Temescal Brewing (Oakland) thread

The members pickup day is coming up on the 7th. Other than Don't Mind if I Do, we've had Hello Pale and Birthday Party Pale on tap at Caps & Taps. Both solid. Well balanced and clean. I joined because I know Wade makes great beers. I was happy to pledge after hearing he and everyone else at Temescal were opening.

 

looks like one of several new spots opening in the EB...

http://www.berkeleyside.com/2016/04/28/more-breweries-to-east-bays-booming-beer-scene/

 

Via their Facebook:

******GRAND OPENING PARTY TIME******

Hey Pals, the time has finally come: we'll be open for service this SUNDAY! Come in for a friendly pint anytime from noon to 10pm. Hurray!

This won't be just your run-of-the-mill Sunday grand opening: it's also theTemescal Street Fair! 10 blocks of food trucks, games, music, and merriment, with a stage setup right in front of the brewery.

AND! We've brewed a very special beer to mark the occasion: Block Party, a super refreshing pale ale specially formulated for optimum block party enjoyment.

Look for the big pink door, and come on in for a pint. We *cannot wait* to show you all the amazing stuff going on inside!

 

Had friends go tonight for the No Jerks pickup party. They were able to grab my items as well since I had to work. The only negative I heard was that the bartenders were pretty clueless and one even told my friend to wave her arms around and be more attentive if she wanted to be helped. No joke.

 

Same block (and side of the street) as The Gilman.

 

Wasn't too bad. Temescal fair is usually pretty mello. They had an ID check out side & you got a wrist band. Made it much easier on the servers inside. There were lines but not too bad maybe 5 minutes. Servers freindly & efficient considering the crowd. Had a solid IPA and saison. Beer garden is cheerful. Inside is a little cold yet, but I'm sure it will perk up with time.

 

i went today and can confirm that the space is dope, the ipa's solid, and the music great

 

I was there last week, and agree, the beers were very good for such a young brewery and the space is great. The over-played out hipster decor and vibe....I could do without, I think they're trying way too hard on that vibe. Luckily the beer is more important to me than the decor. Employees were all super nice.

 

The new IPA "post coast" is pretty impressive (Rakau/Chinook). Unfiltered and pretty juicy, similar to cellarmaker with a bit of a unique touch.

 

Not a lot of activity here...

My main exposure to Temescal was their release of New Feeling, which I took a leap of faith on and managed to score a 4-pack of. Lo' and behold, I was really blown away by it. Although it wasn't a punch of juiciness, it was a very soft beer with really nice stone fruit and tropical flavors.

I missed Mondo Pilsner (cans gone by time I discovered I liked their stuff) and Zig Zag (2/14 release for single people = Great! ; For paired up people like me = Not so much).

But I did finally hit up their brewery for the first time last night. Had a decent time. Tried a few of their beers:

Contact Pilsner - Good take on the German? traditional style. A touch sweeter than the norm, but easy drinking for sure.
Apricot Saison - Generic peppery saison flavor, with a little bitterness up-front and a little tart and sweet apricot on the finish
Peg Board - Pale Ale w/Equinox, Mosaic and Amarillo. That's my jam, and easily the best thing of the evening. Tons of fruity / hop flavors up front, with some bitterness and crackery malt on the end.
Up Late - WC IPA w/Cascade, Comet and Amarillo. Initially you don't taste much other than the malt base, but after a little warming, there's some bright citrus to complement the generic IPA mold. It's decent, but nothing memorable.
Push Pop - Vanilla lactose IPA. Aroma is very much an orange creamsicle. On tasting, you get the creamy vanilla up front, along with the citrusy notes of the IPA. But on the finish, the bitterness comes on strong and does not let up for minutes after you take your sip. I think it's their attempt not to make it too cloying, but I kinda feel like it would have been more cohesive if it weren't so drastically different from start to finish.

Anyway, I didn't dislike anything but they aren't Cellarmaker-level despite the connection.

Two questions for you Bay Area / East Bay peeps:

1. What are your impressions of Temescal Brewing?
2. I also just learned their whole shtick is they never brew the same beer twice, so I'll never see New Feeling again. What are your thoughts about that philosophy? And is that strategy working for them in your opinion?

 

I've loved everything I've had from Temescal, and in reference to your second question, I believe they have brought some beers back, but with tweaked recipes.

 

I'm really liking Temescal as well. And similar to Cellarmaker it's their juicy pale ales I've really been digging. And for some reason Push Pop just called to me. Along with Juice Above the Clouds and Juice Gymnastics probably my favorite of 2017.

 

Had a pour of Lucky Break yesterday and was very impressed. Might need to make Temescal my local brewery till Fieldwork irons out the kinks.

 

Yup. Definitely a big fan of Temescal beers. Excited for their can release this week. Not a huge fan of the crowd there or the stroller mom vibe on sunny days but hey, the beer is juicy and the cans are pretty.

 

What's wrong with the crowd?

 

Never had a beer by them that's impressed me yet.

