Mike Hess Brewing has always had the goal and built the reputation of making great beers across a broad style spectrum. Though we have not done so purposely, we have avoided being labeled as a hoppy-shop, or sour-factory or Eurocentric. Rather, we brew great beer. We make some beers that are very style-specific. We make others that do not fit any category. But at the end of the day, what we offer are beers from light to dark, from malty to hoppy that are thoughtful and well made. Every single batch is QC’d dozens of times on its journey from grain to glass. Our job is complete only when our exceptional beer reaches the mouth of our consumer.

All of our facilities are family and dog-friendly and offer a unique brewery and tasting room experience. Aspiring brewers and homebrewers will appreciate our starting point at our Miramar location, and everyone can enjoy seeing ‘how the sausage is made’ by visiting our North Park location where we provide guests a unique vantage point from the skybridge, allowing them to walk safely and comfortably within the brewhouse and fermentation tank farm. 

Mike Hess Brewing is one of the premier craft breweries of San Diego. We set out with a mission to bring people together over great beer and were early on in the craft beer revolution. We were the region’s 33rd brewery—in fact, there were only 1,700 breweries in the entire USA back in 2010. We’ve enjoyed rewarding success as we’ve built our fan base and our team.

Though we started with a single roll-up door and 800 ft², our launch as San Diego’s very first nano-brewery allowed us to grow our brand and our customer base at a reasonable pace. And, through our Odyssey blog, documenting the process of opening a nano, we help facilitate nearly 1,000 nanos in their opening nationwide. Now, in our 10th year, we have 5 locations in California, including the “OG” spot, which has since tripled in size!

In 2012 we began work on our flagship brewery and tasting room in the heart of North Park, one of the hippest neighborhoods* in the US. Opening our doors in 2013, this space features a 30 bbl brewhouse accessible by our one-of-a-kind sky bridge over and through the brewery. We followed this by opening up our Ocean Beach tasting room, featuring people-watching just a few blocks from world-famous OB Dog Beach. In 2018 we opened our 4th location in the Hess family hometown, Walnut Creek. This location features a beautiful, brand new buildout, and a 2,200 ft² deck and outside patio. Finally, in 2019, we opened our biergarten in Imperial Beach just steps from the sand. With 6,500 ft2 of outside space and a full kitchen, the MHB Biergarten is the perfect place for large groups, weddings and hanging outside with friends.

All of our locations are family and pet friendly and are staffed by some of the best beertenders in the industry. Whether a beer geek or novice, our friendly staff will make you feel right at home and happily walk you through our lineup of truly hand-crafted, well thought out beers.

We offer tasting flights, beer by the glass as well as to-go beer, including our canned beers and 32-oz canned “Purrowler” of any draft beer.

Designed as social gathering places, we encourage our guests to join a table with others, strike up conversations with the person sitting next to them. Many friendships—even marriages!—have been forged over one of our beers.

We believe in optimizing our guests (and our own!) beer experience and therefore, our beer is served not only at proper temperature but in the proper glassware. We feature a regular offering of beer-style specific glasses at our North Park location, including a stange for our World Beer Cup™ gold-award winning Claritas Kolsch, and various other shaped glasses for the wheats, stouts, IPAs, sours, etc.

Our original Miramar location uniquely features a 21.5 oz branded Willi Becher glass, whose color changes each year, and where we pour a 500 ml “pint”.