Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Girl in Port prepares to ship out

Pizza Port brewer Devon Randall takes the L.A. job

Pizza Port Solana Beach Head Brewer Devon Randall
Pizza Port Solana Beach Head Brewer Devon Randall

Citra-R-Ama, Whale’s Tails, Gingerbread Chateau, May the Port Be with You, Saisian Persuasion — all are beers birthed from the system at Pizza Port’s Solana Beach brewpub…and I’m going to miss all of them.

Devon Randall, the brewer responsible for those delicious beers, recently accepted a job offer to helm an upcoming Los Angeles interest known as Arts District Brewing Company.

Named after the section of town it will call home, it’s the latest project from 213 Nightlife, an L.A.-based hospitality group operating numerous venues, including North Park’s Seven Grand. Throughout the company’s lifespan, its founders have proven adept at identifying up-and-coming trends that are popular with consumers. For Seven Grand it was whiskey. In the case of Arts District Brewing, it will be house-brewed beer.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Randall’s beers have been some of the most consistent and flawless in San Diego over the past two years. She wasn’t actively seeking this opportunity, but when it came around she found it something she couldn’t resist.

The 213 team has faith in her abilities and will pretty much allow her to take the brewing in any direction she likes. Having spoken to many brewers, being in charge of a brewery with such a degree of liberty and autonomy represents the Holy Grail. Throw in reputable, fiscally solvent ownership, and Randall’s is an enviable position.

Having watched a number of good brewers bolt from the nation’s craft-brewing capital in search of career opportunities up Interstate 5, I find it a cause for concern.

It was only a matter of time before trendy L.A. caught on to craft beer and started making a play in that arena. Given the business climate of that more cutthroat, capitalistic, status-conscious market, it’s likely that, unlike in San Diego, where would-be competitors are mostly cooperative and at least collegial, L.A.’s scene will be one that’s competitive both within and outside its borders.

Already, larger companies such as Golden Road Brewing and Angel City Brewery are driven to control as much of the market as possible. And not just in L.A. They want as much of Southern California as they can get…and that includes San Diego. There is nothing wrong with this — it’s business as usual for most business — but this mentality could lead to a shift for doe-eyed beer locavores in America’s Finest City.

With more than 100 operating brewhouses throughout our county, there are already more brewing jobs than there are qualified professionals to fill them. Randall isn’t the first brewer to make the choice to leave San Diego in search of career advancement and creative freedom.

The waves made by these occurrences is bound to have an effect on the compatriotism and collaboration San Diego brewers so often tout. If they want to attract and retain talent, they will likely need to become more competitive than they perhaps envisioned when getting into the biz.

Randall is in the midst of playing out the stretch at Pizza Port. She starts work at Arts District Brewing later this month. Fortunately, there is no shortage of up-and-coming talent in the brewer department, so while filling Randall’s boots won’t be easy, it’s something the company — which has overcome the loss of plenty of notable brewers, including Jeff Bagby (Bagby Beer Company) and Yiga Miyashiro (Saint Archer Brewery) in recent years — should weather just fine, if not exceptionally well.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Holiday Experiences

As soon as Halloween is over, it's Christmas time in my mind
Next Article

Will Trump’s Baja resort be built after all?

Long-stalled development sparks art exhibit, gets new life
Pizza Port Solana Beach Head Brewer Devon Randall
Pizza Port Solana Beach Head Brewer Devon Randall

Citra-R-Ama, Whale’s Tails, Gingerbread Chateau, May the Port Be with You, Saisian Persuasion — all are beers birthed from the system at Pizza Port’s Solana Beach brewpub…and I’m going to miss all of them.

Devon Randall, the brewer responsible for those delicious beers, recently accepted a job offer to helm an upcoming Los Angeles interest known as Arts District Brewing Company.

Named after the section of town it will call home, it’s the latest project from 213 Nightlife, an L.A.-based hospitality group operating numerous venues, including North Park’s Seven Grand. Throughout the company’s lifespan, its founders have proven adept at identifying up-and-coming trends that are popular with consumers. For Seven Grand it was whiskey. In the case of Arts District Brewing, it will be house-brewed beer.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Randall’s beers have been some of the most consistent and flawless in San Diego over the past two years. She wasn’t actively seeking this opportunity, but when it came around she found it something she couldn’t resist.

The 213 team has faith in her abilities and will pretty much allow her to take the brewing in any direction she likes. Having spoken to many brewers, being in charge of a brewery with such a degree of liberty and autonomy represents the Holy Grail. Throw in reputable, fiscally solvent ownership, and Randall’s is an enviable position.

Having watched a number of good brewers bolt from the nation’s craft-brewing capital in search of career opportunities up Interstate 5, I find it a cause for concern.

It was only a matter of time before trendy L.A. caught on to craft beer and started making a play in that arena. Given the business climate of that more cutthroat, capitalistic, status-conscious market, it’s likely that, unlike in San Diego, where would-be competitors are mostly cooperative and at least collegial, L.A.’s scene will be one that’s competitive both within and outside its borders.

Already, larger companies such as Golden Road Brewing and Angel City Brewery are driven to control as much of the market as possible. And not just in L.A. They want as much of Southern California as they can get…and that includes San Diego. There is nothing wrong with this — it’s business as usual for most business — but this mentality could lead to a shift for doe-eyed beer locavores in America’s Finest City.

With more than 100 operating brewhouses throughout our county, there are already more brewing jobs than there are qualified professionals to fill them. Randall isn’t the first brewer to make the choice to leave San Diego in search of career advancement and creative freedom.

The waves made by these occurrences is bound to have an effect on the compatriotism and collaboration San Diego brewers so often tout. If they want to attract and retain talent, they will likely need to become more competitive than they perhaps envisioned when getting into the biz.

Randall is in the midst of playing out the stretch at Pizza Port. She starts work at Arts District Brewing later this month. Fortunately, there is no shortage of up-and-coming talent in the brewer department, so while filling Randall’s boots won’t be easy, it’s something the company — which has overcome the loss of plenty of notable brewers, including Jeff Bagby (Bagby Beer Company) and Yiga Miyashiro (Saint Archer Brewery) in recent years — should weather just fine, if not exceptionally well.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mang Tomas, banana ketchup barred in San Diego

What will happen to Filipino Christmas here?
Next Article

Time’s up for Doubletime Recording Studio

Owner Jeff Forrest is trading El Cajon for Portugal
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader