Urban Roots Brewing & Smokehouse

My wife and I stopped here on a 2-day pub crawl to try their beers and to have dinner. The brewery is located in an older, part light businesses and part residential neighborhood among the tall trees. The only parking I could find was at the curb two blocks away, There is a beer garden at the front of the brewery with trees that screen the view and provide some privacy. Some tables are under a roof and some have an umbrella. The interior of the brewery is a large open area with an old industrial feel. The kitchen is to the left, the bar in the center and seating in the rest of the space. A barrel room and the brewing equipment is located to the far right rear behind a glass wall. Seating is available in that large room too. We liked the vibe. Service was at one counter for food, and at another for ordering beer. The place was not busy on a Monday mid-afternoon when we were there so placing our orders went smoothly.

There were 30 beers available, including a radler, and a good selection of styles. We chose to order a sampler flight of 6 beers so that we could have a wide variety with which to arrive at an overall judgment about the quality of the beers. We liked them all and all of them were brewed very well to style. Our average for the 6 beers was 4.13.

Barbecue is the food specialty of the brewery, so bbq is what we ordered for our meals. This turned out to be some of the best bbq that we've had in a while, so we were very satisfied. The menu can be viewed on their website, and it goes beyond bbq meats. There is beer to go in cans, and I saw a few bottles in the fridge too (special beers?). This is a place that is definitely recommended for the beer and the food.

The day began with ghosts.

I drove past the place where my grandfather’s farm once stood, a few minutes from Urban Roots, and nearly drove off the road when I saw what had replaced it. The orchard was gone. The trees that once bent under the weight of fruit had been erased with the enthusiasm of a zoning committee drunk on progress. In their place stood a house that looked like it had been printed by a software update. Solar panels covering the roof like armor. A Tesla in the driveway. The kind of place owned by someone who thinks removing two weeds and spending $4,000 on camping gear qualifies them as rugged.

It set the tone.

Urban Roots sits in a wide open industrial space that feels vaguely European. Long picnic tables. Stein glasses. People sharing space whether they like it or not. There’s a faint German beer hall spirit lurking under the Sacramento sunlight. Brewing tanks gleam in the background. The place breathes beer. Real beer.

And the beer is phenomenal.

Lagers that snap like cold air in your lungs. Crisp, precise, unpretentious. A saison that knows exactly what it’s doing. A mild that doesn’t apologize for existing. An Irish stout that proves Guinness is not the only priest in that church. I drank several rounds and never even glanced at the hoppy side of the menu. Discipline was required. A full day of productivity remained ahead and those beers had the quiet authority of something that could derail a man quickly if he let them.

This is where the good part ends.

Because the rest of the place felt like it had been sanitized by the same people who replaced the orchard. The countertops were spotless. The colors were pastel and polite. The room had the sterile optimism of a co working space for people who talk about fermentation but recoil from dirt.

Then came the barbecue.

If you are going to call yourself a smokehouse, the building should smell like smoke. It should cling to your clothes like a crime scene. Real barbecue follows you home. Your jacket reminds you the next day that something primal happened the night before.

Not here.

The air barely carried a whisper of it. It smelled like a brewery that accidentally wandered near a grill.

The sausage was good. Credit where it’s due. But the brisket arrived like a sad apology. Small portion. Dry. Under salted. The kind of meat that stares at you waiting for sauce to rescue it from its own mediocrity. In Texas this would score a zero. In California, where expectations are lower and people clap politely for kale chips, it maybe scrapes a three.

It had no soul.

You could almost hear the ghost of the smoker begging for mercy. This was barbecue engineered by people who feared grease stains. A smokehouse for people who might prefer vegan burgers and potato burritos but are willing to dabble in meat if it’s presented politely enough.

Which makes the whole place feel schizophrenic.

The beer is world class. Honest. Deeply rooted in tradition. The food feels like it was assembled by a committee that thinks barbecue should be tidy.

I left impressed, confused, and slightly irritated.

Urban Roots brews beer with the spirit of old Europe and serves barbecue with the soul of a tech startup.

 

 

 

Met some friends here for a birthday bash. Saturday afternoon and it was hopping. Service was great ,no real wait for beers,samples were no problem ,everything ran real smooth.Food looked and smelled great but we didn't partake. Beer selection and variety is outstanding -if you can't find something to your liking you may need to rethink your beverage of choice.The Imperial IPA's are excellent.Will be back for more beer and to sample the great smelling bbq.

Pulled pork and mac and cheese are top notch. Excellent beer selection and 8 wines on tap as well. Their tap list runs the gamet of styles. I usually get half pours as there is no shortage of great choices. Only complaint is the noise level, bad acoustics. Going to have to try the brisket next time.

 

 

 

 

brewery and BBQ. it smells wonderful. super cool staff and sweet swag too. it seems that saisons are their specialty although their tap and to-go offerings were different so it’s hard to say.

 

Great food and good beers! Vibe is decent with good music and people wanting to enjoy good food and beer. Customer service is decent, but gets a little difficult with crowds and loudness of general atmosphere. Would be a 5 out of 5 if it wasn't as loud and their selection was also available to go and in crowlers. They have gotten much better with their selection and growth in beer, so i am holding out hope that they will continue to improve.