Meet Eric Oviatt | Co-Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Eric Oviatt and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Eric, is there something you can share with us that those outside of the industry might not be aware of?

Breweries, and ours in particular, are family-friendly gathering halls, full of board games, tables games, books, origami, and more. We host birthday parties, retirements & farewells, weddings, baby showers, Magic the Gathering tournaments, trivia night, live music, and karaoke. Some of our best karaoke singers are 14 years old.

Unlike the environment of a dive bar, and not quite as serious as most wineries, a local craft brewery is typically a laid back setting where patrons from all walks of life come to enjoy a good ale or lager, and relax the way they choose too. Some want to decompress and get things off their chest to the friendly beertender, some want to be left alone to play Sudoku, and others want to meet up with friends and socialize over a game of Jenga. All that is possible in our 3,100sqft tastingroom.

Another thing people are often confused about is that we do not have a kitchen, and do not want one. Their are several reasons for this but the top 3 are: 1) Not having a kitchen allows our patrons to bring in any 3rd party food that they desire. We love promoting our local restaurants and food trucks. 2) We have parties of 40-60 people make reservations every week (no restaurant, that I know of, in our small town can accommodate a reservation over 20). They have their parties catered, order a dozen pizzas, rely on our local food trucks, or have a potluck. If I had a kitchen and wait staff trying to please a party of 60 people they would get tired of that real fast. 3) Look at Google/Yelp/Facebook reviews for some of your favorite breweries that have kitchen. You will easily see that they very rarely get a bad review on their beer. It is almost always about the food or food service.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

I spent a little over 20 years on the US Navy. I enlisted as a machinist mate with the intention of getting my education while I was serving. I was selected for a commissioning program where I was sent to Oregon State University and earned a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering. After graduating I became a submarine officer. After my first submarine tour, I was selected to attend Naval Postgraduate School where I earned a M.S. in Applied Physics. I loved being a submarine officer and would not trade that experience for anything. During my last few years in the Navy, after some soul searching, I realized that in my next chapter I would like to produce something, with my own hands, that I can present to people, and it will bring them joy.

That realization, along with the discovery that all of the mechanical equipment in a brewery could be found in the engineroom of a submarine, led me to use my Montgomery GI Bill to go to UCSD for their Professional Brewers Certification. The coursework was very interactive and engaging. I found brewing to be the perfect marriage of science and art.

From there, the other 3 founders and I, started homebrewing together and grew to become obsessed with our hobby to the extent that we wanted to open our own business. We would be a little farther along if COVID did not shut everything down within months of our projected opening date. But we were stubborn and still got open in April of 2022. We won our first national award, a bronze medal at the Great American Beer Festival, with a beer that we brewed 3 months after opening. We just received our second award, a silver medal at the Brewer’s Cup of California, less than 11 months after opening. It is very humbling to see all the hard work that the four of us have put into this place being recognized within our first year of operations.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.

Most people that visit Lompoc spend their time exploring the surrounding area rather than staying in town. Some of the nearby, must see attractions would be Jalama Beach, a tour of local wineries in the Santa Rita Hills region, and La Purisma Mission.

As far as the food that we have in town, we would be best know for our multitude of Mexican food restaurants. We all have our favorites depending on the menu item you are looking for. Some are better for seafood, some specialize in Al Pastor, others for deep fried fare. For breakfast, you want to make sure that you try both The American Host and the Cajun Kitchen, but it is also worth the 10min drive to hit the Village Coffee Shop. We have a few great places for burgers, the Thai food is actually really good in town, and we have an Alfie’s Fish n’ Chips that makes the best fish n’ chips that I have had on the west coast.

This area is a wonderland for a wine drinker because there are more wineries than you could visit in a month, that are within 20 miles of our town, not to mention about 30 within city limits. As far as beer, there is one other brewery in town besides ours, which is the second location for Solvang Brewing Company. They have been in operation for 12 years and differ from our brewery in the sense that they are always pushing the envelope of new and exciting drinks. Their beer includes classic styles plus sours and hazy IPAs, seltzers, and hard kombucha. We are only a couple blocks apart, so it does not make sense for a beer drinker to not visit both.

As for us, you do not want to miss our Tuesday Trivia Nights. They are honestly the best time you will have in Lompoc on a Tuesday. We hire an outside company that puts on the most interactive and entertaining trivia that I have seen. We have karaoke every Wednesday and live music on Thursday. Fridays are reserved for Food Truck Friday, when 12-16 local food trucks gather in our parking lot to show off their talents. Filipino food, Asian noodle dishes, Mexican food, Pizzas from a brick oven trailer, Burgers, Nashville hot chicken, BBQ (brisket, pulled pork, ribs, tritip, chicken), Chicken & Waffles, Philly Cheesesteaks, etc… can all be found in our parking lot on Fridays.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

Our shoutout would definitely be dedicated to our hometown of Lompoc, California. The four owners, myself included, all grew up here, skinned our knees on the same streets, remember the good old days, and 3 of the 4 of us left to enter different branches of the military. We all ended up returning to our hometown with a more mature mindset, and want to share our craft in the community that raised us. We focus our business plan on the revitalization of Lompoc, promote community events, raise funds for local non-profits, and want our citizens to come out of their COVID cocoons with a reinvigorated sense of community and give back to those who helped them along the way.

Myself, I would also like to credit the outstanding staff of the UCSD Profressional Brewers Certification Program for teaching me most of what I know about brewing. It is an excellent program and I would recommend it to anyone who is serious about wanting to be part of the brewing community.

Website: coldcoastbrewing.com

Instagram: @coldcoastbrewingcompany

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063648994766

Image Credits
Max Janatsch Nate Navarro