Green Flash coming to Poway… you’re welcome

I make a living reporting what happens in the local craft beer scene, but in my spare time, I use my special superpowers to ensure that neighborhoods I live and work in receive their very own top-notch ale and lager spots… right after I vacate them. Allow me to explain. I lived in Escondido for five years in the early 2000s. During that span, there was no brewery or beer bar within the city limits. In 2005, I moved away and, less than a year later, Stone Brewing Co. erected what most consider the most beautiful place to have a beer on the entire planet — Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Escondido.

I lamented the bad timing of it all from my new home in Rancho Bernardo. For the three years I lived there, I told anyone who would listen that if someone would open a craft beer bar or restaurant in the area, they’d make a fortune. One of the big reasons I felt that way was because a wine-centric restaurant called The Barrel Room was so packed all the time that I could never get in. So, why not beer? Turns out the owners of The Barrel Room came to the same realization. Months after I moved away, they opened Urge Gastropub directly across from their vino spot and it’s become one of the most well regarded beer restos in the county. It’s been so successful that it’s spawned spin-off businesses Brothers Provisions and the forthcoming Urge: Craft Alley combination brewpub, bottle shop and bowling alley.

Residents in and around Poway will be glad to know my streak is intact. Green Flash Brewing Company recently signed a lease on a 12,275 square foot space in an industrial park on the same block as a company at which I worked for two years. Funny story, right after I quit that job, a biochemist named Jim Crute opened Lightning Brewery, blocks from my former place of employ. And now this, less than a quarter-mile by foot from the old digs. It’s uncanny! But enough about me.

Green Flash’s new spot is located at 12260 Crosthwaite Circle and will house additional brewing facilities. When the company opened its current headquarters in Mira Mesa, brewmaster Chuck Silva said it would take only a couple years to reach capacity. Then, Green Flash went on to break ground on an East Coast facility in Virginia Beach, but it won’t be up and running in time to appease consumer demand for West Coast IPA, Hop Head Red, Double Stout and Green Flash’s other brews. This will allow the company to keep up. The space, which has no set opening timeframe, will also include a tasting room for folks who do live, shop (it’s a block from a Costco and Home Depot) and, as I used to, work in the area. Speaking from experience, the latter are probably in much greater need of a cold beer!