Mira Mesa-based Green Flash Brewing Co., which cracked the Brewers Association's list of the top 50 breweries in the U.S. based on beer sales volume this year, has been readying a new tasting room and packaging facility in Poway dubbed Cellar 3, which will release its own line of barrel-aged beers.
Co-founder and CEO Mike Hinkley says, "We secured a perfect space to allow our brewers to refine award-winning recipes as well as to innovate through experimentation with funky yeast strains, barrel aging and blending. In the tasting room, our team will be focused on educating the consumer about our process while sharing and sampling the innovative beers from Cellar 3."
The 12,000-square-foot site, with 2,500-square-feet dedicated to an art-inspired tasting room and beer garden, will grand open at 12260 Crosthwaite Circle in Poway on Saturday, May 16. Open from Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 8 p.m., the tasting room will have 30 taps pouring Cellar 3 and Green Flash beers, plus experimental brews, and will retail bottles and growlers. The tasting room will offer tour educating on the craft of barrel aging, blending and wild yeast fermentation and another edition of Green Flash's recently-launched food truck will be permanently parked on site with a beer-friendly menu that includes sandwiches, house-cured charcuterie and cheese.
This year, Cellar 3 barrelmaster Pat Korn and Green Flash brewmaster Chuck Silva will oversee the national release of five Cellar 3 beers; a batch of Silva Stout will come out this month, followed by Flanders Drive, the brewery's first sour which was originally released in 2013. Also in the works for 2015, a series of fruit-fermented beers called Natura Morta that will include plum and cherry editions of their Belgian-style Saison, foudre-fermented with Brettanomyces, and Le Freak Barrique, a Brett version of their Belgian-Style Trippel and American Imperial IPA hybrid ale.
