According to the California Craft Brewers Association, there are more than 570 breweries operating in California, with an additional 240 in the planning stages. Nationwide, the statistic grows to more than 4,000 breweries as of September 2015 — or so Joe Seta, marketing manager at Fort Bragg's North Coast Brewing Company, claims. Founded in 1988, NCBC predates the internet and the craft beer explosion alike, but it's managed to continue innovating all the while. This September saw the release of NCBC's newest beer, Steller IPA.
In terms of the look and feel of the taproom, and the combined history, experience, and loyalty of its brewers, NCBC's sister brewery might be San Francisco's own Anchor. NCBC head brewer Ken Kelley, for instance, has been working there for a decade, starting as a part-timer on the bottling line — a position he had to interview with president and master brewer Mark Ruedrich to get. As Kelley puts it, "You keep learning more and taking more responsibility," which is how he rose through the ranks to become head brewer two months ago.
NCBC's mini-empire now occupies three of the four corners of the intersection of Main and Pine streets in Fort Bragg, but even that involved some switching around. The Taproom was a mortuary before becoming a brewpub in 1988, and fermentation tanks once stood in the spot that's now a gift shop, before the brewery moved across the street to the then-spacious, now-crammed spot it occupies.
North Coast doesn't offer proper tours, but since the best part of any brewery tour is tasting the beers, it fast-forwards to the end. The pub has been serving since the beginning, but the bar belonged to Acme Brewing Co., an operation dating to the 19th century that NCBC acquired in 1996. The taproom is cozy, and even on a random autumn Monday, people wait for the doors to open at 2 p.m. A steady flow of regulars files in until the entire place — main bar, tables, and banquettes — is filled.
All the beers NCBC makes are served on tap, and the best way to kick off a visit is with the 14-beer sampler. The drinking order (per Kelley) is as follows: the petite saison Puck the Beer; the farmhouse/saison Le Merle — which is part of the Belgian trio with PranQster and Brother Thelonious; the malty, pilsner-style Scrimshaw; Blue Star Wheat Ale; Acme IPA; the dry-hopped Steller IPA; a standard pour of Red Seal, NCBC's flagship (and first) beer; a cask-conditioned Red Seal, drawn from the tap like an old English ale; PranQster; the Belgian-style Abbey ale Brother Thelonious; the light stout Old 38; Old Rasputin, the bitterest brew with the most hops; and Old Stock Ale, which is meant to be an after-dinner beer.
A trip to Fort Bragg will reward you with aged, taproom-exclusive beers like North Coast Grand Cru, a Le Merle-style beer that blends a brew from a stainless fermenter with agave nectar, and rests in bourbon barrels for three to four years. Another taproom exclusive, the Barrel-Aged Old Rasputin X is aged for a year in rye barrels.
However much a draw the beer is, North Coast's taproom has a kitchen that churns out beer-inspired dishes like the Scrimshaw-battered fish and chips and the Brother Thelonious beer brittle ice cream. Many of the vegetables used in the taproom come from a farm the brewery co-owns. As part of giving back to the planet, North Coast's spent grain (a byproduct of brewing) is delivered to that farm to serve as a high-protein, nutrient-dense compost.
As Seta says, half-kidding, "Maybe, if you do it right, drinking more beer could help reverse global warming."
NCBC's latest, the Steller IPA, has a philanthropic component. A portion of sales will go to several groups supporting marine mammal research. (The name Steller, according to Seta, comes from Georg Wilhelm Steller, "a German-Russian naturalist who lent his name to the Steller's jay and Steller sea lion.")
And although Fort Bragg is arguably better known for its proximity to the redwoods and for Glass Beach, North Coast Brewing Company has been a long supporter of jazz education and jazz festivals for nearly a decade. Since the 2006 launch of Brother Thelonious, the brewery has donated more than $1 million to benefit the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. As another tie-in to Brother Thelonious and jazz, they opened the Sequoia Room as a jazz destination in 2014 with a commitment to hosting jazz on the weekends. Seta brags that "the lighting helps to make it the kind of place that Grammy Award-winning percussionist John Santos called 'the best jazz club on the West Coast.'"
Between that and the beer, North Coast's Sequoia Room has drawn some impressive headliners, including the TS Monk Sextet (led by the son of Thelonious Monk), the Monk Institute All-Stars, and pianist Helen Sung. Not bad for a foggy town of less than 7,500 people three hours north of the Fillmore.
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