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Former church becomes craft beer tasting room

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Posted at 9:22 PM, Jan 14, 2022
and last updated 2022-01-17 11:48:37-05

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (KGTV) — A century-old former church in San Diego has been transformed into a glistening craft beer tasting room.

The building now features stained-glass, statues and evil biblical figures.

"We have our sinner and our saint," said Jenna Sloan, general manager of The Lost Abbey.

The tasting room is inside the shell of a 116-year-old building that used to serve as a Presbyterian church that had fallen into disrepair.

After a $1 million project, the walls are now lined with images of religious figures, benches resemble pews, and chandeliers hang from the ceiling.

The tasting room opened in December, a couple of years after the church was moved 100 feet from its original location.

"The reason it's called The Lost Abbey is because we never had a real church, or a real abbey building," brewery co-founder Tomme Arthur said. "But welcome to the new church and the new abbey, so now we're a found abbey."

Arthur said he envisions the tasting room as a neighborhood spot for those in the tall apartment and condo buildings that surround it, as well as a place for Padres fans to hang out before heading to Petco Park, which is a couple of blocks away.

This story was originally reported by Jonathan Horn on 10news.com.