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.
