Breweries Archives - Deano Writes

Hoppin’ Around

August 17, 2025 Dean BrightmanLeave a comment

Yes, I know, it’s been quite a while. But I have managed to get out every now and then, so I thought I’d catch y’all up on some of my recent beer travels.

BUT FIRST, MALT

“Beer is agriculture!”

So shouts Admiral Maltings’ Ron Silberstein during a tour of the malt house during the 2^nd Annual “It’s the Malt!” festival, held recently at Admiral’s Alameda facility.

Malt aerating on malting floor at Admiral Maltings, Alameda — Booth with a view at The Rake Pub, Admiral Maltings, Alameda

He is passionate about the grain, something I found out years ago while interviewing him for the chapter I contributed to this book about the geography of beer.

Admiral Maltings was founded in 2017 due at least partially to the fact that hops were hogging the spotlight. As I mentioned in the book, the IPA explosion turned tap lists into virtual hop-varietal marquis. While malt, the backbone of beer (Admiral’s tagline is “No Malt, No Beer”) was relegated to a supporting role, at best. You didn’t see malt varieties on beer labels, or malt farmers glorified as much as their hop-growing counterparts.

Malt was under appreciated, and Admiral Maltings set out to help change that.

Fast-forward seven or eight years, and Silberstein’s passion continues. Enough to where, as an alternative to festivals highlighting hoppy beer styles (IPAs!) or beer-drinking occasions (Oktoberfest!), it was time for a festival celebrating malt.

The “It’s the Malt!” festival, like the facility that that hosts it, is utterly unique and not to be missed.

Let’s start with the fact that Admiral’s pub, The Rake, is truly an astounding place to enjoy a beer. Not just because you can see the actual malting floors from your table, but because it consistently features one of the most amazing tap lists you will ever find.

People standing in line for beer at "It's The Malt!" festivval — I bet that fancy concert in The City didn’t have this!

The common thread, of course, is that everything poured is made with Admiral malts. This ensures not only out-of-this-world quality, but an amazing cross-section of breweries and styles. Are you a hophead? Check. Dig a saison, or maybe a porter? Check-check. Love an impeccably brewed lager? Check-mate.

Having a place like this host a festival? Forget it. If you only have room in your budget for one festival a year, make it this one.

For starters, they turned their tap list up to 11 by featuring tents with additional taps outside. The Lager Land tent (I doubt that big music party on the other side of the Bay had this) was pouring beers where these standout malts can really shine.

The Bay Area Mashers tent celebrated the famed homebrewing club’s 35^th anniversary by featuring collabs with several local breweries. The Bluegrass Common with Moraga’s Canyon Club, and Fool’s Gold English Golden Ale with Richmond’s East Brother were standouts.

(An aside — I was fortunate enough to later enjoy Fool’s Gold ON CASK at East Brother. Holy cow. Smooth, tangy, just slightly bitter, and absolutely amazing.)

So yes, the beers (and Whiskeys (!)) on offer were amazing enough. But this wasn’t just about tasting the finished products, it was also learning about malt and interacting with it.

Display inside Admiral Maltings facility — How ’bout a little knowledge to go with that beer?

If you weren’t able to catch one of the guided tours, the malthouse was opened up for self-guided tours that included several informational displays detailing the entire malting process.

Educational seminars were also offered, right on one of the germination floors, which included talks on the optimal situations to grow malt, as well as guided sensory tastings.

So — world class beers and spirits, AND the chance to learn a thing or two about what makes beer beer? Get to this next year, you will not regret it.

The Rake Pub at Admiral Maltings
651A W Tower Ave, Alameda
Open 7 days, check site for hours

PUB HOPPIN’

I’ve managed to squeeze in a few brewery stops while I’ve been our seeing our fine (still, I think) country.

Bar area, Back Unturned Brewing, San Antonio — By your own bootstraps

Back Unturned Brewing, San Antonio, TX — Just off the Riverwalk north of the Downtown tourist spots sits Back Unturned Brewing. A scrappy, feisty, DIY type of place, with concrete floors, a stainless steel bar, and tanks in full display in the dining room. The beers are as solid as the space, with some nice IPAs and a delightful hoppy Belgian-style ale. Full kitchen featuring pizzas, full bar, friendly space. Worth the trek out of downtown.

516 Brooklyn Ave, San Antonio, TX 78215
Open daily at 11am

Roadmap Brewing, San Antonio, TX — Roadmap is just a few blocks from Back Unturned, although I had already built up quite a thirst in the stifling heat. A bit more polished, the expansive building features several separate but still very open spaces to hang-out, including a serious dartboard area around the corner from the bar.

And the beers are spot on. These folks have won their share of awards, locally and from GABF in Denver and the World Beer Cup. Great selection of merch, and a food truck on site featuring burgers. If you only time for one beer stop in SA, make it this one.

Interior, showing tanks, of Roadmap Brewing, San Antonio — An inviting respite from the unusual Spring heat.

723 North Alamo Street, San Antonio, TX, 78215
Open M-F 2-10pm, S-S Noon-2pm

Barhop Brewing, Sequim, WA — headed to the Pacific Northwest for a family reunion, and wouldn’t you know this place just happened to be right across the street from our hotel. Of all the luck…

Beer taster flight at Barhop Brewing, Sequim, WA — The beers were nice, but… Worst. Logo. Ever.

This is actually the second outpost for Barhop, their main facility is in Port Angeles, just down the highway. Not an ounce of pretension here, just good beer in an assuming, open space, with some outside seating, as well.

Pizza’s the name of the game here, as well. We had a nice spicy Pep, with just enough pop to work well with the crispy sourdough crust. The beers were solid as well, I particularly enjoyed a lively tart Key-Lime Chili Lager. Just enough of everything to make it interesting and not overwhelm.

845 W Washington St, Sequim, WA 98382
Open M-Thur Noon-7pm, Fri-Sun Noon-8pm

Headlands Brewing, several East Bay locations — closer to home, Headlands is bucking the trend and gone into major expand mode as of late, and they’ve carved a pretty good niche for themselves with each of their very unique spaces.

