Take it from the tap: Fourpenny House opens in La Mesa

April 27, 2018 10:41 AM PT

Fourpenny House recently opened in La Mesa. Below is some information regarding the U.K.-inspired brewpub.

Go: Fourpenny House

Know: While revered for its whiskeys, Scotland has produced sturdy ales for centuries. Fourpenny’s owner, Peter Soutowood, salutes that tradition at his new brewpub.

Whoa!: With one of the region’s tiniest commercial breweries, head brewer Davey Landeros makes his Scottish Pub Ale (5.5% ABV) on a two-and-a-half-barrel system.

Pro: Four or five house beers augment an impressive bottle list, which has a Eurocentric tilt: the highlights include Saison Dupont, Tripel Karmeliet and the Duchesse de Bourgogne. The full bar also offers wine and — was there any doubt? — Scotch.

Land ho: There may be no peat bogs or windswept moors in East County, yet Fourpenny’s staff brings a touch of the U.K. to La Mesa’s Village. Soutowood’s family roots are in Scotland, while general manager, Dave Pressly, is a British import.

Fourpenny House
8323 La Mesa Blvd., La Mesa, 619.825.8805, fourpennyhouse.com

Craft Beer

Peter Rowe

Peter is a freelance writer who writes about beer in his bimonthly column Brewery Rowe for the San Diego Union-Tribune. He worked as a reporter and columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune from 1984 to 2020. A native Californian who grew up in Encinitas, Rowe is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Northwestern University. He is past president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and a former Fulbright scholar. He has won a few journalism awards, but would trade them all for a chance to avenge his 1994 “Jeopardy!” loss. Married to a terrific woman who has saved him from errors in writing and in life, he has three sons.