A nearly decade-long signal from Valley Center has gone dark. Rincon Reservation Road Brewery, known to most San Diego drinkers as 3R, has closed, and the Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians is leaving the brewing business, according to San Diego Beer News. It was San Diego County’s only tribal-owned and tribal-operated brewery.
No exact final day of production at Rincon Reservation Road Brewery or service has been published. What follows is a look back at what the tribe built, drawn from San Diego Beer News’ account.
How Rincon Reservation Road Brewery began
The story starts in 2017. With craft beer booming across the county, the Rincon Band installed a brewery and taproom at Harrah’s Resort SoCal, on tribal land in Valley Center. The business opened as SR76 Beer Works, and at first the resort was the only place to drink its beer.
Its first brewer was Brian Scott, an industry veteran who came from Karl Strauss Brewing. San Diego Beer News reports that SR76’s beers failed to catch on with resort guests. That led the Rincon Economic Development Corporation (REDCO), the tribe’s economic arm, to change course and bring in Shawn Steele, a brewer with 15 years of experience, to rework the lineup and lead a full rebrand.
The 3R years
The renamed Rincon Reservation Road Brewery officially launched in January 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic hit its rollout almost immediately, but San Diego Beer News says the new beers connected with drinkers far better than SR76’s had. Steele moved on the following year, and three head brewers followed him.
That mattered because 3R’s model depended on distribution beyond the resort. Its core beers reached bars and restaurants around San Diego:
- Chief IPA
- Rez Dog Hefeweizen
- Red Rattler Amber Ale
In 2021 REDCO took over a taproom on Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach and redesigned it. The space included a wall-length mural of the San Luis Rey River, which the Luiseño people call the “river of life.” That Rincon Reservation Road Brewery taproom closed in May 2023. At the time, REDCO said a better location with a kitchen had become available sooner than expected, but 3R never opened another tasting room. Since then it has operated only from its home base at Harrah’s.
Why Rincon Reservation Road Brewery is closing
REDCO Chairwoman Shalome Briggs pointed to the state of the industry. “While this was not an easy decision, we recognize that the craft beer industry has changed dramatically, and the challenges facing breweries today are greater than ever,” she said. “We are incredibly proud of what we built, the people who helped bring our vision to life and the role we played in creating a space for Native American representation within the craft beer industry.”
Through REDCO, the tribe also thanked the local brewing professionals who welcomed it into the San Diego beer scene and the accounts that carried its beer. REDCO says it will spend the coming weeks properly closing out business with those accounts.
Briggs closed with a statement about the tribe itself: “The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians has endured and preserved for generations, and we will continue to do so for generations to come. Our strength has never been defined by a single business venture, but by our people, our heritage and our commitment to building a lasting future for our community. While businesses evolve, the resilience of our Tribe remains constant.”
What Rincon Reservation Road Brewery leaves behind
This observer has studied many Earth breweries, and few carried this kind of meaning. The Rincon Reservation Road Brewery story is about a sovereign nation entering a crowded industry on its own terms, naming its beers in its own voice, from Chief IPA to Rez Dog Hefeweizen, and opening space for Native American representation in a scene that rarely had it.
The timing fits a grim pattern. The Bureau has been tracking the trend in California craft breweries closing, from Lost Abbey leaving Vista to the up-and-down saga of The Roadies Brewing in Vista. Even in a year when San Diego County brought home 12 GABF medals, the business side keeps getting harder.
If you have a can of Chief IPA or Red Rattler in the fridge, consider it a liquid artifact of a chapter in San Diego beer history. Raise it to the brewers, the staff and the Rincon Band, whose story, as Briggs said, goes on well beyond this one business.
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