They’re all about making the absolute most with fairly small-ish footprints, with an emphasis on family-friendliness. Unique seating arrangements, dedicated kids’ play areas, and just enough greenery to feel like you’re hanging out in your friend’s backyard.

Beer garden seating, Headlands Brewing, Walnut Creek — The forest for the … buildings.

Walnut Creek, especially, pulls this off. They’ve managed to create a wooded oasis in the middle of a business park right across from a BART station! You wouldn’t think it would work, but it does. And, bonus, this location features a full bar.

The tap list is conveniently divided by flavor profile, so you’re sure to find what you need. Food menu features burgers, sandwiches, salads, and apps, as well as choices for the kiddos.

Hours vary by location, check their site for deets.

Lafayette — 3420 Mt. Diablo Blvd.
Berkeley — 1280 Gilman St.
Walnut Creek — 2999 Oak Rd., Suite A

The Pilgrimage — Russian River Brewing, Windsor, CA

June 30, 2019 Dean BrightmanLeave a comment

{Editor’s Note: All quotes in this post are from Natalie Cilurzo. Got tired of thinking of clever ways to stick attributions in.}

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Like a lot of beer nerds, Russian River Brewing has long been one of my all-time faves. My first taste of Pliny the Elder at a long-ago Bistro IPA festival was amazing, my first of Younger even more so. I was thrilled when co-owner Natalie Cilurzo agreed to an interview here a couple of years back. Really gave me a feeling of legitimacy.

So on the drive to their new brewery and restaurant in Windsor, I felt like a kid heading to an amusement park. Only here, the featured attraction is beer.

I got there a little early (and yes, I did go to the right place this time) and waited in the spacious main lobby, featuring several comfy leather chairs around a stone fireplace.

Unlike the original Santa Rosa pub, a long, narrow space stuffed to the brim most days, spaciousness abounds here. There are separate spaces for tours, gift shop, and restaurant, each with its own entrance.

Large groups are accommodated by two communal tables made of long, wood planks, separated by a half-wall across from the bar. More seating is behind the bar, and still more seating, plus another bar, is beyond in an auxiliary, sun-room type space.

All of this is surrounded by windows, filling everything with light. Another departure from Santa Rosa.

Natalie cheerfully greeted me (of course), and we were off on the tour.

RRBC’s Field of Dreams

Windsor is truly a ground-up facility. The site was previously an empty field. They did everything, from prep work and grading, to installing all needed utilities.

And, also unlike Santa Rosa, the site includes two acres of free parking, “which was vital during Pliny the Younger,” says Natalie.

Controlling all aspects of construction allowed them to minimize their overall environmental footprint.

“We could incorporate a lot of sustainable things if you do it from the ground up. Our parking lots are very green, we actually don’t have any storm drains on the property. All of that water either gets absorbed into the ground or flows out to the wetlands.

We have four acres of wetlands to the west that we own, it’s quite beautiful. I was out taking pictures this morning of some egrets, we have baby egrets out there. We have geese and ducks and red-tail hawks.”

When the people responsible for a triple-IPA release that gathers international attention get the chance to build a brand new facility from scratch, you’d expect everything to be state of the art.

And you’d be correct.

Over the (Open) Top

The new brewhouse features open-top fermenting, which allows the yeast to move more freely in the wort because the CO² that’s produced is allowed to escape. Imported from Germany, these specific tanks are only used by two other facilities in the U.S. — Sierra Nevada (North Carolina) and Wisconsin’s New Glarus.

The ventilation system is so advanced the fermentation space resembles a clean room. All fresh air pumped into the room goes through a Hepa filter AND UV light.

They’ve built their own sensory lab, for employee education as well as to maintain consistency between their Santa Rosa and Windsor breweries.

They also now have a yeast propagation cellar, so they can grow their own yeast.

According to Natalie, they still buy yeast “but we’re trying to get away from that for cost and quality control. It takes a lot of wort to grow yeast, so that’s been kind of expensive for us. We’re waiting until we get our new pilot brewery installed, that way we can make wort and not waste it.”

The new brewery is truly an international affair. The majority of their brewhouse came from Ziemann, another German company. And their new, high-tech bottling line is from GAI in Italy.

“This is quite a bit bigger than our last bottling line. It can do up to 200 bottles a minute, right now we’re running at about 130. That’s all we really need to do.”

Watching a bottling line can be pretty mesmerizing as it is, but the palletizer is where the magic really happens on this system.

After the boxes are folded, filled, and glued, they run down a conveyer to a pallet. Every few boxes or so, a portion of the conveyer belt’s sidewall kicks out, turning the orientation of the box, not unlike turning a Tetris piece.

The pattern continues, with every few boxes turned, so that the maximum number fits on each layer of the pallet. It also gives each pallet more stability, as not each layer is arranged the same way.

Trust me, it’s almost hypnotic to watch as each layer gets stacked. Even a veteran like Natalie says, “I can watch it all day!”

“Anybody who’s ever worked on a bottling line, this is their favorite part.”

Heading to the Altar

She then leads me to the sour, or what they call the “funky” brewery.

“One of the reasons we built a new brewery was we wanted a separate area for our sour beers. This is actually a separate building that’s attached to the other building.”

In the old Santa Rosa production brewery, the regular and sour breweries were in the same space, albeit on opposite ends. The threat of cross-contamination was constant, to the point that all equipment used in the funky space, down to hoses and buckets, were marked with red tape so as not to be accidentally walked over to the other side. Anyone who worked on the funky side had to stay there for the entirety of their shift.

They have about 900 barrels in the sour wing, and they’ve utilized their old bottling line here. “That way we don’t have any cross-contamination. We have one brewer that this is the only place he works.”

Then I was led to a place that can only be called a cathedral, down to the gothic door that opens into it.

“We got this door on e-bay, isn’t that funny? It’s old wood with new construction, which I appreciate. I’d rather have the modern hinges, right?”

This is the Koelschip room.

A Koelschip (or coolship) is a big, shallow, open tank. Hot wort is pumped in and allowed to sit. In the evenings, the windows that surround the room are opened, allowing the breezes to cool the wort.

