Green Flash’s new brewery will open in May

Poway will be getting another brewery when Green Flash Brewing Co.’s new tasting room opens its doors on May 16.

Cellar 3, Green Flash’s new tasting room, will be opening at 12260 Crosthwaite Circle in the Poway Business Park.

Cellar 3 will be both a tasting room and a brewing facility, with 12,000 square feet of space dedicated to craft beer innovation through barrel-aging and wild yeast experimentation.

Over 2,500 square feet of this space will be a tasting room and intimate beer garden. Customers will be encouraged to relax and sample draft selections of the rare Cellar 3 beers produced at the location.

“While our Mira Mesa facility will remain the national hub for all things Green Flash, we are very pleased with our decision to open the new Cellar 3 facility in Poway,” said Green Flash co-founder and CEO Mike Hinkley in a press release. “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 tasting room will be designed to allow brewers and tasters to unite. The focal point of the tasting room, according to a press release, will be a deco-inspired metal starburst façade behind the bar, which is situated against towering barrels-at-rest, foudres and steel production equipment.

Tasters will be able to observe Barrelmaster Pat Korn and his team crafting Cellar 3 brews while enjoying curated artwork that will be rotated quarterly.

The tasting room will be able to hold 155 guests and will be open from Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 8 p.m. beginning on May 16.

Visitors will be able to purchase a selection of Green Flash beer and limited release Cellar 3-specific beer to-go in the series’ signature 750 ML cork-finished bottles and growlers. The tasting room will feature up to 30 beers on tap, including a rotation of Cellar 3 and Green Flash offerings as well as experimental brews available exclusively at Cellar 3.

Guests can also book educational tours of the facility, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the craft of barrel aging, blending and wild yeast fermentation.

Green Flash’s second food truck will park at Cellar 3, offering small bites to pair with the brews available, including Italian-style sandwiches, homemade craft jerky and potato chips, and house cured charcuterie and cheese platters.

While Cellar 3 won’t open until May 16, the first of five Cellar 3 brews, Silva Stout, will become available for purchase in April in limited quantities, followed by a second slated to be released in stores in the fall.

“When we began the barrel program at Green Flash, it served as a creative outlet – almost a side project for the brewing team. Now, we have over 800 barrels and a series where the beers are nationally available. What I enjoy most is the challenge that every time we fill a barrel, we do not know exactly what to expect as the result,” said Korn. “I want to take a craft that is inherently random and apply what we know to make a consistently great product that tastes the same whether you are in the tasting room or across the country. To achieve that we blend art, science and manual labor with just a dash of luck.”

In addition to Silva Stout, the Cellar 3 lineup in 2015 will include Flanders Drive; Plum, the first in Green Flash’s Natura Morta Series; Le Freak Barrique; and Cherry, the second in Green Flash’s Natura Morta Series.

For more information on Cellar 3, visit www.greenflashbrew.com.