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Hess BrewingI haven’t been to Hess Brewing Co., the nanobrewery located just off Miramar Rd for a few months, but I ran into Mike Hess and Michael Skubic last night at The South Park Abbey for West Coaster’s launch party and got to chat with them a bit. Last night was the first time their beer had been on tap outside of their own tasting room and aside from a few minor issues with too much foam, things were tasting great.

Skubic told me that Hess is looking into knocking down a wall and expanding into some neighboring space. If I recall correctly he told me this would nearly triple their fermentation space. He also mentioned that the next big event at the brewery would be for Saint Patrick’s day and they’re thinking about brewing a coffee stout for the occasion. They’ll use all organic ingredients including coffee beans from a new roaster in town, this will be their “green” beer. They’re still working out all of the details but plan to brew it soon.

Mike Hess also mentioned that they were looking into an alternating proprietorship agreement with Bay Bridge Brewing in Chula Vista that would allow them to brew more beer. In simple terms, alternating proprietorships are a way for different brewers to share space and equipment but still retain creative control of their beer. Bay Bridge Brewing is where Mission Brewery brewed until recently (they moved into the Wonder Bread Factory building downtown) and I believe The Brew House at Eastlake’s beers are also made at Bay Bridge. This would allow Hess to pump out quite a bit more beer, I think he said Bay Bridge has a 15bbl system compared to Hess’s much smaller 1.6bbl system. If this ends up happening we may start seeing Hess tap handles around town.