These breezes also carry wild yeast, which inoculates the wort and begins fermentation. These “wild” beers are the closest approximation to what winemakers call “terroir.” Brewers usually use very specific yeast strains when brewing, as they know exactly what that yeast will do to a beer as it’s fermenting.

But when using Koelschips, brewers are at the mercy of the local yeasts flying through the air. Wild beers are truly fascinating, filled with all kinds of funky flavors. They are also quite expensive, as brewing with this technique is very labor intensive and only makes a small amount of beer.

This kind of brewing can only be done during the cool winter and early spring months, otherwise the wort won’t get cool enough overnight.

Even the materials used in this sacred, wood-clad space have a story.

“All of this wood is from Sierra Nevada Mills River (North Carolina). We told [owner] Ken [Grossman] what we wanted to do and he said ‘I have a bunch of lumber left over from harvesting all of the trees for the brewery.’ He had a barn that was full of wood, and we got it … Yellow and White Pine.”

The Good … and Not So Good

We finish up the tour with a quick look through the self-guided section. Windsor offers two types of tours. The scheduled guided tours are $15 and include tasting.

(Pro-tip: try to book a tour during the Younger release in February. Younger is included in the tastings, and it’s probably the only way you’ll get to try it without a long wait.)

Self-guided tours are free and don’t require reservations. No tastings, though. Although, nothing’s stopping you from ordering a beer at the bar and taking it with you as you check out the facility.

After the tour, I asked Natalie if the new facility has worked out as planned in relieving pressure at the original Santa Rosa pub.

“Yes … especially during Pliny the Younger. The waits downtown were not four or five hours, they were one or two, or maybe three hours. Even on the weekends downtown isn’t as crazy.”

Although opening their new location has pretty much gone as planned, as they’ve grown to 200 employees, staffing is a constant struggle.

“We have record low unemployment in California, and we’re in a serious housing crisis right now. The fires that hit us in the middle of construction didn’t help. We’re having a really hard time finding employees and keeping them, and being able to pay them a wage where they can [almost] afford to live here.”

Did they envision this kind of success, to be able to build a gleaming new facility on this scale, with all its bells and whistles?

“Yeah, this is exactly what we envisioned. I mean, it’s bigger than what we originally envisioned, but the job of the design team is to take our vision out of our heads, put it on paper, and then build it. So yes, this is exactly what we envisioned, and then some. It was a grand vision.”

Mad Fritz: Making Original Beer

March 20, 2019 Dean BrightmanLeave a comment

As a winemaker, Nile Zacherle knows well the vital role ingredients play in the fermentation sciences.

Not just knowing what they are, but where they came from, will dictate how the winemaker approaches them, both in recipe and process, to produce the desired result.

The same is true of brewing, as viewed through Zacherle’s winemaker perspective.

Origin Beer

“I think we’ve always known why [Mad Fritz is] brewing what we’re brewing — it’s about showcasing the origin and authenticity of the ingredients and the flavors that come with that…creating origin beer as kind of a sub-niche of craft beer. And to create more of a local culture with raw materials.”

That means controlling those raw materials down to their exact specifications, using locally sourced, organically grown hops and barley, which they actually malt on their very own malting floor at their brewery in St. Helena.

You might think, brewing in Napa Valley with a winemaking background, Zacherle’s facilities would reflect Napa’s opulence, with an expansive brewery floor featuring shiny copper kettles.

Brewing, even in Napa Valley, ain’t glamorous.

Au contrare. The tiny brewery betrays the fairly lofty prices Mad Fritz can command for a bottle.

“We’re a pretty old-school brewery,” says Zacherle. “There’s no cold box. There’s no real refrigeration other than for tanks. It goes to barrel, comes out of barrel, goes to a bright beer tank, [in] just the climate of the space. We don’t even have HVAC, which is a problem during the summer. It stays in the low 70s, but it’s not ideal.”

The facility’s fluctuating temperatures can thus dictate what types of beer can be brewed when.

“Certainly [during the winter] it’s lager time. Everything is great when it’s in barrel when it’s cold. Everything’s dropping into the 50-55º zone in barrel right now, and that’s just beautiful. If I had all the money in the world I’d have a barrel room that I could keep at 55º year round, with humidification, etc. That would be sweet.”

Another unique aspect of Mad Fritz’ process is aging. All beers — all of them — are aged in barrel, anywhere from two weeks for IPAs to up to four months for Belgian styles, although each beer will tell him when its ready.

“The beer has a dimension from the barrel, from the aging, from that extraction process, when it comes to stasis with the barrel itself,” says Zacherle. “The barrel element is subtle yet powerful, adding a unique dimension to the beers’ personality. There are certainly times when you taste a beer from barrel and think ‘This is coming out soon. It’s really hitting!’”

Although Zacherle prefers to leave them in barrel as long as possible, some beers just don’t measure up to expectations.

“There have been beers that have sat too long and just didn’t make the cut and need to be dumped out. This forces introspection of what you are doing and not [wanting to waste] any more time on something that doesn’t have the level of quality we expect in our beers. “

$ + $$ = $$$

So why make such labor-intensive beer, in such a small space, and charge a pretty penny for them?

“Ideally, it’s how to do you make better beer, not how to do cut costs. A lot of people think the inverse of that. ‘How do I make more money? I’ve got to shorten the brews so my labor [costs are] lower. If I can increase brewhouse efficiency, we can save on ingredients.’”

Zacherle avoids this model, which means not having something that could be considered a flagship.

“When you adhere to the most conventional way we as consumers have purchased and consumed our product, we’re like, ‘Well, [this brewery] makes X. I want X. I drink X.’ And they do Y, Z, and that becomes this kind of platform. ‘These are our beers.’ It’s easy for people to adhere to.

“But it also kind of gets boring, too. We have 40 different beers we make, and they’re all in rotation. We don’t sell a lot of doppelbock, but dammit, we’re brewing it. Because it’s just a great beer.”

“Ideally, it’s how to do you make better beer, not how to do cut costs.”
Nile Zacherle, Mad Fritz Brewing Co.

