New brewery opens in downtown SLO, first with beers to go and next with a full restaurant
A new brewery that creates beers using its own hops has opened in downtown San Luis Obispo.
Antigua Brewery debuted with limited service at 1009 Monterey St. near the Fremont Theater between Shin’s Sushi and Mo’s Smokehouse BBQ, across from the county courthouse.
Owner Bambi Banys said Antigua currently allows customers to order online and arrange to pick up their beer.
They plan to open their doors as a full-scale restaurant and taproom in early January.
Banys and her husband Chris Banys have been homebrewing for years after starting their own hop farm on a property just outside SLO’s city limits.
“We had always dreamed of having a brewery, and we decided just to go ahead and give it a go,” Banys said. “When we were looking for spaces, we really did want to be downtown. There is still a vibrant downtown. People are still drawn to local shopping and local vendors.”
Besides its beer, Antigua will have a full food menu with dishes including salads, burgers and homemade macaroni and cheese.
The business currently has three beers available at the taproom for pickup.
“By the time we open in January, we should have eight or nine beers available,” Bambi Banys said.
Antigua brews with fresh hops
Chris Banys said that because the brewery grows its own hops, it can offer flavors that customers will find to be different from the beers they’re used to.
“We’re bringing our unique take on making beer,” Banys said. “Part of it does start with the hops that we grow ourselves.”
Bayns said the Central Coast-grown hops are fresher than what can be purchased from wholesalers.
“Everything we’ve brewed so far, we’ve used our own hops that we grew on our farm that my family and I have handpicked,” Banys said.
Antigua’s current featured beers are its Pandemic Porter, Grand Hoppening IPA and Thor’s Hammer Immortal IPA.
Other SLO locations where customers can get the product in cans include Lincoln Deli, Farmhouse Corner Market, and at Shin’s next door.
The business name, Antigua, comes from the craftsman tradition of using ingredients from one’s own farm to make the finished product, Bambi Banys said.
“It’s not typical in the beer industry (to grow your own ingredients),” she said. “I mean, it’s obviously a thing in the food industry with farm to table. But with beer, it’s pretty unusual.”
Setting up shop
Bambi said that their building is the site of an old Greyhound bus station and the space was designed to accommodate the buses that would drive in there.
“It has big, high ceilings and skylights,” she said. “It required retrofitting the roof to put the boiler on the roof and figuring out where to put some of the other equipment.”
Once fully open, customers eating and drinking will get to see the large tanks of brewing equipment through a half wall of glass.
“It was really important to us to have people feel a connection to where the beer comes from,” Bambi said.
Antigua’s owners like the location because of its proximity to the center of town, where tourists, local workers and residents gather.
“There are tourists who will find us, but it is in a neighborhood that has a lot of residential components near it,” Bambi said. “We’ll be servicing a neighborhood, we hope.”
For more information, go to antiguabrewingusa.com or call 805-242-1167.
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