Flagship BEERS

Year-round beers available in restaurants and grocery stores throughout Southern California.

About Refuge

We came up with the notion of opening a brewery while homebrewing one Saturday morning in Curt's garage.  We had one simple idea we wanted to live by.  Take the ideas and concepts of old world Belgian breweries and blend them with modern brewing techniques and styles.  The result is a brewery full of unique beer, brewed without traditional rules, and often using fresh seasonal ingredients.

It took months of long nights and hard work to build the brewery (originally just the suite that is now the tap room), but in December 2012 we officially opened our doors.  We had a stubbornness to build everything our self and this mindset went all the way to Curt designing his own brewing equipment. This would ultimately be the starting groundwork for what would become Ss Brewtech the following year.   

In the coming years we begun to distribute our beers throughout California.  Currently Refuge beer (primarily Blood Orange Wit) is sold in over a thousand restaurants and bars throughout Southern California.  In 2015, we became the fastest growing production brewery in California with nearly a 300% jump in production over the previous year.  In 2016, Refuge became the largest brewery in Temecula and all of Riverside county.  That same year we leased the suite next door (11,000 sqft total) to take the brewery to the next level. IN 2021 Karl Strauss became the primary distribution partner for Refuge Brewery, and is currently slinging Refuge beers throughout Southern California.

The Ss Brewtech Connection

Three short months after opening the doors to Refuge, the Co-Founders decided to team up with a long term business partner and friend to pursue another passion, brewing equipment design.  For years the equipment that home brewers, and in turn pro brewers, were using was sub par.  Curt, being a mechanical engineer for the better part of four decades knew he could reshape the industry.  Today Ss Brewtech is the leader in Stainless Steel home brewing equipment, and is making huge waves in the pro brewing world by building pilot systems for some of the most well known and respected breweries around the world.

Owning Refuge, an independent craft brewery, allows the team at Ss Brewtech to test and prototype on a level not seen in the industry before.  On any given day you can see dozens of prototype Ss equipment being tested by the Refuge Brew Crew.  If you're interested in getting a first hand look at the Ss Brewhouses or equipment, reach out to Ss Brewtech and we'll see if we can arrange a tour of Refuge .

The core of Refuge Brewery's operation is a trio of Ss brewhouses.  The beasty 20bbl+ 3 vessel brewhouse is custom sized to brew 30bbl of our flagship Blood Orange Wit, with the 5bbl Brewhouse that brews all non distribution tap room beers, and the new 1bbl brewhouse used for small batch testing.