The Brass Tap, Marina's new beer-centric destination, is set to open.

Karl Waller recalls watching the marine layer build over the Peninsula as his flight from Dallas approached Monterey Regional Airport. For the previous three days in Texas, the thermometer had spiked at over 100 degrees.

“I saw the fog bank and I was happy,” Waller says, admitting that it may be rare to be so welcoming of the bay’s most notorious feature.

While he grew up in Marina and graduated from Seaside High, Waller had been away from the area for decades. On April 29, he returns to Marina in a big way: a whopping 60 beers on tap, a full liquor license, pub fare, 28 television screens and a brand-new building that can be opened to the outside—when the fog allows.

The Brass Tap is scheduled to open on Monday, April 29. It will be only the fifth location of the growing pub franchise in California, and in this case it’s a family affair. Joining Karl in running the operation are his wife Regina and sister Cassandra Waller.

“I really felt like it was the right concept,” Karl Waller says. “It’s something really unique for the whole area.”

The taps will include a number of local beers, including a selection from Marina’s English Ales. And the line of spigots is boggling. Yet it is Waller’s vision of indoor-outdoor seating that catches attention.

Exterior walls on a side of the building that will face the Promenade development’s park (once it is completed; there is frantic construction all around) can be opened floor to ceiling. An interior glass dividing wall between the patio and main dining room also open.

Convertible indoor-outdoor spaces are common in the Dallas area, Waller says. By having walls that can open or close installed, he could solve the problems caused by the marine layer.

Just outside there is a grass area with firepits. Waller envisions games and entertainment, as well.

“Forty years ago, living in Marina we had to drive to Monterey for entertainment,” he says.

It’s the first bar or restaurant Waller has owned. He spent much of his career in supply chain management in the Los Angeles area before retiring to Dallas-Fort Worth.

That’s where Waller first encountered The Brass Tap. He visited a newly opened location and was impressed.

“I didn’t know it was a franchise,” he points out. But he also decided that he wasn’t done with working. Being a first-time owner, the franchise model was the option with the fewest potential pitfalls. Plus, Waller explains, The Brass Tap allows regional flexibility and unique design.

After the soft opening, Waller plans a grand opening on June 6. But as he readies for the first wave of guests—and the wrinkles inevitable with a new business—he sees great potential.

“It’s a winning combination,” he says. “And there’s plenty of parking.”

The bar is part of the Promenade, a central piece of The Dunes development.