I wanted my daughter] to come on-site and see what Dad spends his time doing,” he explains. “It came from my sole desire to see my own child and not miss a day in her life as she grows.”
With baby changing tables and wipes provided in both restrooms and an outdoor space where Moreno stresses “it’s okay for babies to cry and kids to run around,” Newtopia doesn’t just tolerate the owners’ own children. The cidery welcomes everyones. Those are the types of touches local parenting blogger Sandra Page looks for when planning an excursion with her two sets of twin girls.
“Outdoor space is number one for me,” she says. “It doesn’t have to be much—even something like picnic tables where my kids can lay their coloring books out instead of just high tops.”
Moreno believes it’s not just merely business practice to embrace entire families. It strengthens the bonds of entire communities. “If the kids are having fun, it gives the parents the time to sit back and meet their neighbors over a cup of something wonderful,” he says. “Everyone’s winning.”
