Features

The most startling thing about Berkeley breweries is how many have disappeared. In the 1990s, entrepreneurial beer fans believed that beer and micro-brewing was a quicker route to success than learning the intricacies of winemaking and distribution. As with books, distribution was the key. 

Local survivors provide great contrasts in approaches, but have a common love of beer and the fun surrounding it. 

Triple Rock at 1920 Shattuck Ave. (west side, north of University Avenue) is the baby of brothers John and Reid Martin, created in 1985 out of their love for beer, brewing, and “classic American taverns and dive bars.” Overcoming fears of a “factory” in downtown Berkeley in 1984 and getting seven variances to zoning codes, the Martins had been making beer in college, and brewed their first batch on Shattuck on Christmas, 1985. The second batch was made on New Years’ Day. “[These were] the only two days the construction crews weren’t in the way,” although carpenters contributed to the taste testing process.  

As the fifth brew pub in the country, Triple Rock first opened as Roaring Rock brewery. Losing lawsuits for name conflicts to Rolling Rock owner Latrobe Brewing Co. of Pennsylvania, John and Reid changed their pub’s name to Triple Rock. Serving as founders of the Berkeley Beer and Music Festival, the Martins now own Twenty Tank brewery in San Francisco, Big Time Brewery in Seattle, Jupiter across from the BART station in Berkeley, and operate the Bear’s Lair Pub on campus.  

Triple Rock head brewer Christian Kazakoff and assistant brewer Bradley Robbins make seven-barrel batches, which translates to about 1,700 pints a day, and you can watch the whole process through internal windows while sipping and munching on fairly decent brewpub food. Seasonal ales and lagers are your best bets, such as Resolution Ale, Punched in the I.P.A., or their flagship ales such as Pinnacle Pale Ale, Red Rock Ale, Black Rock Porter, or Stonehenge Stout. Triple Rock also features “English-style” cask conditioned ales, naturally carbonated in a cask stuffed with a sock of hops and aged for two weeks before being pulled through English beer engines, resulting in lighter carbonation and a warmer ale than those drawn through a standard tap. Don’t miss the Monkey Head Arboreal Ale on Thursdays only. Sample a flight or try the hard ciders. 

Triple Rock “cuisine” features T-Rock burgers, Angus served with house coleslaw, or fries as a “substitute” for additional $1.50. Grilled chicken sandwiches, a Bruschetta Rock with mushrooms, pesto, and provolone on sourdough baguette, and Philly Cheese Steaks are also available, all under $7.00. Nachos, cheese or garlic fries, baked potatoes, nachos, and salads are all served on the wooden table tops carved into by 25 years of students. The upstairs beer garden is small but cozy. Use Triple Rock’s games to play cards, checkers, chess, cribbage, scrabble, dice, dominoes, and backgammon. 

Triple Rock’s brother brew pub, Jupiter (2181 Shattuck Ave.), at which Brad Robbins produces about four kegs of seasonal, whimsical brews daily in an 1890s building decorated in what John Martin calls “Beer Gothic.” Featuring bronze-colored pressed tin, old Gothic church lights hang from the ceiling and pews “from the St. John’s Presbyterian Church (now Julia Morgan Theater) line the walls.” Jupiter also features a two-level beer garden in back, which presents jazz at least three nights a week.  

Jupiter serves better large name beers, as well as local brews such as Boont Amber from Anderson Valley and Twist of Fate Bitter from Moonlight Brewing, as well as 12 beers made in the company’s tanks in San Leandro and at Triple Rock. Jupiter’s food is a good notch up from Triple Rock’s, featuring wood-fired oven baked pizzas, pomegranate chicken skewers, rib tips, and good salads. Jupiter’s second floor offers tables around a woodstove, a 1950s bowling game, and an old pinball machine.  

Pyramid Alehouse (901 Gilman St.) is Berkeley’s largest surviving brew pub, producing a whopping 130 barrels per brewing cycle, which still qualifies it as a microbrewery. Started by five Seattle investors, Pyramid just bought Portland Brewing Co., already owned Thomas Kemper Brewery and Thomas Kemper Soda Company, and operates Pyramids in Berkeley, Seattle, Walnut Creek, and Sacramento. 

Particularly compared to Triple Rock, which still has the feel of years of cigarette smoke absorption, Pyramid is clean, shiny, glistening, and glaring with spotlights. Two televisions relay the latest Cal sports (when they’re telecast), the vast brew tanks are locked behind closed doors (tours daily at 4 p.m.), and their beers and sodas are Kosher and contain no caffeine. A highly professional-looking gift shop and the whole aura feel like large microbreweries in Washington, although the food is better here than at any brewpubs I’ve experienced in the Northwest. 

Pyramid shows second-run movies on its outdoor screen in the parking lot in good weather, to which beer added creates a keg-party atmosphere.  

Pyramid’s pub offers a $4.95 Kids Meal with lots of choices that include Thomas Kemper’s root beer, vanilla cream, organ cream, black cherry, and sandwiches and burgers with fries. The onion soup was actually very good ($4.95), and the Caesar salad dressing was excellent, although some of the chopped romaine had brown edges. Most guests ordered the mounds of onion strings, marinated in Beatnik White Ale and fried in buttermilk batter, and served with chipotle ketchup. Wood-fired pizzas are popular, as are the burgers, and wide variety of sandwiches, and soups. 

Oh yes, the beer and ale. The Tilted Kilt is a must try, as Pyramid’s current seasonal feature through mid-April. Grizzly Peak Porter, Apricot Ale, and Black Fog Nitro Stout are popular. Try the Brewer’s Rack of five samples ($5.95). Wines range from Beaucannon and Coppola Chardonnays to Chateau Julien Cabernet and Ravenswood Zinfandel. Kids of all ages can experience sugar delight in a Thomas Kemper Soda Sampler of four tasters ($2.95). 

A very important stop on any brewery crawl is the second floor Takara Sake USA (708 Addison St. at Fourth Street), “now the oldest sake brewer in the country, having opened in 1978. Takara follows a long tradition, succeeding Japan Brewing Company, which opened the first sake brewery in the U.S. in Berkeley in 1902. 

Sake brewing parallels beer brewing in that both processes start with grains that have no fermentable sugars in their original states. Sake uses a mold spore that occurs naturally on rice that converts the starch in the rice to sugar, creating a starter called rice koji.  

Takara has an elegant tasting room and museum on the second floor of its pale green building, with stairs or elevator options. The museum is a must-see, and features antique sake equipment showing the worn wooden tools used in Japan when the whole process was done by hand. 

Follow the hostesses’ advice on the order in which to try some of Takara’s 15 sakes, and watch your intake. The Nigori unfiltered sake, made in small batches, is close to a home brew sake. Also sample Ginjo or Sho Chiku Bai sake, Takara’s flagship sake.  

Visit Takara for the experience, calming music, and interesting design, the latter featuring reclaimed wood, granite-finished tile made from recycled bottles representing rice paddies, and the blue glass lines representing rivers through the paddies. Do not miss the “Song of the Sky” kinetic sculpture created in 1998 by Susumu Shingu.