California Beer Part 01 - A Visit to The Rare Barrel

The last time I was in Oregon I stopped into a new brewery called The Commons. They had blown my socks off at GABF so I went in to talk with them about some potential projects. When I visited there was a group of people hanging out at the bar and we got to talking and it turned out they were behind a new brewery start-up in Berkeley, California called The Rare Barrel.

Since I spend a lot of time in the Bay Area, that's where my family is, and I used to be well-versed in Berkeley hangouts this was a really great surprise. I invited these folks to the Beers Made By Walking event which took place across town the next day and they showed up and we've continued to be in touch since then. Well, over the holidays I had a chance to catch up with The Rare Barrel and I was able to visit their space. I'd like to share with you a couple photos and some information about this must-watch brewery.

A Visit to Heretic Brewing in California

Sometime last year I heard about a new startup brewery called Heretic Brewing. There's a lot of new breweries opening up all over the country but this one stood out to me because I read that it was going to open production in Pittsburg, California. My family lives in a neighboring city, just a short ten minute drive away, and there are only two or three beer options in the area even though hundreds of thousands of people live there. The more I looked into it, the more Heretic became a must-see during my once-a-year visit over the holiday season.

The brewery was founded by Jamil Zainasheff who has a radio show on The Brewing Network, has written a couple books on brewing and fermentation, and has won the Ninkasi Award from the Brewer's Association. The fact is, Jamil is a bit of a hero, living the dream, making the jump from a 5 gallon brewing system to a 40 barrel brew pot and four 30 barrel fermenters. Currrently he's sharing space with the brewery EJ Phair at their new location in Pittsburg. By May, Heretic will have been in business for a year and will have brewed approximately 2000 barrels. The brewery definitely functions as a production brewery, with no tap room of their own to speak of, and Jamil says that they're already doing really well. At some point soon they'll need to choose a distributor, but at the moment they're being selective with who they distribute to, pacing things out to avoid getting stuck waiting for beer to finish fermenting. Once the brewery hits 2000 barrels it should be easier for them to work out their own production space and a deal with a distributor.