A longtime homebrewer and a former Ballast Point insider are teaming up to launch Latchkey Brewing Company, heading into the historic Mission Brewery Plaza building that will soon be left dormant by Acoustic Ales, which is moving into a larger facility in San Diego's North County.
Founded by lifelong homebrewer Matt West and his longtime friend - a yet-to-be-named-due-to-conflicts former Ballast Point employee (will update this post once we can disclose), Latchkey Brewing Company will move into the 1912-built Mission Brewery Plaza at 1795 Hancock Street in Middletown, the oldest brewery building in San Diego which Acoustic Ales has occupied since it launched in 2012. Latchkey will take over the turnkey 15 barrel brewhouse in early 2018.
"We were both Latchkey Kids, left to our own devices and getting into trouble growing up," explained co-founder Matt West. "As for our current day situation, we are back to being left unsupervised in our brewing endeavor. We're latchkey kids again, so let's see what kind of trouble we can brew up!"
The space will undergo cosmetic changes to the brewery and tasting room areas. There will be a food component offered from the more than 2,000 square-foot tasting room within the first year. Upon opening, the space will launch with a catering kitchen and bar menu, and will do event-based catering, hoping to serve a full breakfast, lunch and dinner menu by year's end. As for beers, while Latchkey will certainly offer big West Coast-style IPAs, the focus will be on more sensitive types of American and Old World brews like lagers, Kolsch, red ales, pilsners, and pale ales.
