From the Archives: Q&A

The Heart of Beer Week: Nickie Peña

A version of this piece originally appeared in the November 2018 issue of West Coaster Magazine. After 10 years working in the craft beer industry, Peña is now the Director of Marketing & Communications for the San Diego Legion Major League rugby team. She recently penned this remarkable op-ed in the San Diego Union-Tribune recounting her time working in beer and the toll it took on her as “a first-generation American, brown-skinned Mexican girl.”

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Nickie Peña knows San Diego beer. She even interned at West Coaster way back when, but it’s not nepotism that landed her back in these pages. It’s because she’s currently the Senior PR & Communications Strategist at Paradeigm, the agency that handles public relations and marketing for the San Diego Brewers Guild. And since November is Beer Week month in San Diego, she let me in on what the Guild has up their sleeves for the tenth year of San Diego Beer Week. Plus, we talk about her beer history, desert island beers, and of course being a woman in craft beer, because what do you expect?

So, Nickie: tell me about how you got into beer.

I grew up in Escondido and went on a tour of Stone for the very first time when I was around 19 years old. I couldn’t even drink, but I remember going on the tour and being like, “Oh my God, this guy has the coolest fucking job — he gets to go around, talk to people, and explain why craft beer is so rad. And he gets to hold a microphone. I want that guy’s job someday.”

Because of the beer or because of the microphone?

(Laughs) I think it was a combination. I ended up applying five times, finally got an interview, and ended up working in the Stone store in college. At the time, I was going to San Diego State doing the JMS [Journalism and Media Studies] program with a minor in Marketing because I wanted to get into public relations. Before Stone, I had an interest in advertising and marketing. I thought it was really fascinating how much money big beer companies would spend on advertising, like at the Super Bowl. 

Then when I went on this tour and I was like “Craft beer is different because you’re not spending money on all that. You’re spending it on good ingredients and community outreach and giving back in other ways.” I thought that was really rad, and that’s probably why I wanted to get into the industry so badly. I eventually became a brewery tour guide and then had an opportunity to become a PR intern. Less than a month into it, I found out my boss, Sabrina LoPiccolo, who now works for White Labs, was going to have her first baby, and I was sort of groomed to take over for her when she was out on maternity leave. That’s how I got my first full-time job in PR. 

When she came back from maternity leave, I helped support the stuff that she did. It was a really great experience to be able to do that. Stone is an international company at the end of the day, but the big takeaway was that it was great to have a woman to support and mentor me.

Sabrina later ended up poaching me to go work at White Labs in 2016. The position was more marketing communications; I did a little bit of PR still, but it was a lot of email marketing campaigns, working on sales materials, updating the website, social media, doing the calendar, blogging… basically, I was the voice for White Labs. 

Then Paradeigm, where I’m at now, happened. Stephen Brucher, the founder, used to work with me at Stone and he left to start this agency. We kept in touch and went back and forth with the idea that he wanted to offer PR one day. Finally he was like, “Hey, the Brewers Guild approached me, they’re interested in Paradeigm doing their PR for 2018. How do you feel about that?” We met, he told me what it would entail, and I signed on. Some of our past and current clients in addition to the Brewers Guild are the San Diego Legion rugby team [Ed. note: the circle is finally complete!], CommonGrounds [a coworking space in Carlsbad], two construction companies, a drumhead manufacturer (Aquarian Drumheads), and Knockaround Sunglasses.

In my experience, 99% — if not 100% — of PR people I talk to are women. Are there any challenges that you face being a woman working with beer people?

Yes, but it’s a little weird to talk about it, because I feel like it came naturally. When you’re a PR person, your job is to make someone else famous and be behind the scenes. But to be quite honest, I worked really fucking hard to get here. I had to work really hard because I just got thrown to the wolves in a lot of the positions I had and I had to prove myself along the way. Being a brewery tour guide helped me because I learned a lot about the technical side of beer. PR people don’t always understand how beer is made, flavor profiles, what ingredients do, why certain beer categories are the way they are, or industry trends. But yeah, it’s hard. Most of the people that I talk to are men. Most of the meetings I sit in, not only am I sometimes the only woman, but sometimes I’m the only POC [person of color] and that’s also a frustration.

But you’ve worked at White Labs, which has, in my opinion, done more to promote diversity than any other beer business in San Diego. 

Absolutely. The thing that I really, really appreciated and respected with Chris [White] is that it’s one thing to boast about having women on your staff. It’s another thing to have women in leadership roles. Neva Parker is the operations person who runs that company. She’s an immigrant too; she was born in Cambodia and came here. Then you think of Sabrina, who oversaw the marketing efforts when I was there. Kara [Taylor] runs the analytical lab, Karen [Fortmann] is the one heading up the company’s R&D. It isn’t just women in entry-level or support positions — it’s women who are helping run and grow the company.

As far as women blazing the trail in San Diego beer, who are some of your role models?

One of my favorite people, who has always been extremely awesome and really great to work with, is Melody Crisp, VP of Marketing at Coronado. She’s super professional, she knows her discipline, and is great at it. I love that she’s so innovative in the things that she’s doing with SouthNorte. She’s passionate about it; she’s taking Spanish classes and she cares. 

I also really respect and would love to work more with Virginia [Morrison] from Second Chance. I remember leaving a meeting with her once and thinking “All right, she means business!” She’s very direct and that’s so important. We work in this very casual, fun industry, and sometimes we forget it should be about work hard, play hard. 

