Sour beers are on the rise and homegrown California Wild Ales is here for it.
The San Diego-headquartered craft beer company that specializes in creating myriad flavors of the sour beverage opened a second location last month near the Pechanga Arena in Point Loma, less than 10 miles from its tasting room on Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach.
Co-founder
California Wild Ales
“We wanted to be near Midway Rising,” said co-founder Bill DeWitt, referring to the master plan of redevelopment of nearly 50 acres of land in the Midway District neighborhood, to include a new 16,000-seat arena, more than 4,200 housing units, a hotel, shops, dining spots and 20 acres of parks and green space.
The rise of sour beers has been steady since 2020 and growing, reports Backbar, creators of a bar inventory software platform. Part of the popularity is due to brewers expanding the selection of sours available, but also because of the acidic sour taste of sour beers often leave an addictive feel on the palette.
Sours also appeal to cocktail and wine aficionados because of the fruity, bold and smooth taste offering a different mouthfeel than a typical beer. San Diego County is home to more than 150 craft breweries, only a handful of which create sour beers.
Over 6x Growth
DeWitt and co-founder Zack Brager founded California Wild Ales in 2015 as a small barrel-aged bottle club out of a warehouse in Sorrento Valley. There, they perfected the use of specialized bacteria and wild yeasts to make sour brews with a high level of acidity – and with that a tart taste.
Co-founder
California Wild Ales
Development changes planned for the home of the all-barrel aged brewery and tasting room provided the impetus the two needed to move into the new 2,200-square foot spot on Sherman Street, near its 1,200-square foot OB spot.
“Like any good business, (California Wild Ales) started as an idea,” Barger said. “Once this idea took hold, we started working to make it a reality. We scraped together about $80,000 and then crowdsourced the final $20,000. And with $100,000 we were off and running.”
Once run solely by the two founders, the business now has 12 employees. The growth has been steady financially – from $120,000 the first year to $200,000 the next year. DeWitt said California Wild Ales bought in $750,000 in 2022 and is now aiming for $1 million.
“We have grown year over year,” DeWitt said. “Even during the pandemic, we were able to adapt. We quickly shifted our focus to online sales and local delivery. And even during all the lockdowns, we grew 7% from the previous year. This growth allowed us the capital to build out a new tasting room in Ocean Beach. Since we opened our doors in OB, we have seen steady growth.”
Its beverage offerings run the gamut – from a wide variety of classic fruited sours, clean IPAs and lagers to seltzers and a non-alcoholic beer, all on a 20-tap system in a two-story tasting room that overlooks the oak barrels. The Point Loma tasting room currently offers food options from The Last Typewriter.
Pushing the Boundaries
“We are constantly pushing the boundaries of flavors for our wild ales,” said Brager. “We love creating small-batch beers with innovative flavors.”
One of the brewery’s most popular beverages is its Pineapple Upside Down Cake, made with grilled pineapple, homemade maraschino cherries and brown sugar. Recently, California Wild Ales collaborated with local Thai restaurant Soi OB to create a Tom Yum Sour beer made with Thai chilies, Kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and toasted coconut.
California Wild Ales will work to connect its offerings to specific events at Pechanga Arena, like concerts and San Diego Gulls hockey games. Already the site is drawing crowds with an enormous in-house movie screen showing live sports events. The 18-feet by 10.5-feet screen is a centerpiece of the brewery.
Additionally, like its OB location, the brewery is live-streaming concerts, hosting live music and wooing patrons to test their skills at bar-top games. It also has a 4-player retro arcade cabinet with 17,000 games. DeWitt said they plan to add more machines in the coming months.
The new venue also features Legos, including a three-dimensional Lego sculpture of the brewery’s mascots Lacto, Brett and P.D.O., representing the bacteria strains used to craft its sour beers.
DeWitt said while the company is known for its quality sour beer and wild ales, he said what the business does best is build relationships.
“Through our brewery and welcoming tasting rooms, we’ve connected with diverse individuals and formed a tight-knit Wild Ales family,” he said. “The bonds we’ve forged are a testament to our genuine love and support for one another, making our brewery experience exceptional.”
California Wild Ales
FOUNDED: 2018
CO-FOUNDER: Bill DeWitt, Zack Brager
HEADQUARTERS: Point Loma
BUSINESS: Brewery and Barrel House
REVENUE: $750,000
EMPLOYEES: 12
WEBSITE: californiawildales.com
CONTACT: 855-WILD-ALE or info@californiawildales.com, IG @californiawildales, X @caliwildales
SOCIAL IMPACT: California Wild Ales recently hosted the 25th annual OB Pier Pancake Breakfast.
NOTABLE: The brewery’s signature sour beer is aged in American, French, and Hungarian oak barrels for at least nine months and uses fresh, seasonal produce from local San Diego farmers.
