SOLEDAD — Once upon a time there was a lot of buzz going around Soledad with the anticipated opening of Reel Rock Brewery in 2025.
But, according to co-owner Mike Carrillo, the project went flat just a couple of months after breaking ground last June due to a major setback in the finance department.
“I’m kind of sad about it,” said Carrillo, who owns CSA Craft Beer Distributing in Salinas. “I got over it, but I spent two years going through that project. Two years of my life, and just putting plans together.”
Reel Rock Brewery was supposed to feature a full-scale brewery, service areas, an exterior beer garden and a mezzanine inside Premiere Cinemas at 499 Nestles Road.
During a groundbreaking ceremony on June 5, 2025, members of Balesteri Construction Inc. out of Salinas used a sledgehammer to smash a piece of wall to signal the start of construction.
When it was all said and done, Reel Rock Brewery was estimated to cost roughly $600,000, according to Carrillo.
Carrillo poured a little more than $100,000 into the project, yet one of their major investors backed out of the project, causing a sense of panic.
In the end, it came down to a lack of funding.
“The city was good to us all the way through,” Carrillo said. “It was just too pricey for us. Almost a million dollars for that project.”
Now the theater is left with an empty space and a hole in the wall.
Salinas Valley Tribune reached out to Premiere Cinemas but they did not respond.
Carrillo said they had no quarrel with the city, which welcomed the new brewery with open arms. That was including Soledad Chamber of Commerce executive director Maria Corralejo.
Before it officially became the Chamber of Commerce in 2023, Corralejo launched the Soledad Merchants Association in 2019. During that time, she recalled hearing how Premiere Cinemas was interested in serving alcoholic beverages.
“We were like, ‘Yeah, do it.’ We’ll definitely support that,” Corralejo said. “I know for a fact that the theater has been interested in doing it for years now. If this doesn’t work out with Mike [Carrillo] and Rick [Scolari], I could definitely see them moving forward with it on their own, or with somebody else.”
Carrillo said the City of Soledad provided a loan to kickstart the project, and they had the option to get funds elsewhere.
However, things began to veer off course once Carrillo found out the floor plans alone were going to cost $100,000. They also had to figure out a separate electrical project that would’ve cost upwards of another $100,000.
“I didn’t expect all the engineers that it was gonna be so expensive,” Carrillo said. “Then the place ain’t really designed for a brewery. We had to make all these modifications to actually make it into a brewery.”
That’s when he decided to pull the plug, especially because he doesn’t even own the building itself.
“What if something happens, and then we’re stuck with all these loans,” Carrillo said. “They wanted us to go forward with it, but I was like, ‘No. I would love to but can’t.’”
Carrillo admitted they probably should have started out small, such as a tap room or a pub, while leaving the brewery for another time. He said there might be another project in the works starting next year, but in the meantime he’ll continue to produce his own beer at CSA.
“That’s my vision there,” Carrillo said. “Some development goes up there again or something. But the way the world is, I don’t know.”
