Blame it on high rents or pushy zoning laws, but the most exciting drinking experiences growing in the 805 can currently be found in otherwise unremarkable industrial parks. Figueroa Mountain Brewing, brewLAB, and M. Special come immediately to mind for sharing this locational origin story, and now, on the west end of Carpinteria, there’s a libation joint joining the club. It’s called The Apiary, and there is absolutely nothing like it on the South Coast.
As pure a homespun passion project as you will find, The Apiary is the creation of Santa Barbara native Nole Cossart. A once-upon-a-time pro surfer turned emergency-room nurse turned yoga nut turned kombucha brewer, the endlessly curious, 27-year-old Cossart is shifting again. Over the past 10 months, Cossart — with help from the steady hands of his dad, artist and builder Kit Boise-Cossart, and his sweetheart/coconspirator, Rachna Hailey — has been slow cooking the transformation of a former office space on Carpinteria Avenue into a mead and cider taproom.
A tight budget and Nole Cossart’s lifelong DIY bent drive The Apiary’s aesthetic, which is a whimsical sort of rustic with hand-painted signs, antique curios, and repurposed bee boxes quietly pulling double duty as serving trays for tasters and the backdrop around the tap wall. There is even an old rotary phone tucked under the staircase for the sole purpose of ordering pizza.