Raise a Glass Outdoors at The Gärten, New Bay Park Gathering Spot for Drinks, Eats, Entertainment

A new outdoor drinking destination, The Gärten, a collaboration between four San Diego brands, has opened in Bay Park, featuring craft beer, mead and pizza, with specialty wine to come.

The biergarten-style space includes local outlets that once operated on the same block in Bay Park – Deft Brewing, Lost Cause Meadery, Pizza Cassette, and by the end of the year, Oddish Wine.

The 2,500-square-foot spot, at 5322 Banks St., takes its inspiration from the beer gardens of Europe and is designed to be a casual drinking and dining destination where neighbors can come together at numerous communal tables.

Guests may choose among the vendors before finding a seat on the patio, where live music and entertainment is planned for more than 150 nights each year. 

The partners in the project:

• Deft Brewing: Awarded Co-Champion Brewery in the 2021 San Diego International Beer Competition and a silver medal in the prestigious 2021 Great American Beer Festival, the brewery focuses on classic beer styles from Belgium, Germany and the British Isles. This year reviewers ranked Deft as the top brewery in California on Yelp.
• Lost Cause Meadery: Established in 2017, Lost Cause offers a wide array of the honey-based beverage and ciders ranging from dry to sweet, using honey sourced locally as well as from around the world.
• Pizza Cassette: Launched this year, the eatery’s wood-fired pizzas, sandwiches and more are the creations of pizzaiolos Chris Herko and Jimmy Terwilliger, a former competitor for Team USA in the World Pizza Championships, using red and white oak sourced from Santee. The menu also features lighter eats. Planned special events include pop-up pizza classes and prix-fixe dinners.
• Oddish Wine: Slated to open late this year, Oddish Wine is a new concept from the founders of Lost Cause and will offer sparkling wines, ciders and other experimental fruit fermentation projects.

  Deft Brewing will be open seven days of the week while Lost Cause Meadery and Pizza Cassette are open Wednesday through Sunday. Follow them on Instagram at @deftbrewing, @lostcausemead and @pizzacassette.