My Bay Space brewery tour took me to Santa Cruz not too long ago, the place the craft brewing scene has actually exploded in the previous couple of years. You’d want a weekend or extra to take all of it in. However there was one specific brewery I’d been dying to take a look at, having loved every part of theirs I’d tasted at festivals and occasions.
New Bohemia Brewing
Daniel Satterthwaite’s ardour for lagers dates again to his days in Germany at Brauerei Ketterer, the place he discovered to brew 20 years in the past. It’s evident within the beer the UC Santa Cruz alum brews at New Bohemia — or NuBo, because the brewery is affectionately identified. The Bohemia title is a nod to the Czech Republic area the place pilsners have been first brewed within the 1840s.
Satterthwaite spent almost a decade as brewmaster at Gordon Biersch, however he knew early on that he wished to create his personal brewery. NuBo’s location in Santa Cruz’s Pleasure Level neighborhood is just some blocks from the seaside. The 2-story constructing is compact, however consists of loads of seating on each flooring with extra outdoors. The tented beer backyard is a pandemic-era addition, as is the smoker out again, which produces some scrumptious barbecue. (I additionally actually like the large pretzel — it’s as huge as your head, perhaps larger — served with their beer cheese sauce.)
Pretty much as good because the meals is, it’s the beer that’s the star. NuBo usually has 10 beers on faucet and one other 10 obtainable by the can. Satterthwaite makes some tasty conventional and experimental IPAs, from The Circulate, an excellent West Coast IPA, to The Fuzz, a Japanese white peach hazy IPA that basically works.
However the actual joys right here, as you’d count on, are the lagers, particularly the flagship Pilsner Soquel. You’d be hard-pressed to search out many genuine Czech pilsners outdoors Bohemia higher than this one. He additionally brews a terrific Vienna lager, Velvet; an genuine Bavarian hefeweizen, Freeway to Hefe; and the style-bending HelleSexy, a chocolate lager initially created as a collaboration with Pete Slosberg, who began Pete’s Depraved Ale within the Eighties and later had a profitable artisan chocolate firm. Not like most chocolate beers, this one is crystal clear however loaded with wealthy chocolate taste.
Particulars: The brewpub is open from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day at 1030 forty first Ave. in Santa Cruz. Most of NuBo’s beers can be found in cans, which will be ordered by way of nubobrew.com and shipped on to you.
Larger Objective Brewing
Two miles away, you’ll discover Larger Objective Brewing tucked contained in the constructing that after housed East Cliff Brewing, which specialised in cask-conditioned English-style ales throughout its temporary run. The progressive Larger Objective Group Church took over the brewery house within the hopes that the brand new enterprise may assist assist the church’s charitable efforts. Some 30 to 60 p.c of the brewery’s earnings are donated to native nonprofits, says board member Maria Romero.
These first months — the brewery opened in October 2020 — have been difficult, however the employees made it via by canning Larger Objective beer for curbside pickup. Now the taproom bustles with power, meals vehicles cease by every day and there are trivia nights, open mics and different occasion pop ups. Along with the taproom, there’s a room with ping pong tables, dart boards and different diversions, and a big outside seating space out entrance.
Shamus Mooney, who was a brewer there when it was East Cliff, continues to brew the beer, and so they’ve expanded their choices past cask-conditioned beer with a dozen beers on faucet at any given time. After I was there, they included Prancing Pony, an additional particular bitter or ESB; Jonah and the Ale, a refreshingly mild blonde ale; ’Ello Poppet, a hazy IPA; and Unicorn’s Blood, a fruited bitter brewed with peach and raspberry. My favourite of their intelligent names was Pink Wedding ceremony, a purple IPA.
Particulars: Larger Objective Brewing is open from midday to 10 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday at 21517 E. Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz; www.greaterpurposebrewing.com.
Know a neighborhood brewery or brewpub that’s knocking it out of the park? Drop me a line at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com and inform me why you're keen on them.