Brewer Leaves La Jolla Brewhouse

The San Diego Union's Peter Rowe is reporting that Travis Smith, former brewer at The Bruery and Russian River, has left La Jolla Brew House.  This is news because of Smith's pedigree and his short, two-month tenure at the Brew House.  I had heard that he was brewing some interesting beers and was looking forward to trying some of his creations.  He is planning on opening his own brewery, Societe Brewing Company, sometime in 2012.  Read Rowe's full blog post (linked to above) to get more of the limited details.

After reading the comment on this post, I re-read Rowe's blog post and Travis left due to a breach of contract not a conflict of interest, as I originally posted.  Here are the key quotes from Rowe's post:

In an e-mail exchange, Travis Smith said that the Brew House "had breached my employment contract." He maintained that the company "had stopped paying for ingredients for me to brew beer with."


In her own e-mail message, Claudette Mannix, the owner of La Jolla Brew House, said that Smith had been consulting with someone else while working at the Brew House. Then "the opportunity arose for him to become a partner and have his own Brewery," she wrote. "We wish him luck."