My brewery day journey collection has taken me throughout the Bay Space, from Santa Cruz’s bohemian path to Martinez’s beer scene. This time, I headed for Oakland, the place no less than a dozen breweries beckoned, together with one named for its neighborhood — Temescal — and one other that pays homage to one thing fairly surprising.
Temescal Brewing
Temescal founder Sam Gilbert had a house brewing background — he co-founded the BrewLab SF collective in 2011– when he opened his personal brewery six years in the past. Quickly after, he made Ryan Hammond his head brewer. Temescal has a manufacturing brewery close by, however on this specific day, I head to the unique brewery and taproom to take a look at their beer — and the meals truck rotation, which ranges from Diggy Canines to Satay by the Bay.
The brewery makes 4 year-round beers, together with the flagship Pils, a clear, fashionable tackle a German-style pilsner. Additionally they make Hazy, a hazy IPA brewed with Citra, Mosaic and Simcoe hops. There’s Especial, a Mexican-style lager, a light-bodied, easy-drinking beer made with Eraclea barley, an Italian selection, and West, which is a West Coast IPA.
You’ll additionally discover quarterly seasonal releases, every-other-month collaborations and a brand new one-off beer each week — such because the 49 Mile West Coast Pilsner, which gained a bronze medal at this 12 months’s World Beer Cup. June brings a brand new Anniversary Ale, and in July they’ll launch Crowd Favourite, a hazy IPA that includes Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe and Amarillo hops.
Particulars: The taproom is open from 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, midday to 10 p.m. Saturday and midday to 9 p.m. Sunday at 4115 Telegraph Ave. Discover particulars (and that meals truck schedule) at www.temescalbrewing.com.
Ghost City Brewing
This a part of Oakland used to boast a number of coffin factories — therefore the identify. However the brewery’s backstory is a musical one. Again in 2012, residence brewers Ryan Nosek, Sam Carr-Prindle, Adam Hill and Jason Gehman had been members of a heavy metallic band, once they come across the thought of brewing beer to assist pay for his or her rental follow house. They began brewing with a tiny 1-bbl system. Finally, they had been promoting sufficient beer that the facet gig grew to become the primary gig. They constructed a 15-bbl brewhouse of their current 8,000-square-foot digs, which features a taproom and a canning line now.
Brewmaster Justin Burdt retains about 20 beers on faucet or in bottles at any given time, useful divided into gentle, malt ahead, IPA and bitter/wild. The stand-outs embrace Cave Dweller,” a tasty West Coast Pilsner utilizing Mosaic hops, and Inhumane IPA, their best-selling beer, a basic West Coast IPA brewed with Citra, Simcoe and Centennial hop varieties.
However I used to be additionally pleasantly stunned by Undoing Bruin, a Belgian-style bitter brown ale, a beer notoriously arduous to make properly, however that was bitter loveliness. One in all their malt ahead beers, Ossuary, a strong porter, gained a silver medal at this 12 months’s World Beer Cup.
Particulars: The taproom on the unique West Oakland location, the place they make their beer, is open from 3 to 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday and midday to 10 p.m. Friday-Sunday at 1960 Adeline St. Ghost City’s beer backyard and kitchen in Oakland’s Laurel district is open day by day from midday to 9 p.m. or later (1-9 p.m. on Mondays) at 3506 MacArthur Ave.; www.ghosttownbrewing.com.
Authentic Sample Brewing
This Jack London Sq. brewery, which opened in Could 2018, was based by two couples, Ryan Frank and Caitlin O’Connor and Max and Margie Silverstein. Frank and Max first met on the Siebel Institute, a Chicago brewing faculty, and afterwards, Frank labored at twenty first Modification, serving to to construct their San Leandro manufacturing brewery.
You’ll discover Authentic Sample in a former warehouse with brick partitions and uncovered picket beams, cubicles and tables downstairs, a Good to Eat Dumplings pop-up and a balcony providing nice brewery views.
From that balcony, you possibly can see the tanks lining the house behind the bar, although you possibly can’t fairly make out the brewhouse within the far again, the place you’ll discover Australian brewmaster Andy Crocker. The Melbourne native discovered to brew in England, earlier than emigrating to California.
Crocker retains greater than a dozen beers on at any given time and rotates in new beers ceaselessly. That’s particularly spectacular, as a result of they’re on monitor to make 12,000 barrels this 12 months, and so they begin two to 3 brews every day.
You’ll discover all the things from the requisite IPAs — clear and hazy — to extra eclectic brews, like Yamagata Rice Lager, a refreshing gentle lager brewed with jasmine rice. All their beers are noticeably clear and well-made, however I particularly loved Bean Me Up!, a espresso porter that’s redolent of contemporary espresso flavors, and the Wee Man, a Bourbon barrel-aged Scotch ale with elegant notes of vanilla and maple.
Particulars: The brewery is open day by day from midday to 9 p.m. or later at 292 Fourth St.; www.originalpatternbeer.com.
Know an area brewery or brewpub that’s knocking it out of the park? Drop me a line at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com and inform me why you like them.