Rincon Brewery opening new taproom in Funk Zone

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Rincon Brewery's waves of grain will be flowing through the Funk Zone starting Thursday. The new location in Santa Barbara will be the Carpinteria-based brewery's third location.

Rincon Brewery takes their name from the famous surfer's point at the southwestern shores of Santa Barbara County. Now they've made a new home along Santa Barbara's coastline.

The co-owner of Rincon Brewery said, "I've always been a fan of the Waterfront area and the Funk Zone. I live up on the Mesa, my wife and I and my kids. It's just a great area to come down to, a lot of breweries, and kind of making a destination for beer tasting and wine tasting."

Rincon Brewery opened six years ago in Carpinteria. And recently added a brewery and tasting room in Ventura. The plan was to open the Funk Zone location in April, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed it back three months.

General manager, Jason Steffenauer, said Rincon Brewery had to make a lot of other COVID-19 related changes before they could open their third location.

"Conforming to all the new rules and regulations that are required of us as a restaurant, to operate and have people come in and keep people safe," said Steffenauer. "So it kind of drug the opening of this location out."

Now that the wait is over, customers and even the brewery's neighbors are excited.

Maddie Gordon is one of the managers for next-door neighbor, Mollusk Surf Shop. "We hope that it encourages some customers to come over here and have a look at the surf shop. I'm sure their line is going to be coming this way too. We're excited we've been waiting for them to open for a while now."

The brewery now has taprooms in Ventura, Santa Barbara and their flagship location in Carpinteria. You can find their Santa Barbara food and drink menu on their website.