Let's take a look at California Wild Ales new Point Loma brewery and taproom

At first, California Wild Ales found its niche in the craft beer capital of San Diego by exclusively focusing on fantastically funky barrel-aged sour beers. The craft brand’s signature sours are aged in American, French and Hungarian oak barrels for at least nine months, using only the freshest local produce from San Diego farmers. This makes for fantastic beer.

California Wild Ales also has some of the best mascots in beer — the Wildlings — which are little horned furballs that adorn the brewery’s packaging and swag. According to the San Diego Brewers Guild: “The little guy with two eyes is named Lacto (short for Lactobacillus), the big guy with a smile across his face is Brett (short for Brettanomyces), and the medium guy with the mischievous grin is P.D.O. (short for Pediococcus).”

During the summer, California Wild Ales always catches our attention with its annual Comic-Con tap takeovers, where it brews Comic-Con-themed beers, throws a costume contest and celebrates the beauty and fun of comic, film and TV culture. Just look at these adorable Comic-Con wildlings!

Of course, since launching in 2015, California Wild Ales has evolved. For instance, it’s introduced clean beers and beyond beer products ranging from IPAs and lagers to seltzers and non-alcoholic beer. San Diego’s sour house has also expanded physically. In 2021, California Wild Ales announced the opening of its new tasting room in Ocean Beach, California, located at 4896 Newport Ave. Now, excitingly, its just opened a whole new brewery and tasting room at 3826 Sherman Street in Point Loma, California. Big congrats. Check out the digs in the video above, produced by San Diego Beer News (subscribe to their YouTube page!).

California Wild Ales moved to Point Loma from its original location in Sorrento Valley, which has been operating since 2015. The grand opening was on September 15. From the press release:

“We are thrilled to have found a new home in Point Loma,” said Bill DeWitt, co-founder of California Wild Ales. “The Sherman Street location provides the perfect space to serve our unique creations and offer an unforgettable experience with the exceptional flavors and craftsmanship that define California Wild Ales while immersing ourselves in the dynamic beer culture of Point Loma.”

The brewery will offer a wide variety of classic fruited sours, IPAs, lagers, seltzers and NA beer on a 20-tap system in a two-story tasting room, overlooking oak barrels. The Point Loma tasting room will also have food options from The Last Typewriter — a great San Diego sandwich shop — offering gourmet burgers, fusion-style fried chicken, toasted sandwiches and way more from a wall-mounted tablet. That food is then delivered to the tasting room.

The premise shares a space with Five Star Fish Processing, so you can double down by getting your big catch processed while you celebrate with a craft brewski. California Wild Ales’ new space was formerly occupied by Green Fix Green Juice, but the 1,200-sq-ft space has been completely renovated with significant investments in new oak-foeders and all-new wine and spirit barrels for aging a variety of sour, wild and mixed-culture beers. The new space also features reclaimed wood from Sorrento Valley, repurposed to provide callbacks to the original tasting room. Take a look-see:

Similar to its Ocean Beach tasting room, the new venue will feature lots of Legos, including a three-dimensional Lego sculpture of the brewery’s mascots, which we love, created by Mortarless Bricks. Mortarless Bricks will also host “Bricks and Brews” events twice a month, where patrons have the chance to design, build and race Lego creations.

The new space will also sport an impressive 18- by 10.5-ft movie screen — one of the largest of its kind outside of Petco Park — according to California Wild Ales. This giant screen will be a centerpiece of the brewery, showcasing live sporting events — San Diego Gulls games, San Diego Padres games, NFL matchups and more. All October, the brewery plans to run horror movies and even host a live podcast (B Movie And A Beer).

Bill DeWitt noted, “This screen is massive, and I think once people see it, it will become a major draw for this location. It will be a fantastic place to catch live games, enjoy a craft beer, and soak up the atmosphere.”

Additionally, like its OB location, the brewery will live stream concerts, host live music and have bar-top games, including ring-toss, landslide, roller bowler, rolo, washers and more. In addition, the new location will house a four-player retro arcade cabinet with 17,000 games — with the brewery planning to add three more machines in the coming months.

Initially, the tasting room will be open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 8:00 p.m. Adjustments will be made when concerts and sporting events occur at nearby Pechanga Arena, noted the brewery. Strategically located near Interstates 8 and 5, the tasting room is poised to become a hub for locals and visitors attending nearby sports events and concerts. Additionally, with the anticipated completion of the Midway Rising project — a 16,500-seat arena, hotel, retail spaces, and thousands of homes — California Wild Ales will capture the attention of an expanding community.

The new tasting room will offer a wide assortment of beers, including:

Warzone West Coast IPA
The Point West Coast IPA
Up the Hill Hazy IPA
Rainbow Weather Double Hazy IPA
Pesky Parrot Pale Ale
Bike Lane Lager
Dragon Fruit, Blueberry, Blackberry and Raspberry Sour Ale
German Chocolate Cake Dark Sour
Oak Barrel-aged Saison (collaboration with OB Brewery)
Mead Barrel-aged Flanders-style Red Ale (collaboration with 13 Point Brewing and Lost Cause Meadery)
Super Cuvée Brewer’s Blend
Buzzed Bee (collaboration with Hoppy Beer Hoppy Life and Lost Cause Meadery)
Sour Quadrupel with Kakawa Cold-brew Coffee
Peach & Raspberry Hard Seltzer