How the Family Behind Aztec Brewing Built a Home for Beer, Music, Art, and Community
By Daniel Sweet
Walk into Aztec Brewing Company in Vista, CA and you might hear a rock band shaking the room, or a jazz player improvising, maybe a local singer-songwriter trying out a new song, or someone stepping up to an open mic for the first time. You might find a birthday being celebrated.
You might find someone trying a new beer or seltzer while artwork created by one of the brewery’s owners looks down from the walls.
And somewhere in the middle of all of it, you’ll probably find John Webster, Claudia Faulk or their son Tristan Faulk-Webster talking with somebody. Not necessarily about beer.
Because after fifteen years, Aztec Brewing Company has become much more than a place to stop in for a drink. It’s become a place where people know each other. And that didn’t happen by accident.
A Historical Brewery
The Aztec name has roots that go back much further than the current Vista brewery. The original Aztec Brewing Company was founded in Mexicali, Baja California, in 1921. When John and his family resurrected the historic name, they weren’t simply borrowing something from San Diego brewing history. They began building something new around it.
The history gave them a foundation. John describes developing the Aztec brand almost like creating a concept album. “We adopted the name Aztec by resurrecting a famous early 20th Century San Diego beer brand,” he explains. “Having a theme to work around was like creating a concept album.”
That concept helped launch a collection of award-winning beers, eventually accompanied by limited-edition retro beers based on original recipes from the 1920s and 1930s.
Today, Aztec’s offerings range across numerous styles of craft beer along with its own hard seltzers, and flavored (non-alcoholic) soda water, all produced at the Vista location. But beer is only part of what grew there. Because the people behind Aztec brought another passion with them. Music.
Music Was There From the Beginning
John’s connection with music started long before there was an Aztec Brewing Company. His parents filled their home with records and radio. Jazz, folk, swing, pop and classical music all found their way into his childhood.
Then, in 1964, John’s father returned from a naval tour in the Pacific with something that seemed almost magical to a young boy. A transistor radio. It was small enough to fit into John’s pocket and came with a single wired earpiece. John carried it everywhere.
Growing up in Huntington Beach, he tuned into Los Angeles radio and waited to hear songs like “Wipe Out.” But in the process, he discovered something much bigger. British rock. Surf. Gospel. R&B. Motown. Country. Blues.
This was an era before radio had become so tightly divided into formats, and a kid listening to one station could encounter the Rolling Stones, the Supremes, Tom Jones, the Beatles, the Beach Boys and Elvis. By 1966, hearing “Psychotic Reaction” by Count Five pushed John toward harder rock. Later came Spirit, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and the psychedelic and space rock of the 1970s.
Music wasn’t a genre to him. It was a world to explore. That curiosity never really went away.
The Artist Behind the Brewery
Before John was making beer, he was making art. And music helped lead him there, too. In the photo above, he’s working by hand on a detailed pencil drawing of flowering prickly pear cactus for the “Peaceful Easy Feeling” poster that will become one of his craft beer labels. This shows the traditional illustration process behind his artwork for Aztec Brewing Company.
The album covers and bands he loved during the early 1970s inspired him to become an illustrator. That eventually led to work involving Boston and Dave Davies of The Kinks, along with projects for Southern California radio stations KGB and KPRI.
His professional career expanded into advertising, design and illustration for clients including SeaWorld and Baxter Pharma, while he also created editorial cartoons on the side. John still creates art today. But there’s something wonderfully old-school about the way he does it by hand. No AI, no computers. Just pure natural talent drawing by hand.
- Pens.
- Pencils.
- Watercolors.
- An easel, artboard, or drafting table.
Much of the artwork decorating the walls of Aztec’s music venue was created by John himself, by hand.
In an era when nearly anything can be created on a screen, those walls carry the unmistakable fingerprints of an artist. In a way, the brewery has become another one of John’s canvases. Except this time, he gets to make the art for his own brand at Aztec Brewing Company.
A Family That Makes Music Together
Aztec is very much a family operation, and music runs throughout that family. John describes himself as a “pleasantly mediocre guitarist,” although his answer when asked about his greatest musical challenge may be an even better description of his sense of humor: “Learning all 3 chords. (Wait! You mean there’s more?)”
But ask John what he’s most proud of and the jokes disappear. It’s his family.
John moved in with Claudia when he was 18. They married three years later and are still together fifty years later.
Despite spending much of his life surrounded by music, he hadn’t sung publicly since sixth-grade choir at Walter Reid Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia.
Decades passed. Then John spent six years watching musicians participate in the open mic at Aztec. One night, during an Aztec karaoke event hosted by Nicole Ianni, something changed. John sang. After all those years, in the venue his own family had helped create for other musicians, he found his voice.
Claudia is a bass player and singer. John and Claudia have formed two bands together, and their two sons are musicians as well. Their older son plays drums in one of their bands. Now their granddaughter gets to watch her family make music together. “It’s just about the most fun you can have,” John says.
That family relationship helps explain something about Aztec. Live music isn’t something the owners added because entertainment might help sell another round of beer. They’re musicians themselves. So they understand what it feels like to stand on the other side of the microphone.
Building a Stage for the Community
Aztec’s physical footprint is fairly modest. The brewery occupies two industrial units. One contains the brewing operation and business offices. The other has become the taproom, bar and intimate music venue.
- There’s a real stage.
- House sound system (expertly run by Tristan).
- Stage lighting.
