R' Noggin Brewing Co

A long drive deserves a good beer, and the sign of R'Noggin Brewing can be seen as you drive past it on the 94. Next door to Uncle Mike's, R'Noggin is a small nanobrewery and taproom with adequate beer and a good atmosphere. Because of the smaller size of the taproom, there's only a footprint large enough for four tables, a few game machines, and a standing only bar which can't be longer than 20 feet; the taproom has an intimate feel. Combined with a day where it was raining and now you know every one was sheltering inside. Outside and across the parking lot is an open lawn with tables and fauna, where you could feel sheltered from the outside elements even though you can hear the highway noise from the nearby 94.

I squeezed into the bar for a drink, and the bartender is quick to serve you and cash you out. The beer menu is shorter, listing 8 potential drafts pouring and 12 actual taps; however my recent visit saw 6 working R'Noggin taps and 4 German märzens in bottled form. I have visited years before and did see a different beer menu, showing that there is beer rotation. My recent visit saw a pale ale, hazy IPA, milkshake IPA, quadruppel, and two fruited sours. Beer quality is respectable; won't take you to the moon nor let you down, and you can expect to feel happy after a pour.

Smaller garage brewery right off highway, next to Uncle mike’s pub. Owner brewer Kevin was informative and nice. they ran out of the porter I wanted to try, but did have 2 others. Update: they added more beers and added a beer garden on the their lawn. Friendly staff.

 

Tiny nano brewery off the highway, next door to Uncle Mikes. Small free-standing building with plenty of parking and a food truck parked out front.

Inside it was a basic industrial space with picnic table seating and an SRO bar. Pretty bare bones, they had a small Psycho Brew system with 3 fermenters and another in the room to the right.

Service was friendly, they offered samples no problem. There was a decent amount of people in the place, so it took 5-10 minutes for service, but it was great once it cleared out some.

Beer selection was average, 3 of the 5 were variations on red ales, plus a cream ale and English Porter. They mentioned they're shooting for a dozen beers on tap eventually. Currently they could use more variety.

Overall it was decent, more of a wait and see situation with the beer. Right next door to Uncle Mikes, so the location makes it easy for a quick pit stop.