Archive record · Brewery
San Diego Brewing Company
San Diego, California, California, USA
- Founded
- 1896
- Closed
- Year unknown
- Archive ID
- TB-N51A8HNX
- Last checked
- Not yet checked
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From the record
Summary
San Diego History Center states San Diego Brewing Company opened for business in 1896 and was then the largest industrial enterprise in the county. Its historical collections also preserve San Diego Brewing Company images and brewery material. A primary 1898 advertisement identifies the brewery at San Diego and directly markets its Prima and Pilsener Lager Beer. Exact closure/end-date and complete ownership/site chronology remain UNKNOWN in this pass.
A summary written during research. The sourced facts are in the sections below.
The Beer Library
Beers
Prima
Year-RoundBeer / exact subtype unknown
Aliases: https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MPE18980521.2.43.6. A primary 1898 advertisement for San Diego Brewing Company names 'PRIMA' as one of its celebrated beers. The ad does not provide a defensible ABV or narrower style classification for Prima, so those remain UNKNOWN.
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Pilsener Lager Beer
Year-RoundPilsener / lager
Aliases: https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MPE18980521.2.43.6. A primary 1898 advertisement explicitly names San Diego Brewing Company's Pilsener Lager Beer and says the brewery was at San Diego. ABV and recipe remain UNKNOWN.
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Lager Beer
Year-RoundLager
Aliases: https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDDU18800305.2.12.4. Primary San Diego Union advertisement for San Diego Brewery in Chollas Valley explicitly offers lager beer. Exact brand, subtype, ABV and recipe remain UNKNOWN.
Drank this? Add it to your passport →Show your working
Sources
- recordProbable
Brewery record taken from Tally's California master, Pass 187, which cited https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/v59-1/v59-1schiff-liwag.pdf for this entry. The cited page has not been opened by the archive.
Tally's California master, Pass 187 (research workbook) · Tally's Beer Universe research workbook · 2026
CommercialMedium reliabilitySource accessed 2026-08-19Claim last checked 2026-08-19
Only the claims above are sourced. Everything else on this page is the archive's own research and has not yet been tied to a document — which is worth knowing rather than hiding.
Straight answers
Common questions about San Diego Brewing Company
- Is San Diego Brewing Company still open?
- No. San Diego Brewing Company has closed. The archive has not established the year it stopped. San Diego History Center states San Diego Brewing Company opened for business in 1896 and was then the largest industrial enterprise in the county. Its historical collections also preserve San Diego Brewing Company images and brewery material. A primary 1898 advertisement identifies the brewery at San Diego and directly markets its Prima and Pilsener Lager Beer. Exact closure/end-date and complete ownership/site chronology remain UNKNOWN in this pass.
- When was San Diego Brewing Company founded?
- San Diego Brewing Company was founded in 1896 in San Diego, California, USA.
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