Bay Area

So sad! I toured the place twice and enjoyed their beers in many good times. Their process was truly unique, with yeast strains suited to the cool and foggy climate of SF, and wide, shallow rooftop fermenters. I remember walking through the bottling area and seeing an employee grab one off the line and take it back to the nearby lunch table where he was eating :) The company was clearly not doing well financially and got sold at least once, but I guess they never found the financial backing or distribution they needed to survive :(

Fun fact from the tour: steam is not involved in the making of the beer, nor is it a variety of beer. The term comes from a time when steam engines were still commonly in use on large ships and it just had associations of strength and industry and energy. Steam was a modern and vital technology of that era. Today we might say “quantum beer” in much the same spirit.