April 2, 2026 • 5 mins
Whether they're independent or franchised, North Park is filled with bars and breweries, making the neighborhood the perfect place for beer enthusiasts. Bret Burkhart visited a couple of them, Barley and Sword and Fall Brewing, and found out what they add to the North Park community.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
All this week, San Diego's Morning News is doing a
deep dive on the North Park neighborhood of San Diego,
brought to you by Simper Home. One of the many
unique aspects of the area north of Balboa Park the
countless micro brewers who are bringing friends and families together
to create a community that loves its beer.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
With up to fourteen locations all within walking distance in
North Park, it's not hard to find a watering hole,
most of them with their own tap rooms. It gives
this neighborhood a welcoming, warm atmosphere in charm. The small
concentration of breweries makes North Park one of the densest
in San Diego County for craft beer.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Hi, my name is Michael Howell, and I am the
founder and brewer here at Barley and So, a brewing
company in North Park.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Barley and Sword Brewing Comedy. How did you get into this?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I was a homebrewer for about thirteen years, progressively started
brewing larger and larger batches, sharing with more and more people,
and I got to a point where an opportunity arose,
and so I decided to jump in head first.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Why North Park?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
The community here is very diverse and there was an
opportunity here in the brewer Ignier. This building's been here
for almost ten years now with a number of brewers
having started here and then gone on to bigger and
better things, and we are actually in the process of
doing that right now.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
How is business going.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
We've been open for almost three years, we'll hit three
years in June, and we've seen growth year over year,
and it's gotten to the point that we just opened
our second location in Escondido. We do distribute all over
San Diego County and we've also sent beer as far
as Oregon, Idaho.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
How can North Park benefit from a brewery like yours?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I think one of the benefits of Barlan's Sword is
that we focus in traditional and old world style beers,
lower abvs, more sessionable. It's not about the bitter beer anymore,
and it's something that you can actually sit and enjoy
without getting absolutely trash.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
And as a small business in North Park, do you
get involved in the community in any way?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
The Alkohol Boulevard Association has a regular kind of walks
and we participate in those. Already Gras parade, we are
actually the starting point for that parade, so as much
as we can. We want to be involved in the
community because that is what Barley Sort is about.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
As a small business owner in North Park, what is the.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Biggest issue for you.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
One of the biggest issues for us is that North
Park is very about its thoroughfares thirtieth Adams University. If
you are just off of that, you don't get people
that pass by. And we're kind of at the end
of alcohola boulevard right before the eight oh five, and
so we don't get a lot of people that are
going by.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
How do you combat that challenge?
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Then?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
A lot of it's advertising. Standing in the lobby of
Barley and Sword Brewing Company here in downtown North Park. Mike,
the owner and founder, started in his house and.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
He is busy bruin the next big batch just a
five minute walk away. We found ourselves in another tap room.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
My name is Robert Tardio. I'm the southern San Diego
sales rep for Fall Brewing. This isn't the only location, then,
we have three different locations. North Park is the original location.
We opened up a small tasting room in South Park
a few years ago, and our newest facility in Miramar,
(03:10):
which is our headquarters.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
What's your theory is to why North Park attracts so
many crap rows.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
I came. I moved to San Diego about fifteen years ago,
and I think it was at the height of crap
brewing and you start to see a lot of inflow
of different tasting rooms, different breweries popping up. I think
Thirtieth Street in general has and this area has a
pretty big history and has also like evolved a lot,
and you're seeing, like compared to fifteen years ago to
(03:40):
what it is now, just like a massive a massive
change in new restaurants opening new apartments. So I think
when I moved here, you saw places like Tornado opening up.
You saw places like a Blind Lady, like Tiger Tiger,
which had really showcased what was coming out of San Diego,
which made it very exciting, and I think it brought
(04:00):
a lot of people to this area. Fall being one
of those places that carried that through to create like
this culture that you see now around craft brewing. I
think Falls one of those breweries that really went with
that and kind of brought its own culture to San Diego.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So it's not just a feeling in the community, it
really makes a community.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
I think It's pretty rare to have a brewery that
really takes a lot from the culture of San Diego.