Making such unique, ingredient-driven, small-batch beers in such an expensive labor market isn’t exactly kind to his bottom-line, either.

“That’s one of the things that’s different with our business is that, it’s just really expensive to be here,” says Zacherle. “Not only do we charge accordingly because of that, but we charge accordingly for the process and what we do with the raw materials. The zip code doesn’t help.

“Because of that, you have to pay salaries that are twice, three times what other communities might be paying their brewers or sales managers, because it just costs more to live here. And if you want a good sales person you gotta pay, otherwise you’re just not gonna get anybody good.”

Fabled Beer

“All the beers are named after Aesops Fables,” says Zacherle.

“The fables were something my wife thought of. I thought of [the brewery] name, named after our children, Madilyn and Fritz.

“Sometimes I get so seduced by the image itself, the Francis Barlow artwork. We acquired a 300-year-old printing of this fable book so we could expand the images a little bit more and get better resolution. It’s all public domain, it’s 300-, 400-years old.”

While sometimes it’s just a fable’s image that drives a name, the moral of the story can also say something about the beer itself.

“‘The Wind and Sun’ just really reflected our platform. The moral of the fable is gentle persuasion is more effective than brute force. The Sun slowly warming versus the Wind trying to blow the jacket off of the traveler.

“If you truly love beer, you need to open your mind a little. Experience other beers.”
Nile Zacherle

“The beer speaks for itself, the raw materials speak for themselves. The gentle persuasion — complexity can come from simplicity. Those concepts are parallel.”

How about the moral of their Biere de Garde, “The Boy who Cried Wolf?”

“I love the image. But there’s a double-entendre with it. It was supposed to be a golden ale. When it looked basically brown and amber, I was like ‘Hey, something’s up.’

“I texted the maltster. ‘Hey, this is not pale malt. This is a brown malt.’ So I kind of cried wolf a little bit, but there was really a wolf there! So I turned it into a new beer. I’m going to use the same hops, and do everything I normally do. But I’m going to turn it into a Biere de Garde.”

Water is an Ingredient, too

Zacherle was kind enough to pour several beers during my visit. Nothing exhibited what kind of difference even one ingredient can make than a side-by-side tasting of The Donkey and Thistle pale lager. They were identical except for one thing — the water source. One was made with spring water from Angwin, the other from Lewelling Vineyards.

“The Angwin’s the softest spring water in Napa Valley,” Zacherle explains. “Lewelling’s one of the harder waters, and that’s literally a stone’s throw from here. The generalization with harder water is that it accentuates bitterness because it dries out the palate.”

I could immediately tell the difference. The beer made with Angwin water fanned out more evenly across the palate, with a longer finish. The Lewelling beer had a snappier, drier finish that readied the palate for whatever was next.

Zacherle continued. “In the Angwin, you can see how the softer water gives it a teddy-bear-hug. It’s just softer, rounder, easier. It’s like the harder water adds a bit more more edginess to it. A lot of people have said it’s almost like a pale ale, there’s that sharpness to it.”

Beer in Wine Country, or Wine in Beer Country?

Being a winemaker, Zacherle knows how to market for a wine-country audience. Mad Fritz bottles certainly reflect that, with stopper caps and labels that echo high-end Napa wines. Their uniqueness and terroir-driven backstories seem perfectly suited to wine-centric palates.

And world-class restaurants, including the famed French Laundry, have noticed and now feature Mad Fritz on their drink lists.

“I have not met Thomas Keller or consulted with him, I’ve been working with his sommeliers and chefs. I think we’re very much in concert with his approach. When you’re cheffing at that level, you’ve got to be thinking origin, sourcing, farmers. You have to go all the way to the ground and build up.

“I understand ‘The Old Man and Death’ is drinking exquisitely right now…”

“We’ve done custom beers for The Restaurant at Meadowood, the French Laundry, made a thyme beer that’s going to Geranium, the restaurant in Copenhagen.”

When you make the beverage lists from some the world’s top restaurants, there’s a danger of projecting an image of being inaccessible, something out of reach for the masses.

Bringing the Taps to the People

To alleviate that, and get Mad Fritz beers into the mouths of more people, Zacherle recently did what most Napa beverage makers do — opened a tasting room. (The brewery was previously open for visits by appointment only.) The Mad Fritz taproom opened just a few blocks away from the brewery in St. Helena in April 2018.

Okay, on the outside it’s fairly modest, but the inside…

As opposed to most winery tasting palaces, Mad Fritz’ taproom is modest, almost sparse. A few tables are scattered around the smallish space, with mostly barren, cream-colored walls that feature a few printed photos, and of course the Frances Barlow artwork displayed prominently behind the bar. A small table with a turntable and several LPs adds a touch of hipness.

Zacherle explained, “The tap room has allowed us be a little bit more accessible. The by-appointment platform is a bit limiting to folks who just want a beer. You don’t want to turn those people away. They want a beer!”

The taproom is also a way to “show you what origin beer’s about. That’s an opportunity to teach someone about what we’re doing. They may not buy that much beer, but at least they’ve had a really cool experience. I think overall it’s been a good step.”

Offering their 11 taps in three-, five-, and 10-ounce pours allows patrons to customize their experience to try as many or as few beers as they like. Nearly everything is available for purchase, although they do from time to time pour membership-only bottlings.

Don’t bother looking for a chalkboard with the days’ tap selections. All beers are listed on an extensive tasting menu which, like their website and the labels themselves, offer a detailed description of what you’re drinking.

“I don’t really like the chalkboard thing because I don’t think there’s enough information there.” When ordering at a crowded bar, “you have to make a split-second decision and sometimes and you just order an IPA, or get the saison, or the blah-blah-blah. But is there anything else about the beer other than the IBUs and the alcohol that I’m going to get from you? Probably not. That’s kind of a bummer.”

Mad Fritz is looking at doing appointment-only tastings again in the future, hosted by Zacherle, for those seeking a more in-depth experience “so they could get kind of a more deeper dive into the raw materials and their impacts.”

Can’t Ignore the IPAs

Being an iconoclastic beer maker does not mean Zacherle ignores the market completely and just does what he wants. Mad Fritz usually has at least one or two IPAs available, including a gluten-free option.

