Hi Ryan!
Happy to answer some questions:
Dig your beers, and what you guys have been recently releasing, especially dat Citrus!
Thanks! I'm pretty happy with how it came out too.
Any future plans for a tasting room?
We really hope so! Currently we are still pretty small, and have limited resources - so we've had to pick and choose what to focus on. This past year we've put everything we had into growing our barrel program. Currently I'd put the tasting room at the top of our list for next steps for the brewery, but nothing is in the works now. But if anyone knows of any amazing spaces in SF for lease, please send them my way
Tell us more about your barrel aging process?
We do a mixed primary fermentation with our house bug collection. After about a week we move it into barrels, and add fruit the the barrels. Starting after about 6 months we'll start tasting individual barrels and building out blends to package. Often times we are moving around our releases based on what we're tasting. Some beers take longer to evolve, some faster - it's just a matter of tasting to build blends we really love.
Process for selecting farmers/growers to partner up with?
Start with farms I'm already buying from at the Ferry Building usually, and then pick up a conversation. Nearly every farmer we've talked to has been super stoked to work with us. Most of their fruit disappears into restaurants they'll never eat at. So we make a point to give farmer's cases of beer they helped us to create - it's one of my favorite parts of working with them. We also work to find a price that is genuinely sustainable for the farms too. The life of a farmer is incredibly difficult - especially this year with the ongoing drought - so we think of it as economic sustainability to help ensure the farm is there next year.
The more beer we make, the more farmers we meet. Family famers turn out to be a pretty small and close knit community who all know and help each other, since it's them versus the big guys. (Sound familiar?) Then it really just boils down to logistics - can they deliver in big amounts, can they help break down the fruit if it needs processing, etc.
- Jesse
PS - Shout out to Cellarmaker's Connor for pointing me over here to answer questions. If you're local, go drink all of his Bangarang IPA before it's gone. **** is delicious.