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

Cutwater sets sail

Miramar distillery/restaurant opens its doors

Cutwater's 50,000-square-foot paean to craft spirits
Cutwater's 50,000-square-foot paean to craft spirits

As the number of craft breweries in San Diego nears 150, the number of distilleries approaches a mere 17. However, in the relatively young world of craft spirits, 17 apparently counts for a lot. When travel-booking site Travelocity.com crunched its user data to release a Beer Tourism Index last fall, it ranked San Diego a debatable number eight among large cities people travel to for beer. However, on a similar Craft Spirits Tourism Index it published last month, San Diego ranked higher: fifth.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Here's the thing about that: Travelocity hasn't seen Cutwater Spirits' new destination property yet.

Place

Cutwater Spirits

9750 Distribution Avenue, San Diego

The booze company opened its 50,000-square-foot combination restaurant and distillery in Miramar on May 10, debuting space for 220 guests to dine and sample cocktails made from liquor produced onsite.

An oak foudre threatens to overflow with mashed grain fermenting for whiskey production

Mostly onsite. Much of Cutwater's barrel-aged spirits were produced in the distillery Ballast Point Brewing established in Scripps Ranch nearly a decade ago. Following the sale of Ballast Point to Mexican beer importer Constellation Brands, the distilled product remained independent and many of the brewery's executive leadership moved on to form Cutwater, including brewer-turned-distiller Yuseff Cherney.

Thanks to its Ballast Point origins, Cutwater has a massive advantage over San Diego's other spirit producers in terms of resources and inventory, and especially capacity, as it works on eight stills, including the property's centerpiece, a custom-built, 40-foot, 18-plate continuous still.

The building employs 120 workers full-time, including distillery, restaurant, and bar staff. The bar offers a deep menu of both light and spirit-forward cocktails to highlight Cutwater product, while the presence of food service allows Cutwater to bypass the California law that restricts craft-spirit tasting-room service to 1.5 ounces per customer per day.

However, it must still abide a three-bottle retail limit, and in order for patrons to purchase bottles they must first receive an educational tour of the facility, including four open-fermentation foudres brewing grains for whiskey production. Free tours are offered each hour, on the hour, from noon till 7 p.m. Customers who miss the tour may opt for a virtual tour accessible via smartphone through the building's Wi-Fi.

Part of Cutwater's expanding lineup

Two new Cutwater bottles are exclusive to the bar, including a 128-proof, cask-strength version of its Three Sheets barrel-aged rum. The other, dubbed Black Skimmer, is a blended whiskey featuring Cutwater's Devil's Share bourbon and outside-sourced whiskey used to supplement the brand's sudden surge in retail demand.

In addition to the Miramar restaurant, Cutwater opened a bar at Petco Park this spring. Named The Still, it serves cocktails in view of the Padres' field, including the brand's ready-to-drink cocktail cans. That line of cans will soon include four takes on vodka with club soda, including cucumber, lime, orange, and grapefruit flavors.

The latter may ring familiar to followers of Ballast Point, which found global success by adding grapefruit to Cherney's popular Sculpin IPA. But he doesn't necessarily connect the two. "It's a pretty normal thing," he quips, "for cocktails to be flavored with stuff. More than beer."

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

Summit Fellowship wants to be a home of belonging

Unitarian Universalism allows you to be exactly who you are in the moment
Next Article

2024 continues to impress with yellowfin much closer to San Diego than they should be

New rockfish regulations coming this week as opener approaches
Cutwater's 50,000-square-foot paean to craft spirits
Cutwater's 50,000-square-foot paean to craft spirits

As the number of craft breweries in San Diego nears 150, the number of distilleries approaches a mere 17. However, in the relatively young world of craft spirits, 17 apparently counts for a lot. When travel-booking site Travelocity.com crunched its user data to release a Beer Tourism Index last fall, it ranked San Diego a debatable number eight among large cities people travel to for beer. However, on a similar Craft Spirits Tourism Index it published last month, San Diego ranked higher: fifth.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Here's the thing about that: Travelocity hasn't seen Cutwater Spirits' new destination property yet.

Place

Cutwater Spirits

9750 Distribution Avenue, San Diego

The booze company opened its 50,000-square-foot combination restaurant and distillery in Miramar on May 10, debuting space for 220 guests to dine and sample cocktails made from liquor produced onsite.

An oak foudre threatens to overflow with mashed grain fermenting for whiskey production

Mostly onsite. Much of Cutwater's barrel-aged spirits were produced in the distillery Ballast Point Brewing established in Scripps Ranch nearly a decade ago. Following the sale of Ballast Point to Mexican beer importer Constellation Brands, the distilled product remained independent and many of the brewery's executive leadership moved on to form Cutwater, including brewer-turned-distiller Yuseff Cherney.

Thanks to its Ballast Point origins, Cutwater has a massive advantage over San Diego's other spirit producers in terms of resources and inventory, and especially capacity, as it works on eight stills, including the property's centerpiece, a custom-built, 40-foot, 18-plate continuous still.

The building employs 120 workers full-time, including distillery, restaurant, and bar staff. The bar offers a deep menu of both light and spirit-forward cocktails to highlight Cutwater product, while the presence of food service allows Cutwater to bypass the California law that restricts craft-spirit tasting-room service to 1.5 ounces per customer per day.

However, it must still abide a three-bottle retail limit, and in order for patrons to purchase bottles they must first receive an educational tour of the facility, including four open-fermentation foudres brewing grains for whiskey production. Free tours are offered each hour, on the hour, from noon till 7 p.m. Customers who miss the tour may opt for a virtual tour accessible via smartphone through the building's Wi-Fi.

Part of Cutwater's expanding lineup

Two new Cutwater bottles are exclusive to the bar, including a 128-proof, cask-strength version of its Three Sheets barrel-aged rum. The other, dubbed Black Skimmer, is a blended whiskey featuring Cutwater's Devil's Share bourbon and outside-sourced whiskey used to supplement the brand's sudden surge in retail demand.

In addition to the Miramar restaurant, Cutwater opened a bar at Petco Park this spring. Named The Still, it serves cocktails in view of the Padres' field, including the brand's ready-to-drink cocktail cans. That line of cans will soon include four takes on vodka with club soda, including cucumber, lime, orange, and grapefruit flavors.

The latter may ring familiar to followers of Ballast Point, which found global success by adding grapefruit to Cherney's popular Sculpin IPA. But he doesn't necessarily connect the two. "It's a pretty normal thing," he quips, "for cocktails to be flavored with stuff. More than beer."

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

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Next Article

Flowering pear trees in Kensington not that nice

Empty dirt plots in front of Ken Cinema
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.