“If you don’t have one [IPA] you’re not in business. You gotta have hoppy beers. I love hops, I just think there’s so many hoppy beers out there, [tasting here] is like ‘You’re at Mad Fritz! Take a break!’

“If you truly love beer, you need to open your mind a little. Experience other beers. That’s how I think of it. I truly love beer. There’s so many wonderful styles that are out there to enjoy.”

The Classic Pairing — Beer and … Nutbutter?

December 31, 2018 Dean BrightmanLeave a comment

You ever think about nutbutter?

Yeah, me neither.

But when the folks at Nutista offered the chance to try their latest nutbutter collaboration with Stone Brewing, Xocoveza, along with the beer that inspired it, I tried my best to wait a few seconds before saying “Yes, please!!”

Wait, Stone is collaborating on … nutbutter? Huh?

“The Nuts Behind Nutista” — Tristen Cross, Greg Koch, and John Huber. (courtesy Nutista)

Three partners formed Nutista in 2016 — Tristen Cross, a tech/biotech marketer into healthy living and eating; John Huber, a stock analyst looking for healthier alternatives to peanut butter; and Greg Koch.

Yes, that Greg Koch, co-founder of Stone Brewing. Kinda makes sense now, doesn’t it?

Koch’s nutbutter revelation came as the result of a trip to Italy for a collaboration brew and trying the local hazelnuts. He figured he could do for mass-produced nutbutter what craft brewing has done for beer — produce higher-quality products by carefully sourcing ingredients and creating unique recipes.

They also take the “craft” approach by making very small batches (about 150 pounds each) using traditional methods and slow-and-low processing.

And yes, just as in craft beer, the meticulous sourcing and production comes at a price — about $12 per 8-ounce jar. But if you’re into the beer, you’re already used to paying premium prices for quality products. Comes with the territory.

Xocoveza is the fourth collaboration with Stone, the others being Totalitarian Imperial Russian Stout, Tangerine Express IPA, and Farking Wheaton w00tstout.

The Xocoveza butter is made with cashews, Valencia peanuts, Belizian cacao, Brazilian coffee, two different cinnamons (from Indonesia and Sri Lanka), nutmeg, sea salt, brewer’s yeast, lactose, and papilla peppers.

Mmmmm, beery nuttiness. Or nutty beeriness. Whatever. (courtesy Nutista)

I was debating on which to try first, the butter or the beer. But then I instinctively took a sip right after I poured the beer, so there you go.

The cacao and cinnamon are prevalent up front. Just a touch of heat from the peppers on the finish. Smooth, creamy, little bitterness.

Then I cracked open the nutbutter. I first tried it straight. I wanted the full experience, not cutting it with crackers or bread or anything.

Wow, there’s a whole lot going on here. Like peanut butter got a Masters’ degree.

Yes, the nuts are there. But so’s the cinnamon. Then the coffee. Then the nutmeg. And just like the beer, a trace of heat from the peppers remains.

Back to the beer. Coffee’s a bit more pronounced after the nutbutter. Chocolate and spices intermingle.

Then the nutbutter. More peanut-buttery this go ‘round, the spices taking more of a backseat. Again, the slight heat finish from the peppers.

Aside from the fun of enjoying it with the beer, the nutbutter itself would make a great snack. I can see spreading it over a few crackers for a midday boost to keep you going until dinnertime.

If your curiosity’s piqued, Nutista nutbutters are available on their website, or at Total Wine stores if you do the brick-and-mortar thing.

Richmond — City of Pride & Purpose. And Beer.

November 25, 2018 Dean BrightmanLeave a comment

Once upon a time, not very long ago, West Contra Costa County was a vast beer desert.

Aside from BevMo and maybe a restaurant here and there with a couple of interesting taps, it seemed the craft-beer boom was destined to pass us by.

Thankfully, those dark days are gone and many great beer destinations are now a reasonable Lyft ride away from Beerverse HQ.

I’ll detail my recent visit to Martinez soon. But first…

Richmond is now home to three breweries, each with its own distinct personality — playful and quirky, laid back and cozy, spacious and bustling.

What they all share in common, of course, is great beer.

They are summarized below, including food and to-go options.

THE HANGOUT

Benoit Casper Brewing Company was the first of the new wave of breweries to call Richmond home, in 2014.

Red letters on the door are the only things distinguishing it from its neighbors in a small industrial park in the northern end of the Iron Triangle.

A DIY aesthetic abounds once the large roll-up door is opened to the long, narrow space. Built-in tables fold down from one wall, opposite the tiny bar, where you can sit on stools made from old yardsticks.

Like I said, DIY.

The 3.5-barrel brewery is tucked in the back, and most every other square-inch of space, including rafters, is occupied by barrels.

Fittingly, the “this is what my brewery would be like if I built one in my garage” vibe is completed by the smell of buttered popcorn wafting from the machine next to the bar. You can help yourself.

It’s kind of way in the back, there. Behind the barrels.

They offer up to eight beers on tap, and it’s all good. They’ve racked up all sorts of local awards, including a Gold Medal at the State Fair, 1^st place at the Fairfax Brewfest with their Catahoula Coffee Stout, and very recently, a 1^st place at the Triple Rock Firkin Fest with Trending Pumpkin, a pumpkin-spiced vanilla latte stout.

FOOD: none on-site, but you can bring your own, and they occasionally have food trucks. They do offer some snacks and, of course, the popcorn’s always free.

TO-GO: Cans/bottles — yes, but selection is often limited. Crowlers — yes. Growlers — yes, clean ones.

HOURS: Thu-Sat 3-8pm, Sun 3-7pm. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave.

THE TAPROOM

If there is a brewery positioned to be a regional player, East Brother Beer Company is it.

The cavernous space, in back of an industrial park just north of the Port of Richmond, has loads of room for expansion. The seating area is polished, if unadorned. Plenty of dark-wood, picnic-style tables are spaciously arranged for families and large groups.

There’s even plenty of room for ping-pong, pool, and corn-hole. In fact, they have their own Rec League.