And room for roughly 100 people. It isn’t a giant concert hall, it’s an intimate setting. That’s part of its charm. A band isn’t playing to a sea of anonymous faces fifty yards away. Performers and audiences share the same little room.
John credits Tristan with spearheading much of the music component at Aztec and helping turn that room into something much larger than its square footage might suggest.
Tristan also worked with the City of Vista, its city council and local chambers of commerce to expand opportunities for breweries and wineries to present live music. John believes Tristan’s persistence helped pave the way for other local businesses to bring music into their spaces as well.
But perhaps the best evidence of what Tristan and the family have built is simply to look at the calendar.
- There are featured bands on Friday and Saturday nights.
- There’s the Aztec Jazz Jam.
- Blues and rock jams.
- Original Band Showcases.
- Classic Rock nights.
- Acoustic and electric open mics nights.
- Singer-songwriter showcases.
- Grateful Dead nights.
- KISS tribute band night.
- Special Events and Private Events
- Plus other opportunities for local musicians.
These aren’t all polished, ticketed performances by established acts. And that’s important. Because a healthy music community doesn’t only need places for experienced musicians to perform. It needs places where new musicians can become experienced musicians.
Getting the Little Things Right
Supporting a music community isn’t always about grand gestures. Sometimes it means having a good stage, decent sound system, and lighting. Sometimes it’s giving a new performer a chance at an open mic. Sometimes it’s making musicians feel welcome when they arrive carrying a carload of equipment.
And sometimes it’s something as mundane as parking. In a previous SoCal Music Scene Magazine editorial about parking problems surrounding live-music venues, Aztec Brewing stood out for the opposite reason. They get it right.
Aztec seems to understand that doing all the small things right add up to one big wonderful experience.
And all those small things might go unnoticed until you’re the musician unloading amplifiers and drums, or an audience member deciding whether going to a local show is worth the hassle. The best music venues understand that the experience doesn’t begin when the first note is played. It begins when people arrive, and what happens when they’re there.
Where “Customer” Doesn’t Quite Describe It
Spend enough time around Aztec and another distinction becomes apparent. People may arrive as customers. But that’s not necessarily how they’re treated. John, Claudia and Tristan socialize with the people who come through their doors. They remember people. They talk with them. They celebrate with them.
Over time, those conversations turn into relationships. Aztec hosts birthday celebrations for people in its community. The family supports community functions and charity events. Musicians return again and again. Regulars get to know other regulars.
It’s difficult to manufacture that kind of atmosphere. Businesses sometimes talk about treating customers “like family.” At Aztec, you can watch it happen.
I’ve had the opportunity to see that from a perspective many customers don’t.
My own band, Kisstroyer USA, has performed at Aztec numerous times, and I’ve known John and Claudia since 2020, and I consider them friends. I’ve watched the way they interact with musicians and the people who walk through their doors. There’s an ease to it. A smile. A hello. A conversation.
Customers at Aztec aren’t treated like transactions, they’re treated like people, like friends, both new and old. And they’re always happy to see you!
Perhaps that’s why, when John was asked what he enjoys most about Southern California’s music scene, his answer was remarkably simple:
“It IS a community and I feel accepted and supported here.”
The interesting thing is that John, Claudia and Tristan have spent fifteen years returning that feeling to other people.
Fifteen Years of Beer, Music and Friendship
On Saturday, September 5, 2026, Aztec Brewing Company will celebrate its 15th anniversary!
Naturally, they’re celebrating the Aztec way. There will be a new session IPA. There will be food from their friends at Puras Papas. And there will be plenty of music.
John and Claudia’s bands Glo and the Radio-actives and The Far Side will perform. Tristan’s band Dark Unicorn will take the stage as well. They’ll be joined by Los Paisanos, Clayton Bros Blues Band, DJ Luis Tryptych and Maya the Fire Dancer.
The celebration begins at 1 p.m. and continues until 10 p.m.
On paper, it’s an anniversary party for a brewery. But look a little closer…
- The owners are playing.
- Their son is playing.
- Their friends are providing the food.
- Local musicians and artists are filling the stage.
- And many of the people filling the room will be people who have developed friendships with the family over the years.
That’s not just a celebration of fifteen years in business.
It’s a celebration of everything that grew around the business.
More Than What’s on Tap
A brewery makes things. Beer is the obvious answer. At Aztec, there are also hard seltzers, new recipes and experiments constantly finding their way into glasses.
John makes art. The family makes music. Tristan creates opportunities for other musicians to make music. And together, the Webster/Faulk family created a place where all of those things could coexist.
When John describes what people can expect from Aztec, he mentions top talent, excellent sound, art and cultural diversity. But right in the middle of his answer is something even more important:
“A community that supports music and art.”
Maybe that’s the real Aztec recipe. Take a family that genuinely enjoys people. Add a lifelong love of music. Mix in art, beer, musicians, regulars, newcomers, birthdays, jams, conversations and a small stage. Give it fifteen years. And see what happens.
Aztec Brewing Company has made plenty of beer during those years. But its greatest creation may not be something you can pour into a glass.
It’s the community gathered around it.
Contact Aztec Brewing Co.
General Information, Sales, Marketing & Public Relations: John Webster john@aztecbrewery.com
Events, Music & Booking: Tristan Faulk-Webster tfaulkwebster@gmail.com
Phone: 760-598-7720
Address: 2330 La Mirada Dr. Suite 300, Vista CA 92081
Website: https://www.aztecbrewery.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AztecBrewery
Return to September 2026 Edition
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