Another person, who I think deserves to have more of a leadership position at Stone (and I hope she does at some point), is Laura Ulrich. She makes me feel like I’m a rock star because of how much she believes in me and what I’m trying to do. And she’s like that with every woman in the industry! She’s the one person out here taking care of all of us and being like “Girl, what do you need? What can I do to help you get there? What are your challenges and how can you overcome them?”

These women are definitely biggies in the San Diego beer scene, and (super smooth segue) will probably all be participating in San Diego Beer Week. What can we expect from Beer Week this year?

We’ve introduced several new changes to Guild Fest. Part of it was just that there are so many festivals in San Diego and people are getting festival fatigue. Since Guild Fest is one of the biggest revenue generators for the Guild, they decided to add an international component to help bring more people to the event. There are going to be breweries from Baja and Mexicali joining us. Also, they’re bringing in breweries from the other California guilds. The CCBA [California Craft Brewers Association] is going to be a part of this event. They want Guild Fest to be representative of California and West Coast beers and have it be a gathering of that.

What spurred the decision to include non-San Diego breweries?

I think it partly just had to do with adding a unique feature, and then also you look at something like the Great American Beer Festival. Even though the industry is plateauing, this year was one of the biggest ones they’ve ever had. There’s still opportunity. You may think, “Yes, San Diego Beer Week is meant to celebrate local beer,” but it’s also cool to have people come visit. We want to make San Diego a true destination for craft beer. 

When it comes to the Guild itself, there’s some disagreement on who’s allowed to be in it and who’s not. What’s your opinion on the criteria of being “independent” in craft beer?

The reason I got into this industry in the first place was because there was this whole “us against the man” conversation. I’m probably never going to meet the owner or CEO of Target. But guess what? There’s a store across the street where I’m a lot more likely to meet the owner and I know what they’re trying to do for the community. It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. 

The challenge is, and I don’t want to ever ignore it, is yes, I truly believe that Ballast Point — that’s who we’re talking about — is absolutely a part of the history of San Diego beer. We’re not trying to erase history. But I think what we now need to do moving forward for the future is remember that at the end of the day, the money being made by that company is going to a multinational conglomerate that’s based in New York. That company is not San Diego-based. That’s my issue with it. [Ed. note: after Kings & Convicts acquired Ballast Point from Constellation Brands in March 2020, Ballast Point once again attained the “independent” status required to re-join the San Diego Brewers Guild.]

That’s one of the reasons the Brewers Guild is one of my favorite clients — they’re all about advocacy. Their whole mission is advocating on behalf of independent brewers, and that’s really fucking cool. I’m always thinking “What’s my five-year plan? What’s my ten-year plan?” If I were to leave the beer world, it would be so that I could get into politics. [Ed. note: Nickie, you totally have my vote. <3] I want to be somebody’s chief of staff or director of communications. That’s why I love doing this — I feel like I’m getting the experience to get me to where I need to go. I especially love to talk to people in the industry because I’m like “Okay, cool, I’m not the only one who’s crazy and mad and upset about what’s happening in the world.” I’m glad there are other people who are equally pissed off and ambitious and passionate to make shit happen. 

When it comes to talking about politics in beer, I hear “make beer fun again” often. What are your thoughts on keeping politics in or out of beer?

I think it absolutely needs to be discussed. Our Constitution was written in a pub! I mean, by a bunch of old white men, but whatever. Beer has always been this thing that brings people together. It should have a societal expectation that you, as a responsible adult, can have a beer and converse about something. Granted, I’m very liberal, but the reality is that I still try to keep up with the opposing opinion and what they’re saying. Maybe it’s a little selfish to say this, but I do it to help strengthen my own arguments. You have to hear them out in order to rebut it. You hear about these celebrities who are voicing their own opinions about political issues as they’re happening and they’re being told “No, no, just stick to what you know,” and that’s not how it should be.

I completely agree. Before we start getting too fired up about politics, let’s finish on a lighter note. Where are some of your favorite places to drink in San Diego?

I love drinking at Societe. I have yet to try a beer that I’m not impressed with there. I also really like Bottlecraft in Little Italy. It’s right by Paradeigm’s office and it’s a good go-to place. If I’m in the mood for something other than beer, I really love Old Fashioneds at basically any CH Project. Live Wire is my usual stomping ground because I live two blocks away, but if I’m ever in the mood for a nice martini, I go to the Red Fox Room.

You’re on a desert island. What beer do you have?

I’m going to pick my top three. One of my all-time favorite beers is Firestone Walker Union Jack. That’s the beer that got me into IPAs. Second is California Lager, which is made by Anchor Brewing, another of my favorites. That beer is going to be served at my wedding. Thirdly, and I wish they’d make it again, is Stone Smoked Porter. It’s so good — I dream about it. 

Who would the bartender be on your desert island bar?

Oooooh… it probably be this bartender from Live Wire named Anthony. He’s got that bartender sarcasm. But if he’s going to be the desert island bartender, that means he’s bringing all of Live Wire with him. They always have good beer, he’s great at making dirty martinis, and I’m sure they’d have some sort of bubbles they could pour me. So it’s him, but he’d have to bring the whole bar. 

Prohibitchin' is made possible by a sponsorship from Hopsbauer, a woman-owned hops brokerage company based in San Diego. Hopsbauer brings the best hops from around the world to craft breweries. Find out more by visiting Hopsbauer.com, and thanks to Liz Bauer for her generous support!