Barebottle Brewing Co. was founded in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco in 2016 by award-winning homebrewers and Cornell Business School classmates Lester Koga, Michael Seitz and Ben Sterling. They rapidly gained a following among homebrewers and craft beer lovers, allowing them to expand to a second taproom in Santa Clara in 2020.
The business partners are not slowing down yet, with their third and fourth locations planned to launch this year at the Salesforce Transit Center in San Francisco (one rooftop, one ground floor), as well as a fifth location in Menlo Park.
While its tap lists are dominated by the hazy pale ales and IPAs that have made them popular, Barebottle also offers a wide selection of lagers, sour ales and dark beers, as well as its own wines and house-roasted coffees. Whatever beverage you enjoy, Barebottle has you covered. I limited myself to sampling the beers on my recent visit to the Santa Clara taproom.
• The 5% (ABV) Sutro Suds pilsner pours a slightly hazy straw color with a dense white head, and the aroma is dominated by lemon thyme, lime zest and ripe mango from Motueka hops, with low notes of white bready malt underneath. Bitterness is minimal, and the beer is light bodied with moderate carbonation. The flavor has similar characteristics to the aroma, but the malt moves to the foreground, and the citrus and herbal hop flavors come out in the off-dry finish.
• Centennial Star Destroyer West Coast IPA weighs in at 6.5% ABV, with a crystal-clear golden color and a dense white head. The tart-sweet hop aroma suggests the pleasant fruit punch character of Fruit Stripe gum. A clean malt bill allows the moderate hop bitterness and hop flavors of grapefruit rind and pine resin to shine. With medium body and moderate carbonation, the beer finish highlights hop bitterness with hints of residual malt sweetness.
• Regular readers probably know that hazy IPAs are definitely not my favorite style, but Barebottle makes them exceptionally well. Amarillo Drip (7.1% ABV) was my favorite brew that I sampled on my visit. Murky pale gold in the glass with a moderate pillowy head, the beer features a juicy aroma that is pure Sunny D orange drink. With juicy orange and peach flavors, minimal bitterness and minimal malt, the beer is moderately full bodied with medium carbonation. The finish is soft and smooth with lingering sweet orange essence.
• Kiwi Rancher sour ale is a hazy deep orange-pink color reminiscent of watermelon juice, with a low white head. The aroma of this 6% ABV brew gives off watermelon vibes, even though strawberry and kiwi are the fruits used in the brew. Tart kiwi and sweet berry flavors do present on the palate, with a medium body and low carbonation. Moderate acidity and sweet fruitiness complement one another in the finish.
• Saint Nitro dry Irish stout (served on nitro, as the name suggests) presents a deep brown color with a dense beige head. At 4.5% ABV (just a shade higher than the popular Irish brew that inspired it), the beer smells like sweet milk chocolate with underlying dark-roast coffee and moderate earthy hops. The flavor goes more to the roasty side of the spectrum, and also includes relatively aggressive hop bitterness for the style. The smooth, creamy mouthfeel with classic nitro carbonation leads to a bitter finish that melds both coffee-like dark roasted malts and woody hops.
Derek Wolfgram is officer of the Silicon Valley Sudzers homebrew club. For more information, visit sudzers.org.
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