The company itself? Dissolved on March 30, when Comerica seized its remaining assets.Ī new group, led by former Green Flash board member Richard Lobo, bought the brands at a discount, pledging to keep the Green Flash and Alpine brands alive, but sell those beers only in eight western states. March, the dismal news piled up even faster. The 50-state strategy was reduced to 18 states.įebruary, the company announced it was seeking “new investment.” In January, more than 30 people were laid off. “You’re just having a guy show up every six months and sprinkle some fairy dust and then move on.”įor Green Flash, 2018 has unfolded like a chain reaction car wreck. “You’re not building relationships,” said Jim Kenny, Green Flash’s former vice president of sales. With no more than 45 salespeople, the company couldn’t effectively compete in 50 states, “But a bad decision to build it on debt.”Ģ. “It was a good decision to build it,” he said of the $20 million Virginia Beach plant. Hinkley was over-extended, borrowing heavily to fund this expansion. Insiders say two factors doomed Green Flash:ġ. Making beer on both coasts, Hinkley spearheaded a drive to sell Green Flash in all 50 states.įar from positioning the brewery for nationwide success, though, those moves sealed its fate. His boldest move came in November 2016, when he opened a second large-scale production brewery in Virginia Beach, Va. In 2015, he opened a barrel-aging facility in Poway, Cellar 3. His 2014 purchase of Alpine Beer added several legendary beers, including Nelson and Duet, to his portfolio. Step by step, Hinkley was determined to build a national beer company. “He looked at me like, ‘Anchor? We’re going to be much bigger than that,’” the brewer said. In 2016, Number 37.Ī former brewer recalled congratulating Hinkley on the increasing sales, remarking that it could eventually rival San Francisco’s Anchor. In 2014, Green Flash crossed a symbolic barrier, appearing for the first time on the list of the nation’s 50 largest craft breweries, debuting at Number 48.
In 2011, the company left its small Vista brewery for a massive Mira Mesa plant, giving it a seven-fold increase in production capacity. Years of profitable, steady growth followed. His West Coast IPA and Le Freak, the latter a Belgian-style tripel/American-style imperial IPA hybrid, won fans and awards. The brand’s rise followed the 2004 hiring of a veteran brewer, Chuck Silva, with a portfolio of distinctive recipes. “We were in the red for a long time,” Pam Palisoul said, “maybe three years before we were breaking even. Opening in Vista in 2002, the brewery initially struggled. The Blairs and Palisouls were the original investors in Green Flash. “Martin said he would finance whatever Mike wanted to do in the future,” Pam Palisoul said, “because of his go-get-edness.” “He was a bartender for us,” said Martin Blair, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Cindy.īlair told his friends, Pam and Phillip Palisoul, that this hire combined a passion for beer with an impressive work ethic. One of his stops was the Kansas City Barbecue. “Let’s not pretend that this guy was Hitler.”Ī Navy veteran, Hinkley bounced around after leaving the service. “The guy at Enron was hated less than Hinkley,” said Scot Blair, owner of Hamilton’s Tavern and South Park Brewing Co. Today, it’s hard to remember that Mike Hinkley was once a popular leader of San Diego’s craft beer community. See the boom of San Diego craft beer » Rise and fall “It was a real family thing and a lot of families are dysfunctional. “Just to have that completely wiped away, I feel betrayed, I feel stupid and I feel a whole range of things - and I feel that for others who invested,” said Palisoul, whose 155,000 shares were once valued at nearly $7 million. Hinkley was that guy - until March 30, when the Comerica Bank’s stepped in and turned Green Flash stock into worthless paper. “My husband always said you find the guy with the passion and you put your money on that guy.” “People invested in Green Flash and Mike Hinkley,” said Pam Palisoul, one of the earliest investors. Yet Green Flash’s fall was also rooted in its unique culture, which relied on a small circle of investors, friends and relatives with almost boundless faith in the founder.