After nearly a decade, San Diego County’s only tribal-owned brewery is pouring its last beers. Rincon Reservation Road Brewery, better known as 3R, announced this month that it is closing its brewery at Harrah’s Resort SoCal and getting out of the brewing industry entirely, winding down through the end of October.

What happened

The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians, through its economic arm the Rincon Economic Development Corporation, announced the closure on Instagram. The statement pointed to a familiar culprit: the craft beer industry has changed dramatically, and the challenges facing breweries today are greater than ever.

REDCO chairwoman Shalome Briggs said the tribe was proud of what it built and “the role we played in creating a space for Native American representation within the craft beer industry.”

How 3R got here

The tribe entered the beer business in late 2016, installing a brewery and taproom at Harrah’s Resort SoCal on tribal land in Valley Center. Originally called SR76 Beer Works, it was billed as Southern California’s first tribally owned and operated brewery on tribal land.

The beers struggled to gain traction with resort guests, and in January 2020 the operation relaunched as Rincon Reservation Road Brewery. The reboot landed right as the pandemic hit, but the new lineup connected better: Chief IPA, Rez Dog Hefeweizen and Red Rattler Amber Ale moved beyond the resort into bars and restaurants across San Diego.

The company also tried to build a broader footprint. In 2021 it took over a Newport Avenue taproom in Ocean Beach, rebranding the space with a wall-length mural of the San Luis Rey River, which the Luiseño call the river of life. That taproom closed in May 2023, with REDCO saying a better, kitchen-equipped location was on the way. It never materialized, and the brewery has operated solely out of its Harrah’s home ever since.

Why it matters

This is the latest in a rough run for San Diego breweries. The closures have piled up this year: Black Plague shut down in September, The Roadies Brewing in Vista poured its final service this month, and Prohibition Brewing in Vista is closing after about 15 years. Statewide, California’s craft brewery count fell from 987 in 2023 to 939 in 2025.

Briggs pushed back on any narrative of defeat, saying the tribe’s strength “has never been defined by a single business venture” and that it will keep building for its community for generations to come.

If you want a final taste of 3R, the end of October is the deadline. The tribe says it will fulfill final orders and close out business with its partners through the month. After that, San Diego loses a one-of-a-kind story in its beer history.