August 22, 2017
Derek Gallanosa has been the head brewer of Abnormal Beer Company and beer curator for in-house restaurant The Cork & Craft since the projects launched in San Diego's Rancho Bernardo area in October 2014, but today he announced that he would be leaving the company to become the lead brewery at a yet-to-be-named North California brewery.
Abnormal Beer owners Elvin Lai, Matt DeLoach and James Malone opened their brewery as part of San Diego's first combined brewery, restaurant (The Cork & Craft), and winery (Abnormal Wines) in late 2014. Prior to joining Abnormal Beer at its launch, Gallanosa was an avid home brewer that gained experience at veteran local craft brewery - Karl Strauss. Gallanosa recently became engaged and his fiancee resides in the Sacramento area, so this news does not come as a huge surprise to his friends and family.
"What we built here at Abnormal Beer Co greatly surpassed our expectations," Gallanosa said in an
interview with The Full Pint. "We started the brewery with a group of first time brewery owners and a first time Head Brewer (not Brewmaster!) and two years later became the number one rated San Diego brewery on Untappd and Beer Advocate. It was a hard decision to leave but am excited for the opportunity I have ahead. I left Abnormal Beer Co. to pursue a new project as Head Brewer/Partner in Northern California. I am not ready to share the complete details of the new project but can say I am truly excited for what the future will bring."
Amidst the news of Gallanosa's departure, Abnormal Beer is in the process of an expansion that includes a location in South Korea and an increase in the size of their brewery from 2,000 to 5,000 square-foot, including the addition of a barrel aging program and an offsite warehouse. Gallanosa will stay at Abnormal for another six weeks and has hired new team members for marketing and a new brewer Nyle Molina, who previously worked as an assistant brewer at Green Flash Brewing Co.
Abnormal Beer Company is located at 16690 Via Tazon in San Diego's Rancho Bernardo. For more information, visit
abnormalbeer.co.