Marketing is on-point here. A giant “RICHMOND” is spelled out in block letters above the hanging sign at the entrance. Branding is carried through to the merchandise, tap handles, cans, and signage. All top-notch.

They’ve also been deliberate in terms of beer. While they’ve recently expanded into specialties like the Seasonal Lager Series and the 100-Pint Series, they’ve placed a major emphasis on their core styles — Red Lager, Bo Pils, Gold IPA, Red IPA, and Oatmeal Stout. All of which are solid, excellent examples of style. ESPECIALLY the Bo Pils. Outstanding.

East Brother is also the most aggressive of the Richmond breweries in terms of distribution. They can be found in cans and on drought throughout the Bay Area.

FOOD: bar snacks, food trucks out front daily (check their schedule), or bring your own.

TO-GO: Crowlers — no. Growlers — yes, and they do fill others.

HOURS: Wed-Thu 4-8pm, Fri 4-9pm, Sat Noon-9pm, Sun Noon-8pm. 1001 Canal Blvd.

THE CLUB(S)

I’ve waxed eloquently here before about Armistice Brewing Company. This sister-brother team has used ingenuity and creativity to create distinctive “clubs”, each with its own vibe, in a pretty small space.

If you want to be where the action is, there’s the bar. A TV usually has a game on, and giant overhead speakers crank out the tunes.

If you want spread out a bit and get some rays (when there are some), there’s the beer garden. A “living wall” frames a gravel-floored area filled with benches, a long wooden communal table, and a giant fire pit. There’s even a window to the bar.

Or, if you want to get above it all and chill out, there’s the Framily (Friends + Family) Room, a bright space upstairs with a long communal table, cushy benches, and views. Great for families.

The beers are as adventurous as the spaces. No core brands here. The Zoebels do very small batches of a lot of different stuff, which means the tap list changes frequently. Yes, your hazy IPAs are here, but so are your saisons, browns, pilsners, stouts, milds, and the occasional sour. And all of it good.

FOOD: Snacks, food trucks daily, or bring your own.

TO-GO: Cans and bottles — yes, on specific release days, which typically sell out quickly. Crowlers — yes. Growlers — yes, others, too, if clean and labels are covered.

HOURS: Sun-Thu Noon-10pm, Fri-Sat Noon-Midnight. 845 Marina Bay Pkwy., Ste. 1.

Alameda — The Island I’d Love to be Stranded On

October 16, 2018 Dean Brightman2 Comments

You get asked that all the time, right?

“If you’re ever stranded on an island, what (fill in the blank) would you want with you?”

But no one ever asks WHAT island you’d like to be stranded on.

Probably someplace tropical, right? Like Maui or Guam or Jamaica?

Nah. Alameda.

Why?

Because, quite simply, Alameda has everything the drink connoisseur would ever need to survive.

If you like wine, there’s Rock Wall Wine Company. If spirits are your thing, you’ve got St. George Spirits and Hangar 1.

But, as usual, I was here for the beer.

FACTION BREWING

There are a few places I would call “destination” breweries — places you would take your beer-minded, out-of-town guests because of their fantastic brews and/or facilities.

Drake’s Dealership would be one. Stone’s beautiful new Napa outpost is another. And I’m counting the days until I can visit Russian River’s brand-spanking-new Windsor facility.

Faction Brewing is also on that list.

There are very few spots of any kind in the Bay Area, let alone beer places, that have the stunning, panoramic, postcard views Faction can boast.

Situated on the north-west end of the former Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, nothing but old abandoned runways stand between Faction’s back patio and knockout views of San Francisco and the bay.

I’m a native and even I was taken aback.

Roger Davis, a Bay Area brewing veteran of more than two decades (mostly at Drake’s Brewing in San Leandro and Berkeley’s Triple Rock), offers more than 20 beers. You can build your own sampler or, if going through the entire list seems a bit daunting, order a pre-selected flight of the day.

IPAs are well represented, of course. But with that many taps there were choices aplenty — a pilsner, amber, wit, several Belgian styles (including a grisette), a porter, a couple of stouts, and happily, many pale ales, which aren’t so easy to find these days.

A rare, unretouched photo of a white stout in the wild.

One of the stouts was their mind-bending Anomaly Milk Stout.

I know white stouts are a thing, but I had never come face-to-face with one.

My advice — don’t think, just drink.

Your eyes and your mouth may not be able to sync it up, but it is delicious. Just close your eyes and taste. Body might be a touch lighter than a typical stout, but the roasted coffee and bittersweet cocoa are there.

Again, delicious.

Acreage abounds at Faction. The massive back patio features several decks, space for food trucks, an additional bar, corn hole, etc.

And as you might expect from a former helicopter hangar, there’s oodles of room indoors, as well. Plenty of space to expand the current 20-barrel brewery as needed, plus an adjacent additional seating area adorned with festive, in-progress murals.

In case you get tired of all that scenery.

With too many beers to try and mind-slapping views (have I mentioned those already?), I easily could have called it a day right here.

But my itinerary beckoned.

THE RAKE AT ADMIRAL MALTINGS

My next stop was about a 20-minute walk from Faction, through the still-mostly-deserted NAS.

It felt like a movie set. Or maybe armageddon.

Block after wide-open block of concrete, empty office buildings, and abandoned hangars. I almost expected to see Wall-E foraging around for plant-life, although he would have found plenty in the weeds popping up through the cracked pavement.

After wandering through this surrealistic time-scape, I heard the sound of civilization again as I neared Admiral Maltings.

Until recently, most of the “craft” in the craft-beer movement focused around the ever-expanding variety, and growing locations, of hops.

Malt, conversely, was mostly either imported or sourced from the few malting facilities scattered around the U.S.

The founders of Admiral Maltings (Dave McLean, most recently of Magnolia Brewing, Ron Silberstein of ThirstyBear Brewing, and malt specialist Curtis Davenport) wanted to change that.

They wanted to bring the concept of “terroir”, so crucial to the story of wine, to beer. Why couldn’t locally-grown and malted barley make beers that could “taste” of California?

They were also smart enough to include a tasting room pouring beers made from their malt — The Rake.

