SanDiegoVille published a Nov. 6, 2026 report on who owns Modern Times now, built around on-the-record statements from Wes Van De Vort, CEO of Wings & Arrow, the San Diego company that announced its acquisition of the Modern Times beer business in January 2025. The short version, as Van De Vort described it, is that Wings & Arrow runs the beer brand, a hospitality licensing deal inherited from prior ownership has ended, and at least one alcohol license and an ownership stake still involve MMT Craft, the Craft ‘Ohana entity associated with the previous owner.
Those are his statements, reported by a single outlet. The official Modern Times locations page has not been updated to match every part of that account. This is a rundown of what Van De Vort said, what the official site still shows as of Nov. 10, 2026, and what we already covered about the downtown room that dropped the Modern Times name.
What Wings & Arrow says about Modern Times
Van De Vort told SanDiegoVille that Wings & Arrow inherited a hospitality licensing agreement with Victorum Corporate Strategies, a group led by Duncan Ward, from the previous ownership. “Essentially we had very little to do with the existing tasting rooms besides supplying them with beer,” he had previously told the site. In later correspondence, he said that agreement was terminated in mid-October 2026, and that it “had basic branding standards, but nothing in writing governing how they ran their business.”
On the corporate side, Van De Vort wrote that “MMT Craft is holding the license, Wings and Arrow will take over once the new license is obtained,” and that “MMT Craft owns a percentage of Wings and Arrow that was negotiated in the purchase.” He did not, in the statements SanDiegoVille published, give the size of that stake. He has also said the core beer business is healthy: “The future is bright for the brand,” he previously told the site, adding that Wings & Arrow is “steadily growing.”
Modern Times beer is contract-brewed at AleSmith in Miramar after the 2024 closure of the original Point Loma brewery, according to the same report. Wings & Arrow, known for Ashland Hard Seltzer, announced the beer-business acquisition in January 2025.
Far West Lounge, the Flavordome and the official site
Van De Vort confirmed to SanDiegoVille that the hospitality licensee had decided to abandon both Far West Lounge, at 470 S. Coast Highway 101 in Encinitas, and the North Park Flavordome. He said Wings & Arrow elected to take over the North Park location but could not reach an agreement on the Encinitas property, and the report describes Far West Lounge as permanently closed.
That takeover and closure have not been independently posted as news on the official website. As of Nov. 10, 2026, the company’s locations page still lists Far West Lounge in Encinitas as a place to visit. The official North Park Flavordome page still describes “our tasting room” at 3000 Upas St., at the corner of 30th and Upas, San Diego, CA 92104, with posted hours of Sunday–Thursday 12–9 p.m. and Friday–Saturday 12–11 p.m., and a phone number of (619) 269-5222. We are treating Van De Vort’s comments about the Flavordome takeover and the Far West closure as his statements, not as something the official site has confirmed.
The downtown room that left the Modern Times name
Downtown, the former Modern Times-branded Timestead at Fourth Avenue and C Street is now Infinite Bar & Grille. Van De Vort told San Diego Beer News he has zero affiliation with that venue, which we reported in our Timestead / Infinite write-up. SanDiegoVille’s newer piece repeats that Wings & Arrow, in Van De Vort’s account, was not involved in Timestead’s operations and that the downtown restaurant was not covered by the Victorum licensing agreement. He said he believed any authorization to use the Modern Times name there “was with MMT Craft, but I don’t have that in writing, it was not with me.”
For a brand still pouring beer, the practical question is narrower than the headline. Wings & Arrow, per its CEO, owns and is running the Modern Times beer business, with MMT Craft still in the picture on a license and an equity stake, while the hospitality rooms that carried the name have closed, changed identity, or, in the Flavordome’s case, been described as a Wings & Arrow takeover that the official site has not yet spelled out. Check the official location pages, and our earlier Timestead report, before treating any one room as a current stop under the brand.
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