Dana Point Ale House Opens Doors at Prado West Development
By Breeana Greenberg
Dana Point Ale House opened its doors for a soft opening on Monday, March 28, with the hopes of holding a grand opening the following week.
The tap room, which has 25 taps, will serve California craft beers from Humboldt to San Diego. Owner Christian Goodman said the ultimate goal is to serve the best craft beer California has to offer.
“It’s been in the works for quite some time,” Goodman said. “We’ll most likely do a grand opening about a week later, but I think there’s been a lot of hype involved with people just walking by and residents of Prado West Development.”
With the soft opening, Goodman hoped to give locals a chance to experience the restaurant before the grand opening.
“We are going to offer local breweries an outlet for their (canned beers) and I’d love to get some local stuff on draft as well,” Goodman said. “So people, not just in town but tourists can experience what Orange County has to offer as far as the craft beer scene is concerned.”
Goodman’s brother, JP Goodman, is a sales manager at Brewery X. JP curated the craft beer list for the soft opening.
Goodman said he hopes that the Ale House can be an “educational, community-based place for people to come and learn about craft beer, talk, try and learn new things.”
Goodman grew up in Dana Point, graduating from Dana Hills High School in 2002.
“As someone who was born and raised here, and as a history major, I’ve always really respected the rich history of Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, the Mission, just everything about this area,” Goodman said.
The new business’ logo depicts the iconic tall ship, the Pilgrim. When Goodman had originally started working on the Ale House concept, he did research at the Dana Point Historical Society. He explained that the shadow of the Pilgrim in the logo was on S.H. Woodruff’s letterhead from the 1920s.
“I wanted to bring back that old school Dana Point vibe,” Goodman said, further recognizing Woodruff’s contribution to Dana Point as a land developer. “I wanted to give credit to him and an homage to old school Dana Point.”
Another nod to Dana Point’s history is a piece of the main cabin from the Pilgrim that hangs in the Ale House as part of a light fixture. Goodman acquired the piece of the Pilgrim from the Ocean Institute and incorporated it into the design of the Ale House.
“Dana Point is definitely looking to the future, as most residents know,” Goodman said. “It’s changing, I think a lot of it is for the better, but the Dana Point Ale House really wants to bridge that gap between old school Dana Point, or historical Dana Point, and the future.”
Dana Point Ale House
24471 Del Prado Ave. #113
949.444.8202
danapointalehouse.com
Breeana Greenberg is the city reporter for the Dana Point Times. She graduated from Chapman University with a bachelor of arts degree in English. Before joining Picket Fence Media, she worked as a freelance reporter with the Laguna Beach Independent. Breeana can be reached by email at bgreenberg@picketfencemedia.com
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