Mraz Brewing Company

Mraz (Mer-oz) Brewing Company is located in El Dorado Hills, CA, not far from Folsom Lake. Mraz opened in spring 2013. Brewer and founder Michael Mraz was named California Home Brewer of the Year in 2008 and 2009.

Bike Dog Brewing Company

 Bike Dog Brewing Company is located in West Sacramento across from the port.  Follow them on Facebook or Twitter @BikeDogBeer.

They have their soft opening in early October 2013 and plan a grand opening Saturday, November 2, 2013.  They currently have two beers on tap their IPA and American Wheat. By the grand opening they will be adding a Milk Stout, a Saison, and a Double IPA. The stout may also be on nitro.

North Coast Brewing Company

The North Coast Brewing Company is located in Fort Bragg, CA on highway 1, within ear shot of the Pacific ocean waves. North Coast's operations take over a few corners in Fort Bragg. At the corner of Pine Street and Highway 1, you will find the taproom and grill, the production brewery, and the gift shop. This review is of their taproom and grill. Despite having visited twice, I have yet to do a tour of the production facility.

Berryessa Brewing Company’s Chris Miller

Owner/Brewmaster Chris Miller

About 25 minutes west of Sacramento, an award winning, Seattlite Brewmaster has setup shop. He brings a taste that can only come from years of working in Yakima Valley and an experimental nature honed with pragmatism. On the side of a narrow road, among fruit trees, northern California's next great brewer is hard at work.

Chris Miller, brewmaster for the Berryessa Brewing Company, invited me out to one of Northern California’s newest breweries and a sneak peak at it’s future.

Rubicon Brewing Company

Rubicon Brewing Company is located in midtown Sacramento on Capitol Ave between 21st and 20th streets.

Rubicon, founded in 1989 by Ed Brown, is Sacramento's staple craft brewery. In 2005, Glynn Phillips who had managed the Marin Brewing Company bought Rubicon and kept on long time and award-winning brewmaster Scott Cramlet.

Moylan's Brewery and Restaurant

Moylan's Brewery and Restaurant is located in Novato. Moylan's was founded in 1995 by the co-owner of the Marin Brewing Company, Brendan Moylan. Moylan is another graduate of the UCD brewing program.

Moylan's has a little row going with Port/Lost Abbey over the use of the Celtic Cross.

Jack Russell Brewing Company

Walking in from parking.

The take home case

Jack Russell Brewing Company is located in Camino, CA in the Apple Hill area off of Highway 50. It is a brewery, winery and meadery. It's located on 11 acres and grows its own wine grapes, hops, and berries (the berries are often used in their brews, wines, and meads).

It opened in 1996 and is modeled after a traditional English Farm Brewery and visiting the place you can see the influence. The road to Jack Russell is narrow and winding. You pass apple farms and stands and abandoned lumber mills. At first glance Jack Russell looks like another apple stand, but trust the small sign, it's Jack Russell.

Magnolia Gastropub & Brewery

Magnolia Gastropub & Brewery is located at 1398 Haight Street at the corner of Masonic in San Francisco. The Brewmaster is David McLean another graduate of the UC Davis Brewmaster Program.

Magnolia's sign isn't the most prominent but if you're at the corner of Haight and Masonic, you can't miss it. The space is rather small and when we went there was a 20 minute wait for brunch.

New Brewery: Black Dragon Brewery & Home Brew Supply Store

As of  Novmeber 2011, this spot is known as Woodland Homebrew Supply Shop at 147 West Main street, suite B in Woodland, California.

The store is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Fridays and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. The store will be closed Mondays.

The brewery which is scheduled to open in January 2012 will be called Black Dragon Brewery and Home Brewery Supply Store. The brewmaster will be owner Jason Breatt who is a graduate of the American Brewer's Guild and has taught over 1,000 students to brew. The brewery will also have home brew classes.

New Helvetia Brewing Company

New Helvetia Brewing Company will soon be opening up in Feburary 2012 in Sacramento at 1730 Broadway. New Helvetia is a historic term for Sutter's Fort in Sacramento. Helvetia is the national figure of Switzerland, which is the homeland of Sacramento's founder, John Sutter.

New Helvetia will be bringing back the historic Sacramento brand Buffalo Beer, which was a major lager brewery in the late 1800's early 1900's. New Helvetia plans to focus on lagers. Interestingly, one of the co-founders of the original Buffalo Brewery was Captain Frank Ruhstaller who's name is also being revived with Rushtaller Brewery.

It's exciting to see so many breweries reaching back into Sacramento's beer history.

Read more about them at the Business Journal and Sacramento Press and Pacific Brew News.

Track 7 Brewing Company

Owners Ryan and Geoff

Track 7 Brewing Company is a brewery in Sacramento in the southern part of Curtis Park, right off of Sutterville road.

Their standard line up is: Alkali Wit, Daylight Amber, Soulman Stout, Big 4 Strong Ale and two special release; Blonde Ale, and Beligan IPA.

