Mar 19, 2024
In Part 2, we pick up right
where we left off in Part 1. Mark was walking around the Mission
taking down numbers of places with "for rent" signs. A resident in
one of those spots leaned out the window and invited Mark in to see
the place. Mark reveals that he and his wife still live in that
same apartment 20 years later.
Paul Duatschek lived nearby in
the Mission. He and Mark were introduced by a mutual friend at
Bottom of the Hill. Soon enough, Paul was coming in regularly to
Luna Park on Valencia, where Mark managed and bartended. His new
friend kept urging Mark to carry his homebrew at the restaurant,
something Paul most likely knew couldn't happen. The same thing
happened when Mark opened his own place—Dr. Teeth (now simply
"Teeth") on Mission.
It was around the time of two
major events—his 30th birthday and the dissolution of his band (see
Part 1)—that Mark decided to branch out. He ended up opening
several other alcoholic-beverage-heavy establishments around SF:
joints like Wild Hare, Royal Tug Yacht Club, Soda Popinskis, Cease
and Desist. But it was at Dr. Teeth that Paul, by now a pretty damn
good homebrewer, would pressure his friend.
The idea was that Paul knew
beer and Mark knew how to open places. They hired a branding
company to help come up with the name, while they also poured
Paul's homebrew at parties. They got a good reaction to the
product, but encountered challenges finding a spot. Eventually,
Craigslist saved them.
Today, Standard Deviant lives
on 14th Street just off Mission in an old body shop. They signed
the lease in 2015, built the place out, and opened in 2016. The
brewery produces around 2,000 barrels a year.
The conversation then turns to
San Francisco craft brewing. When Mark and Paul decided to work
together, there were about 10 craft breweries in SF (places like
21st Amendment and Magnolia, to name just a few). A year or so
later, when Standard Deviant opened its doors, that number had
doubled. Mark says of the entire operation that it's about the
place as much as it is the beer. I for one can attest to
that.
We end the podcast with Mark's
response to our theme this season: "We're all in it
..."
PS: An exciting bit of
news dropped since we recorded back in December. This fall,
Standard Deviant is opening its second location in San Francisco’s
Pier 70. For reference, we
featured this exciting new area of the bayside waterfront back in
Season 4 Episode 20.
We recorded this podcast at
Standard Deviant Brewing in the Mission in
December 2023.