San Diego Brewing Company
San Diego, California, USA · Est. 1896
Tally's Take
Why this matters
California Pass 187. 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.
The Beer Library
Beers
Prima
Year-RoundBeer / exact subtype unknown
California Pass 187. 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
California Pass 187. 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
California Pass 187. 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 reliabilityAccessed 2026-08-19Reviewed 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. California Pass 187. 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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