Dust Bowl Brewing Company

Dust Bowl Brewing Company opened on August 1, 2011 in Turlock at 200 W. Main St. It's located in the downtown area. Coming from Sacramento, take the W. Main street exit all the way into town, until you reach what's obviously a downtown.

During the week Dust Bowl doesn't open until 4pm, but opens at 11am Friday and Saturday and Sundays at 10am. Dust Bowl is definitely an apt name for the location. When I visited, the wind was pushing down the central valley and combined with the Ag work going on around Turlock, the air was full of dust.

Brewdemption: Sudwerk Brewery

 Back Story:

Our earlier review of Sudwerks on this blog created quite a response.... from the Brewery itself. They invited the Blog back for a tour, a discussion of what they were trying to achieve, and of course, a bit of beer tasting. Along the way we learned a lot about the challenges and rewards of brewing and where the industry might be headed. Enjoy.

Sudwerk v1.0: The Rising

Sudwerk, founded in 1989, was a visionary attempt to bring German brewing and beer culture to the U.S. Founded by two Davis, California natives who had lived and worked in Bavaria, they struck upon the idea that good, local beer, served fresh (ubiquitous in Germany), would also be successful back home. It seems like common sense now, but it was a rather bold gamble then.

Mammoth Brewing Company

Over Labor Day weekend, my wife and I visited the taproom for Mammoth Brewing Company located in beautiful Mammoth Lakes, CA. Mammoth promotes itself as California’s “highest” brewery, and sitting at 8,000 feet+ you can see why.

Having been to so many breweries my goal is to find a consistent beer philosophy that leads to uniformly good beers across the spectrum. You find that here at Mammoth, and considering it is located in one of the world’s greatest outdoor playgrounds, this brewery ranks among California’s best breweries to visit.

Sudwerk Restaurant & Brewery

UPDATED 9/23
 The blog was invited back for a tour of the brewery and a meeting with one of the managing partners after our initial review below. We honestly went in to our tour thinking our minds could not be changed. Well, after tasting some of their fresh beer and given an in-depth tour by new managing partner Aaron, our minds have been changed. We'll be writing a longer blog post about what we learned. But my bad experience can be explained by the fact that the restaurant and brewery are separately owned. I recommend visiting the Dock Store, which is right next to the restaurant. Will write more soon...

Sudwerk, which can be translated to "liquid factory", has been a popular local brewery in Davis, Ca since its opening in 1989.  There is also a location in Folsom, CA. Their brews focus on German beers in the tradition of the Reinheitsgebot, or German beer purity laws.

Stateline Brewery

On a busy August weekend my friends and I visited the Stateline Brewery in South Lake Tahoe. With an amazing location, just a minute from the Nevada casinos, a good happy hour and a solid menu we all agreed this is a "Try It" place. We sat downstairs in their enormous indoor space, but wished we were sitting outside in the sunshine. 

Russian River Brewing Company

Russian River Brewing Company is located in downtown Santa Rosa, CA right off of Highway 101. Downtown Santa Rosa is actually pretty nice, with lots of locally owned shops and restaurants.

Off the bat - this is a Must Have It. Just the fact that Russian River puts out two of the top rated beers on Beer Advocate, should be reason enough. However, the creative innovations of Master Brewer Vinnie Cilurzo are the best reason. Cilurzo is credited with creating the Imperial or Double IPA (DIPA) style which is showcased in Pliny the Elder. A style that actually was incorporated into the 2008 Beer Judge Certification Program Guidelines. This is pretty big, since many new styles just fall under "specialty beer".

Bear Republic Brewery

Bear Republic Brewery & Restaurant is located just off the main square in Healdsburg, CA. The brewery was founded in 1996 by veteran homebrewer Richard G. (Ricardo) Norgrove (who is also the Brewmaster), his father Richard R. Norgrove and both their wives. The mom is a greeter and hostess, the father is a barteneder and Ricardo's wife is the accountant. This brewery is a Must Have It.

Dust Bowl Brewing Company Opens in Turlock

Dust Bowl Brewing Company opened on August 1 in Turlock at 200W. Main St.

They have a range of styles, although from looking over reviews their Hops of Wrath IPA seems to be the popular choice. It has a 3.28 our of 5 on Rate Beer and a B+ or 3.98 out of 5 average on Beer Advocate. These sites also have several other of their beers reviewed, but most of of them only have 1 review.

Thank You Brew It Up!

By now most folks have heard that Brew It Up! has closed it's doors.

I want to thank Mike and his original crew of brewers that started in a small, strip-mall store in Davis over 15 years ago.

I was 21 years old when Mike hired my best friend. I had no idea what was craft beer or home brewing. I don't think I had even had a craft beer before I entered Brew It Up. My only non-American-yellow-fizzy beer experience was in Europe with all the wonderful ales, lagers and pilsners.