The more the merrier or enough already?
By John P. Anderson
Joining the large beer and brewing scene in North Park, Fall Brewing Company opened for customers this week. The brewery is located at 4542 30th Street, San Diego, CA 92104 and is currently in ‘soft opening’ mode. The doors are open, but they’re not yet promoting the brewery to the public while kinks are ironed out – setting up the sales software, building up the stable of beers on tap, arranging staffing, etc.
30th Street continues to build a reputation as the ‘Main Street of Beer’ in San Diego, and perhaps nationally or even globally. Earlier this month 30th Street hosted the “World’s Biggest Bottle Share” at a number of drinking establishments from Adams Avenue south to Beech Street. There were also many events along 30th Street throughout San Diego Beer Week in November.
With a growing number of bars, breweries, and tasting rooms some in the community are concerned about potential negative repercussions. If you live in the neighborhood you’ve probably heard concerns about North Park being turned into the next Pacific Beach, meaning a large party scene and resulting in increased crime, trash, and noise. Whether these concerns will prove to be true remains to be seen but it is certainly a hot topic of conversation. I feel a bit bad for Pacific Beach being derided so often, but perhaps the reputation is earned. (I haven’t spent enough time in that neighborhood to have a strong opinion.)
Do you think another brewery in North Park is a good thing or a sign of bad things to come? I enjoy beer so I’ll certainly be trying the offerings at Fall in the near future but as a North Park resident I do wonder if we are losing some sense of balance with the growth of the beer industry here.
Photos by John P. Anderson