The Rake is a taproom unlike any other. I’ve been to many a brewery where you can sip the end result while looking at the tanks and equipment that made it possible.

But I’ve never sat at a booth looking into a room that looks like a giant sandbox.

The malting floor.

From their website:

“Floor malting is a disappearing art, revered by brewers around the globe. We gently turn our malt on the germination floor by hand. It creates flavor components no other method can replicate. Fresh malt from our kiln tastes unlike malt produced by larger, industrial malting facilities.”

And the common thread of beers having at least some of the malt come from that giant sandbox makes for a fascinating tap list, a curious cross-section of styles from breweries all over the state.

How about an Golden Lager from Moorpark (Enegren Brewing), a Hazy Session IPA from Santa Cruz (Discretion Brewing), or an Altbier from Oakland (Federation Brewing)?

For the sheer uniqueness of the experience (and the beers), The Rake is a must-stop.

Fortunately, since by now I had done a bit of sampling, my last destination was just a short stumble away.

Right next door, in fact.

ALMANAC BEER CO.

Almanac began its life embracing the “craft” of craft brewing. Their slogan, prominently featured on their labels, is “Farm to Barrel.” They made their reputation on very small batches of labor-intensive, usually fruited, almost exclusively barrel-aged, sour beers.

They also did not have their own facilities, not even a taproom, choosing instead to contract brew at other locations.

Their very own space! With taps and tanks and everything!

After opening a proper taproom/restaurant in The City in late 2016, they finally opened their own brewery with adjoining taproom in Alameda in early 2018.

They’ve managed to create a warm, convivial, family-friendly atmosphere in a 30,000-sq.ft. former hangar. Wood-planked walls around the bar and long, richly-stained communal tables offer a warm contrast to the shiny tanks in back.

An arcade area, complete with Pac-Man and pinball, adds a playful, family-friendly touch.

As Almanac has moved from contract-brewing to their own facility, the product line has also evolved.

While the barrel program is still, of course, front and center, they’ve adapted to the market with their Fresh Beer line — IPA heavy, with a lager and a couple of stouts on my visit.

They also now offer cans, which I took advantage of to take home my only souvenirs from my island excursion — one each of Side Hustle, a hazy, dry-hopped IPA, and Vibes, a decidedly non-hazy, dry-hopped pilsner.

With that, since I wasn’t fortunate enough to actually be stranded, it was time to head home.

But I will be back. I haven’t even gotten to Alameda Island Brewing, or what’s supposed to be one of the best tiki bars on the planet, Forbidden Island.

Aloha, Alameda. ’Til the next “threeee-hour-touuuuur…”

One for the Road(house)

August 12, 2018 Dean BrightmanLeave a comment

Due to my limited travel (and time) budget, most of the breweries I cover are in pretty close proximity to Beerverse HQ in San Francisco’s beautiful East Bay. Or at the very least distribute here.

So when I get a chance to taste something I don’t normally see, I jump on it.

Roadhouse Brewing Company (RBC) in Jackson Hole, Wyoming recently shipped some samples to announce their entry into Southern California (they currently distribute in Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Idaho), and the recent release of their first canned offerings.

RBC was founded in 2012 by a home brewer and a chef, each wanting to create fare to pair with the other. Their first brewery was a converted billiard room in the already existing Roadhouse Pub.

The brand embraces the spirit of adventure and the outdoors embodied in their mountain location, with beers like Trout Whistle Pale Ale, Mountain Jam IPA, Highwayman Belgian Session Ale, Loose Boots Session IPA, and Teton Pass Pilsner.

At the same time, they don’t take themselves too seriously. They suggest pairing their Mountain Jam Hazy IPA with “wild trout tacos, Nine O’Clock sunsets, and three-finger banjo pickin’.”

Being surrounded by National Parks, Roadhouse’s core values embody preserving and sustaining their wilderness environment. They’ve partnered with many local groups to promote active, creative, and eco-friendly lifestyles.

To that end, their solar-powered brewery conserves energy by recapturing and recycling steam from the brewing process, shipping spent grain to a local ranch for cattle feed, having louvers built in to their cooler walls to incorporate the biting cold winter air, and sourcing their ingredients as locally as possible.

RBC is definitely in growth mode, having opened their facility just about a year ago. They recently closed the original pub with the converted billiard room and are opening their new space on Jackson Hole’s Town Square this summer.

As to the samples, you guys know I don’t typically do reviews, so keep that in mind as you read the following:

Family Vacation American Blonde Ale (4.9%) — hazy light straw color, a touch sweet and creamy, a slight bitterness that finishes clean, with a dab of Belgian funk.

Mountain Jam Hazy IPA (6.5%) — a collaboration with Bridger Brewing of Bozeman, Montana. This hits all the HIPA notes — murky, juicy, 6.5%, although a touch more bitterness at the back than most I’ve had. Overall a solid pick.

Wilson West Side IPA (7.5%) — leaning west coast, pours cloudy gold, standard pine aroma on the shy side, grapefruit palate with a touch of peach, firm bittering on the finish.

Beyond the usual lineup of IPAs, pale ales, blondes, pilsners, and stouts, Roudhouse offers some deceptively smooth Belgian styles. Be careful, these will trip you up if you’re not paying attention.

Avarice & Greed Belgian-Style Golden Ale (9%) — pillowy white head that dissipates quickly, banana/bubble gum esters that continue on the palate, clean bitter finish. Hides its strength a little too well.

Siren Song Belgian-Style Imperial Ale (14%) — pours bronze with a frothy head that again fades fast, mango/ripe plum aroma, peach, cantaloupe, and a smidge of ginger on the palate. Alcoholic heat only becomes evident as it warms, and even then only slightly so. Very, very dangerous.

So if you’re in SoCal (and maybe sometime soon in the Bay Area??) and you can’t make it to the Tetons, bring some of the Tetons home with you. It’s worth the trip.

BTW, if you’d like your brewery featured in these pages, contact me to arrange shipment of samples. If I dig ‘em, you’ll read about it here.

Just a Stone’s Throw Away…

July 24, 2018 Dean BrightmanLeave a comment

I’m typically for the underdog.

