Have I mentioned my schedule is so wack I’m still waiting to taste the East Bay’s newest beers from Faction and Rare Barrel? Arg! I can tell you, however, that another new beer venture in the Bay Area is worth checking out too: Cellarmaker Brewing Company in San Francisco.
Who are these guys?
Cellarmaker founders Connor Casey and Tim Sciascia met at Marin Brewing (another brewery I keep meaning to write about) while Connor was waiting tables and Tim was brewing. “We both geeked out on beer pretty heavily and I shared several of my homebrews with him,” recalled Connor. “I remember him saying something along the lines of – hey your homebrew actually doesn’t suck (I guess usually people from front of house make awful beer).” You may also recognize Connor from his time at City Beer Store.
Tim (left) and Connor (right). Photo: Brian Stechschulte / SF Brewers Guild
Before his years as the cellarman/assistant brewer at Marin, Tim was working at Boston Beer Co., where he was told he needed a brewing science degree to get in the brewhouse. “They missed out on some awesome talent,” said Connor. “Great guy, friendly, knowledgeable and works his ass off.”
The beer
I made it into San Francisco on a rare free day in October and visited Cellarmaker about a week into its official existence in SOMA. Co-founder Connor Casey was manning the bar, and I thought I might have to be polite about his company’s beer — after all, these were the first batches on a brand-new-to-them system.
Nope. Generation One of Cellarmaker beer was ready for prime time. I got a six-beer sampler and while I liked some more than others, there was not a loser in the bunch. When you think that Cellarmaker beers are going to get even better than this as Tim bonds with his 10 bbl brew system and dials in the recipes, you realize the Bay Area is in for a hell of a treat. I know there seems to be a new brewery or new beer bar every other day this year, but please actually get excited about this one.
I rolled into the tasting room on a Tuesday at 3:15pm and instantly became crippled by indecision because every beer on Cellarmaker’s detailed paper menu sounded worthwhile. Because it was slow, I ordered a flight of all six available beers to share with a friend.
Do not do this to any bartender on a Friday night
Cellarmaker will rotate new beers all the time — no flagships. So I’m not going to go on too much about the beers I had in case you never get to try them. Their first six offerings will give you a good overview of the type(s) of things they’re doing over there, though.
- Dobis pale ale – a simple, single-hop (Citra) pale ale and possibly my favorite of the bunch.
- Batch 1 porter – seriously, Batch 1 was this good? A lovely English porter, 4% and 18 IBU.
- Petit Sour – Lactobacillus for the win. My friend who hates sour beers actually had more than one sip of this one.
- Wet Hop Questionable Origins – tis the season! the wet hop in question was Mosaic.
- Hop Slangin’ IPA – ryePA with Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy, Simcoe, and a little Columbus. They just brewed this one a second time and got it exactly how they wanted it (that was quick!)
- Peach Nightmare – Petit Sour with (real) peaches added for 6 days.
If you visit soon here’s what Connor says is in the works:
On tap right now:
- Daphne – sessionable hoppy blonde with Motueka and Amarillo hops. Low hop bitterness, big hop flavor.
- Midnight Society stout – English ale yeast and a dash of rye.
On deck:
- Are You Afraid of the Dank – An 8.1% double IPA with 40% Mosaic, 30% Simcoe, 20% Amarillo and 10% Centennial
- Jezebel – all-Cascade rye saison with Saison Dupont and Drei Fonteinen Brett yeasts. Funky, earth, and bretty.
- Moonage Daydream – single-hop Galaxy pale with a simple malt bill (and a nice Bowie reference)
Other particulars
Cellarmaker doesn’t serve food, but they’ve got menus handy for 1058 Hoagie around the corner and food trucks park outside on weekends — there’s a food truck calendar on their website. It’s 21+. It’s closed Monday. They sell their own growlers but will fill any 64-ounce one…but not the clear glass ones, because those are dumb. (Paraphrase 
)
I spy…unused taps. Potential!
Cellarmaker is located at 1150 Howard Street in San Francisco. That’s near Civic Center BART and silly-close to City Beer Store. It’s walking distance from other beer spots including Thirsty Bear, Mikkeller SF, and the Beer Hall. You’ve got a lot of nice options for making a day or night of it. If you are allergic to San Francisco, they’ll be sending beer to a few East Bay locations including Hog’s Apothecary and Beer Revolution. Keep an eye out.
Cellarmaker is good at updating its website, and you can follow them on Twitter or Facebook. Cheers.