OK, I get it. Finding a buyer for Modern Times was always going to take time.
In the time since I’ve written this — deadlines! — perhaps someone has acquired the Point Loma brewery, the subject of an inconclusive June 17 auction. Once among the nation’s fastest growing breweries, the Times — with its chain of West Coast tasting rooms, a coffee side hustle and a more-woke-than-thou image — was saddled with crushing debt. And then came its PR nightmare, with sexual harassment allegations prompting the May 2021 resignation of founder Jacob McKean.
Affiliate of Anaheim’s Brewery X elects not to go ahead with the acquisition, leaving backup-bidder Maui Brewing next in line to buy San Diego’s Modern Times.
Serious problems, right? But I didn’t realize how serious until talking to Gonzalo Quintero and David “Bump” Williams.
Quintero, a former National City council member and — more to the point — an industry insider who has taught the business of beer at SDSU, noted that there’s debt and there’s bad debt. Modern Times has the latter.
“They took on a lot of debt, utilizing a lot of their capital resources,” Quintero said. “And not necessarily to purchase land or buildings. This was a lot of bad debt — you don’t even have property or land to show for it.”
Moreover, Williams argued, the brewery ignored craft beer’s hyper-competitive nature and hyper-local trends — witness ill-advised tasting rooms in beer-saturated environments like Portland, Ore., and Los Angeles.
“They thought that all they had to do was deliver their brands and people would flock to it,” Williams, head of the BWC Company, a consulting company for the beverage and alcohol industry, wrote in an email. “BIG mistake.”
Moreover, the Times owes a moral debt to fans who believed this was an ethical company adhering to high standards.
“There were a lot of socially progressive values they hoped to personify,” Quintero said. “When that hypocrisy came to light, they lost a lot of their credibility and a lot of their value.”
“I thought it was disgraceful,” Williams wrote, “and it makes me cringe the way the employees were treated — better said, mistreated.”
When Second Chance Beer recently rolled out Death Row West Coast IPA as a tribute to the 30th anniversary of Death Row Records, you could hear the echoes of other beers.
For decades, breweries have composed beers inspired by musical icons. Can you match these beers to the bands or musicians they honor?
(Answers: 1. Pearl Jam, 2. Sublime, 3. Tech N9ne, 4. Metallica, 5. Deftones, 6. Thelonius Monk, 7. Megadeth)
Today through Sunday: 10th anniversary party at Stone’s Oceanside Tap Room, 310 N. Tremont St. Stone president and co-founder Steve Wagner hosts Friday; rare beers Saturday, 3 to 6 p.m.; live music Sunday, 3 to 5 p.m.
Tomorrow: Every pint sold of Burgeon’s new Reclaim the Sea IPA will benefit he nonprofit SeaTrees, which supports underwater kelp forests. 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Burgeon at the Arbor, 1326 Kettner Blvd., San Diego.
Aug. 2: Craft Beer Con, panel discussions and trade show. Noon to 5 p.m. at SDSU. For tickets, $35 for San Diego Brewers Guild members and $40 for others, go to sdbeer.com.
Beer: What’s Cooler than Being Cool?
From: Karl Strauss and Sierra Nevada, San Diego and Chico
Drink or dump: Drink. A hoppy ale made with lager yeast. Cooler opens with orange and grapefruit aromas, then delivers citrus and herbal flavors flowing over a firm, smooth malt base.
Drink or dump: Dump. I couldn’t warm up to the thin body or the tart pineapple and stale melon flavors. It’s so-so, but that’s not good enough when there’s a sea of great IPAs.
From: Mujeres Brew House, San Diego
Drink or dump: Drink. Mujeres takes a familiar style, the light-bodied Kolsch, and refreshes it with just the right amount chamomile and agave. This German ale speaks a fluent, and fluid, Spanish.
Rowe is a freelance writer.
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