Our owner, Dave Lively, born and raised San Diego artist,
graphic designer. Obviously beer lover, has really taken all the
influence that he's experienced from San Diego. It was something
(04:44):
really cool that I saw. I saw the community really
embrace and myself included. Come drink some some of the
best beer in San Diego, the only beer I drink.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
The craft beer scene is thriving in North Park. We
invite you to stay with San Diego's Morning News tomorrow
for a look at a brewing adventure, and you don't
even have to leave the tap room, all right, Cheers
All this week, San Diego's Morning News is doing a
deep dive on the North Park neighborhood of San Diego,
brought to you by Simper Home. One of the many
unique aspects of the area north of Balboa Park the
countless micro brewers who are bringing friends and families together
to create a community that loves its beer.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
With up to fourteen locations all within walking distance in
North Park, it's not hard to find a watering hole,
most of them with their own tap rooms. It gives
this neighborhood a welcoming, warm atmosphere in charm. The small
concentration of breweries makes North Park one of the densest
in San Diego County for craft beer.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Hi, my name is Michael Howell, and I am the
founder and brewer here at Barley and So, a brewing
company in North Park.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Barley and Sword Brewing Comedy. How did you get into this?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
I was a homebrewer for about thirteen years, progressively started
brewing larger and larger batches, sharing with more and more people,
and I got to a point where an opportunity arose,
and so I decided to jump in head first.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Why North Park?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
The community here is very diverse and there was an
opportunity here in the brewer Ignier. This building's been here
for almost ten years now with a number of brewers
having started here and then gone on to bigger and
better things, and we are actually in the process of
doing that right now.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
How is business going.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
We've been open for almost three years, we'll hit three
years in June, and we've seen growth year over year,
and it's gotten to the point that we just opened
our second location in Escondido. We do distribute all over
San Diego County and we've also sent beer as far
as Oregon, Idaho.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
How can North Park benefit from a brewery like yours?
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I think one of the benefits of Barlan's Sword is
that we focus in traditional and old world style beers,
lower abvs, more sessionable. It's not about the bitter beer anymore,
and it's something that you can actually sit and enjoy
without getting absolutely trash.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
And as a small business in North Park, do you
get involved in the community in any way?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
The Alkohol Boulevard Association has a regular kind of walks
and we participate in those. Already Gras parade, we are
actually the starting point for that parade, so as much
as we can. We want to be involved in the
community because that is what Barley Sort is about.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
As a small business owner in North Park, what is the.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Biggest issue for you.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
One of the biggest issues for us is that North
Park is very about its thoroughfares thirtieth Adams University. If
you are just off of that, you don't get people
that pass by. And we're kind of at the end
of alcohola boulevard right before the eight oh five, and
so we don't get a lot of people that are
going by.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
How do you combat that challenge?
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Then?
Speaker 3 (02:32):
A lot of it's advertising. Standing in the lobby of
Barley and Sword Brewing Company here in downtown North Park. Mike,
the owner and founder, started in his house and.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
He is busy bruin the next big batch just a
five minute walk away. We found ourselves in another tap room.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
My name is Robert Tardio. I'm the southern San Diego
sales rep for Fall Brewing. This isn't the only location, then,
we have three different locations. North Park is the original location.
We opened up a small tasting room in South Park
a few years ago, and our newest facility in Miramar,
(03:10):
which is our headquarters.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
What's your theory is to why North Park attracts so
many crap rows.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
I came. I moved to San Diego about fifteen years ago,
and I think it was at the height of crap
brewing and you start to see a lot of inflow
of different tasting rooms, different breweries popping up. I think
Thirtieth Street in general has and this area has a
pretty big history and has also like evolved a lot,
and you're seeing, like compared to fifteen years ago to
(03:40):
what it is now, just like a massive a massive
change in new restaurants opening new apartments. So I think
when I moved here, you saw places like Tornado opening up.
You saw places like a Blind Lady, like Tiger Tiger,
which had really showcased what was coming out of San Diego,
which made it very exciting, and I think it brought
(04:00):
a lot of people to this area. Fall being one
of those places that carried that through to create like
this culture that you see now around craft brewing. I
think Falls one of those breweries that really went with
that and kind of brought its own culture to San Diego.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
So it's not just a feeling in the community, it
really makes a community.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
I think It's pretty rare to have a brewery that
really takes a lot from the culture of San Diego.
Our owner, Dave Lively, born and raised San Diego artist,
graphic designer. Obviously beer lover, has really taken all the
influence that he's experienced from San Diego. It was something
(04:44):
really cool that I saw. I saw the community really
embrace and myself included. Come drink some some of the
best beer in San Diego, the only beer I drink.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
The craft beer scene is thriving in North Park. We
invite you to stay with San Diego's Morning News tomorrow
for a look at a brewing adventure, and you don't
even have to leave the tap room, all right, Cheers
Popular Podcasts
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!