Introducing the new WestBrew in Del Mar Village

Closed since January for renovations, Del Mar Village brewery WestBrew reopened on July 3 with a new and improved patio on the corner of 15th Street and Camino Del Mar, and a revamped, elevated restaurant menu.

On the fourth of July, the brewery was filled with a mix of well-dressed vacationers and people fresh from the beach in their bathing suits with kids in tow: “Del Mar is awesome like that,” said co-owner Heather Lynn Schreer.

Josh and Heather Lynn Schreer opened their first WestBrew brewery and tasting room in Vista in October 2020 and two weeks later opened the satellite tasting room in Del Mar. To say it was crazy to open during a pandemic is an understatement but everything was rolling to open their new beer business when the pandemic hit and they couldn’t hit the brakes.

“Loving craft beer, it really started out as very, small idea and because of Covid it become a much bigger idea,” Heather Lynn said.

In order to reopen during the pandemic, businesses like breweries and wineries were required to offer a food element—WestBrew couldn’t just serve their tasty brews alone. “The pandemic accelerated it because of the food element, I wasn’t planning on being a restaurateur, it was kind of a necessity at the time because we knew we wanted to have a satellite tasting room,” Schreer said.

They added food to their lineup and after two years in business, closed Del Mar for six months for a complete makeover to expand their footprint and utilize the corner in a more efficient way: “It’s been a wild ride,” Schreer said.

The outside space in Del Mar was very much a “smorgasborg” of all the people who had been there before WestBrew, from a bagel shop to a wine bar. The shared public space hadn’t been renovated since the 1980s and it still had the remnants of the longtime flower shop on the corner.

A largely unused fire pit was torn down and rebuilt from scratch with a new pavilion, imprinted with sand and seashell elements. A new fountain was added under the Chase Bank stairs space between the brewery and neighboring Starbucks.

The WestBrew patio.

(Karen Billing)

Pre-remodel, their hours were stunted because the patio was so inhospitable at night and in the winter, and they were limited with furniture choices as it had to be dragged in every night. Now WestBrew is more welcoming with protection from the elements, comfortable chairs, nice tables: “It’s such a beautiful space,” Schreer said. “I think we can do a lot better now.”

Inside, they changed the floors and brightened and lightened up the space (“It can be very much a cave in there”). They added three new murals by artist Maddy Paige, the same artist who has done some of their can art.

With the reopening, the menu is also almost entirely different with no holdover items. They did keep some brewery staples like burgers and wings but they are elevated—they let chef Douglas Fyall have creative freedom and they plan to expand even further.

“We’re trying to thread the needle between being a craft brewery and stepping up our service game and menu to be more seafood-forward and surf and turf for Del Mar,” Schreer said of the menu which now includes lobster rolls and grilled oysters.

WestBrew aims to want to keep it accessible to every type of person—you can still get a good burger and brew but also shrimp and risotto and a glass of wine if you want.

The Schreers (who were married at nearby Powerhouse Park) remain craft brew lovers at heart— Josh was always a home brewer and both of his great grandfathers were brewers. He expanded his knowledge with the brewing programs at UC San Diego and SDSU, where he met many of the brewery’s original staff.

The 15th Street IPA from WestBrew.

(Karen Billing)

Everything is brewed out of their Vista facility and in honor of their reopening they have a new hazy IPA named 15th Street. “It’s very popular, it’s beating our core hazy Hazy by the Sea,” Schreer said.

Hazy by the Sea, the tropical pale ale, is a best seller and they do really well with Full Count—the baseball-themed San Diego-style IPA is $5 when the Padres are playing a home game. The tap list includes a variety of IPAs like the citrusy, double IPA Downtown Double and the West coast-style IPA La Costa, as well as Planet WestBrew, an easy-drinking American light lager and Carlsbad Cryofields, a pale ale with notes of pineapple and citrus.

WestBrew also reliably has two hard seltzers on tap, and the flavors are all “playful and nostalgic”: Creeature is a take on Monster Energy Drink and the electric blue-hued Baja Blasted shares a flavor profile with the favorite Taco Bell drink.

Three years in, the Schreers’ beer is now distributed by Karl Strauss, it can be found locally in places like Total Wine & More and Seaside Market and up to the LA area. They have also now opened a third tasting room downtown near the ballpark, complete with a Joe Musgrove mural.

For the Schreers, it’s been a wild ride, but a fun one so far.

WestBrew is located at 1435 Camino Del Mar. Visit westbrew.com