USA, TX: Islla St. Brewing Co. changes location before opening

Chalk it up as a case of brewer’s remorse. One of San Antonio’s startup craft beer operations has decided on a change of location before even serving its first official pour, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Owners of Islla St. Brewing Co., first profiled by the Express-News last June, have decided to move from a downtown location inside the LocalSprout Food Hub at 503 Chestnut St. into a space that’s currently under construction on the Northeast Side.

Co-founder and head brewer Joaquin “JD” Peña, who is partnering with his brother Josh Peña to start the business, said the move into the 1,875-square-foot space off Wurzbach Parkway at 11911 Crosswinds Way is all about getting the most bang for their investment buck.

“The way we looked at it, because of our limited financing situation, this is our one and only shot to get this right,” JD Peña said. “And this is the type of space where there’s room to expand if we need to, without having to move the entire operation.”

Despite the initial allure of being located downtown, Peña said that the new space allows more breathing room for the brewing equipment and tasting room area, expanded hours, additional parking space and easier access to major roadways. The brewery will occupy the first space in the complex with roadside frontage, allowing the possibility of an outside deck area for additional seating and events.

It also creates a bit of a brewery corridor as it’s located less than 3 miles from nearby Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling (4834 Whirlwind Drive) and just a 10-minute drive on Wurzbach Parkway to the Weathered Souls Brewing Co. at 606 Embassy Oaks.

LocalSprout is more of a shared space that acts as an incubator for multiple wholesale food and drink-related small businesses. The introduction of a brewpub with tasting room hours open to the public was foreign territory.

“It was a good idea at first, but we didn’t really go out and do enough shopping to see what was really out there,” Peña said. “This is one of those things where you are forced to learn on the fly from your mistakes.”

It’s a scenario that Weathered Souls owner Mike Holt knows all too well.

“The level of detail required to get your brewing business going is extensive, because it’s still kind of an unknown business model in Texas,” said Holt, who celebrated his first year of business last November. “It can be bewildering to learn a whole bureaucracy that you’ve only come into contact with in such an intense way for a few months. It’s a daunting process.”

Peña admits that the lengthy stall in opening Islla St. — something he originally hoped to do last October — was mostly self-inflicted.

He tried to manage the process while continuing to hold onto his full-time job in the Eagle Ford Shale oil field, working a grueling schedule of two weeks on, two weeks off. And during those off periods, he had to balance family life with his wife and three children, while brewing enough beer to test and sample for quality control.

That all changed in late December, when Peña decided to leave the oil field and go all-in with the Islla St. project.

“This gives us a chance to take a second look at everything, but now it’s really time to deliver,” Peña said.

Peña believes that the blank-canvas state of the new property will simplify the process. Interior designs for the space are being developed, but for now, there are plans for an office area and a 1½-barrel (about 63 gallons) brewing system with a storage capacity of up to 315 gallons at any given time.

There are also plans to serve the beers, with creative names such as Chola Blonde and Itty Bitty Witty Committee, both inside the tasting room and to go. The goal is to open the tasting room every Thursday and Friday night, as well as throughout the afternoons and early evening hours every Saturday and Sunday.

If everything goes to plan, Peña said it could open as early as late April or early May. But in the startup craft beer business, don’t believe it until you can taste it.

E-malt.com, the global information source for the brewing and malting industry professionals. The bi-weekly E-malt.com Newsletters feature latest industry news, statistics in graphs and tables, world barley and malt prices, and other relevant information. Click here to get full access to E-malt.com. If you are a Castle Malting client, you can get free access to E-malt.com website and publications. Contact us for more information at marketing@castlemalting.com .