Back in June 2018, a small startup started offering local restaurants a chance to pour their own house beers, using custom-branded, 3-D printed tap handles. In this way, Hopnonymous Brewing Company began as a specialty beer distributor, contract brewing food friendly beer styles at local breweries, and eventually building a 17-client roster including Crazee Burger, West Coast Tavern, and the many locations of Buona Forchetta.

It's while working for the latter that founder Remy Zurita got the idea to launch Hopnonymous, when Buona Forchetta’s owners expressed an interest in serving house beers. Before long, Hopnonymous found its niche as an under the radar presence in the San Diego beer industry. But when the opportunity came up to move into a turnkey brewhouse and taproom, Zurita decided to take the brand public. In June 2019, Hopnonymous took over the former Kearny Mesa brewhouse of Council Brewing Company, and just before Christmas, pouring its own beers, brewed in its own brewhouse, to the public for the first time.

The head brewer now overseeing these beers is Hunter Mannix, a ten-year San Diego beer industry vet who previously worked for Coronado Brewing and Mikkeller Brewing, among others. The top beers on the menu are those favored by restaurant clients: a blonde ale and west coast style IPA. You might find these same beers poured under a restaurant’s given name out in the wild, but in here they’re called Bringin’ Blondie Back and Plan of Attack, respectively.