Mike Hess Brewing joins the Ocean Beach craft beer landscape this weekend with the launch of a new satellite tasting room. The brewery, first established in 2010, still operates its original nano brewery in Miramar in addition to a production facility and tasting room in North Park.
Founder Mike Hess, who lives in the neighborhood, tells Eater he's been wanting to expand into a beach community and is looking forward to contributing to OB's existing beer culture. The corner 1,800-square-foot space, where the windows will soon be replaced with roll-up doors, has room for 57 beer lovers at its drink rails and mix of communal and high top tables.
Open from noon to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday, the bar has 25 beer handles plus nitro faucets and a built-in beer engine; Hess says they intend on doing a rotating cask program and first releases of certain beers here. For food service, the tasting room plans on working out a delivery service with local eateries, including the neighboring OB Noodle House.
Hess tells Eater that the brewery has almost finished a facelift of their Miramar location that includes more space, new furniture and outdoor seating; more expansion is being considered, including a larger footprint and a pilot barrel system that would brew just for that location. In North Park, their main brewery will produce 8,500 barrels this year, putting them at half-capacity; Hess says he'll start scouting for another production and tasting room location soon.