I love going to tiny, local places, where the owner/brewers have sunk everything they have into a few tanks and a small bar, and are thrilled to see you and share their creations.

Larger players with a national, even world-wide reach? Generally, a pass.

But I was excited to visit Stone Brewing’s new Napa brewery and taproom. I’ve dug pretty much everything they’ve done since my first Arrogant Bastard, and I was eager to try their special Napa-brewed releases.

And the added bonus? I love historic buildings, and therefore was really interested to see how they rehabbed their new Napa home, which dates back to the late 19^th century.

A History of Saving History

Stone Liberty Station is part of the former San Diego Naval Training Station. Their specific building, the mess hall, was one of a handful of existing buildings when the station was dedicated in 1923.

Liberty Station (as it was later known) was decommissioned in the early ‘90s due to military downsizing. The site is now a sprawling complex of retail shops, restaurants, hotels, art galleries and studios, fitness centers, and medial practices.

Stone Berlin is the site of a former gasworks complex built in 1901. The campus includes a 43,000 square-foot main building housing the brewery as well as restaurants, event spaces, and a store.

As for Stone Napa…

Felix Borreo, an immigrant from Genoa, Italy, constructed the building in 1877, assembling foot-thick walls of native stone quarried from nearby Soda Canyon.

While Borreo ran his grocery business on the main floor until ultimately selling the building in 1908, he leased the second floor to a succession of tenants, including a carriage shop, feed store, boat house, and shirt factory.

The 20^th century saw a revolving roster of businesses, including a cellar for a local winery, a library, a yacht club, a motorcycle repair shop, and, from the ‘30s though the ‘50s, an Oldsmobile dealership. Its last tenant was a moving and storage company, and the building had been vacant for many years prior to Stone’s arrival.

Give Me a Sign

Because of the parcel’s isolated nature (bordered on two sides by the Napa River), the parking lot is a couple of blocks away, across Soscol Avenue beyond the Wine Train tracks. There’s only a short driveway next to the building for drop-offs and deliveries.

And that driveway’s your only real clue how to enter the building. As is the case with most Stone locations, there’s no signage. They expect patrons to do their homework and seek them out. Just a sandwich board in front of two large side doors indicates the entrance.

Once inside, past the host station, the glassed-in brewery is to the right. Next to that, plenty of swag for purchase. Straight ahead, large doors lead out to the patio overlooking the Napa River.

To the left is a bar with a wall of taps and two giant video boards above scrolling a dizzying array of selections. And bonus points for multiple sizes — everything’s offered in 5-, 10-, or 16-ounces, ideal for sampling.

Since I was only there to sample and didn’t plan on eating, I ordered a small pour of the Zubin Pilsner (brewed on-site) and handed over my card. I figured I could run a tab there and just pop into the restaurant to take a look.

The server came back with my beer, my card, and a receipt for $3.50. I asked to start a tab, and that’s when they explained I’d need to go the restaurant upstairs to do that.

Would have been nice to know that.

There was a stairway past the bar, but I only saw staff using it, so I thought it was the kitchen entrance.

When I asked if I could bring my beer upstairs, they said certainly, and pointed to that stairway.

The restaurant is beautiful … once I found it.

That was my only real beef with my experience. The layout is not very intuitive, and first-timers like myself could use a little help with navigation. A little directional signage would be helpful.

Let There Be … Garage Doors!

Once you get upstairs, the space is, magnificent. Most of the original windows were either kept or replicated. The spacious u-shaped bar sits in the middle of the space, surrounded by tables. Both bars, upstairs and down, were fashioned from timber salvaged during the renovation.

Something old (reclaimed wood bar), something new (giant window).

An alcove at one end features a fireplace (with a giant Stone logo above) with plenty of chairs and couches. A lively game of charades was taking place while I was there.

The entire scene is capped by a gorgeous arched wooden roof. Again, old wood timbers are ingeniously used as light-fixtures. Original stone walls were kept exposed wherever possible.

For most of its early history, the building was at the east end of a row of buildings. Since other buildings directly abutted it, no windows were possible along its western wall.

Those buildings burned in the mid-‘40s, leaving the Borreo building alone on the parcel.

Stone took advantage of the exposed wall by carving out two massive openings, framed by large roll-up garage doors, one of which was wide open to take advantage of a feature the building never had before — sweeping views of the Napa river and downtown.

In spite of the large doors, this brand-new restaurant has an instant sense of history. The wood-plank floors, dark wood tables, and comfy Spanish-style chairs add warmth and echo the wood beams in the ceiling. Rusted copper and metal cage pendant lights lend an industrial edge.

The food menu was still fairly limited as of my visit, although they did offer a salad, a poke bowl, several sandwiches, and a few starters, including a $15 meat-and-cheese board that was more than enough for the couple next to me. If you can feed two people for $15 in downtown Napa, you’re doing something.

The beer selection, however, was NOT limited.

Freedom of Choice … is What You Want

The menu is helpfully divided into “regions” — the core-lineup from World Headquarters in Escondido, five Napa-brewed beers, and one each from Liberty Station, Richmond (Virginia), and, yes, Berlin.

Stone made their bones on IPA, and the beer list reflected that. Fully 13 of the 20 taps were various strengths and styles of lupulin juice, not counting two pale ales and the Arrogant Bastard.

But those whose palates aren’t hop-focused weren’t ignored — two sours, a pilsner, a stout, and a Berliner Weisse (from Berlin, duh) were also on tap.

After sampling, um, several 5-ounce pours (the highlight of which was a DAMNED tasty Skedaddler IPA, a collaboration with Societe Brewing, also of San Diego), I ventured back downstairs for a couple of crowlers.

You know, I can’t decide. Just give me one of everything.

I’m not a whale hunter. I don’t need to run to a nearby (or not-so nearby) place for whatever-release-day. There’s so much already there on store shelves and in those tiny local taprooms, there isn’t need.

But I gotta say, having a couple of crowlers of limited-release, locally-produced brews with Stone’s logo on it is pretty freakin’ cool.

I’ll definitely be back.