 

Their beers are less in your face than Cellarmaker's but similar on a number of levels (no surprise). New Feeling and Mondo were great I thought, always happy to leave Liquid Gold or CBS with some of their fresh offerings!

 

Their nuanced approach is probably why I appreciate them. Nothing's been an explosion of juice or dankness. Nothing's been offensive to my palate. Just some nicely crafted beers that are enjoyable to consume. "Crushable" as the young bucks like to say.

 

I suppose I need to make a visit. I've had a couple of their beers at TRB, and have been pleased. I've seen cans occasionally poping up here/there.

It's starting to get a bit deep into Oakland for me though...

 

They have a can release today that I won't be able to attend. I'm sure they'll have some tomorrow though. I love their can labels.

 

Agreed on their can art. They & Fieldwork make the most beautiful labels I've encountered in craft beer.

I went to Temescal today for their release and although I prefer Good Feeling over Carried Away, it's a pretty good beer overall. I think I like Temescal IPAs over Cellarmaker IPAs, as I never thought that was their forte. Yes, CM's IPAs are more flavorful, but something about the balance doesn't work for my palate. But when they do it right (Hop Stuff, Are You Afraid of the Dank, etc), they are phenomenal. Their pales are consistently the best in the world though.

 

So ... head brewer Wade is apparently leaving California, and the new brewmaster is Mike Makris from The Rare Barrel.

It'll be interesting to see if Temescal goes in a different direction after this.

 

That is interesting. I was at Temescal Sunday and had Love Is Love which was pretty good.

 

Sad to see Wade leave, I love the brews that he developed for Temescal. I'll be interested to see how they change over the coming months but hope that some of the classics stick around.

 

I stopped by Temescal when I was in the area a few weeks back. I had the Dark Ritual Coffee Porter and Your Favorite Jerks Coffee Porter...I swear the beer played mind games with me. I remember that they were both kind of bland, and yet I realized that I strangely enjoyed them way more than I should have.

 

Huh! Cellarmaker collab! Posting here, since it's brewed at Temescal.

Interesting that this didn't happen when Wade was the head brewer. But maybe he wanted his own identity. Beers have been pretty good in the MIke-era. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

 

Cross-posted from WBAYDN, but with some additional comments for locals.



I don't know if this is Cellarmaker's thing, but there's a new style in SF that they made 3 of. (Social/Cellarmaker, Cellarmaker alone, now Temescal / Cellarmaker / Social). The Brut IPA. Imagine a clean, dry, crisp beer hopped like an IPA, and you'd be close. Kinda like a hoppy pils, where the hops come through more on the aroma than the taste.

This one, Three Cheers, has new-school hop aromatics. With Simcoe, Zeus and Loral, the flavor is actually a bit sweeter in the initial through mid palate than I was expecting, due to the very fruity and a vanilla-like note from the hops. But it definitely finishes dry, leading you to believe this is more like a 5% beer, not the 6.6% ABV it's rated at. Incredibly crushable.

Don't know if anyone has had Cellarmaker's take on it: Less Than Zero, but the difference between the two beers is that LTZ for me was much more subdued. Couldn't pick up the hops much in aroma or flavor, so that one was super crisp and better for a hot day. Crazy since it clocks in at 6.8% ABV! Three Cheers is much more overtly fruity and sweet, so it has more character in my opinion. But fruity/sweet can be a plus or a minus, depending.

Either way, I actually like the Brut IPA as a style, since I don't see too many clean, crisp beers in Cali anymore. Everything is pretty over the top. I'd love to see these come out in the summer (or Indian Summer) and become a big hit. Much more impressive to me than Session IPAs, which I haven't really been a fan of.

 

Social has done a couple so far as well (not sure who did it first, them or Cellarmaker). Hop Champagne and Puttin on the Spritz.

 

I have a bit of a strange relationship with Temescal, in that I REALLY want to love their beers and put them in that top tier of NorCal breweries, but they just seem to be close but no cigar. Very solid, but unspectacular beers that I'd not turn down if offered, but not seek out either. Of the 30+ I've tried they are pretty much all 3.75 or 4.0, with only a few 3.5 or 4.25 mixed in. I had high hopes for the Pure Project collab, but once again it's just short of "really good".

What are other's thoughts on Temescal?

 

What I've had was all good to great, nothing below a 4.0. I'm not local to the Bay Area, so have only sampled roughly 8 of their offerings, enjoyed every one of them for my palate and preferences.

 

So.

As described more in detail in this Eater Article , Temescal just opened up a brewing facility in Jack London Square a few blocks from Beer Revolution. It will only be used as a brewing facility and for parties, so there will be no taproom there. I went there for their inaugural party yesterday where they debuted 4 lagers, including their Temescal Pils flagship. The Temescal Pils is an evolution of the Dreamer Pils recipe. (Flashy is actually an IPL hopped with Galaxy & Motueka.)

Me personally, I enjoyed the Temescal Pils the most of the 4 lagers on offer. It tastes in-between an old school dry grassy Pils and a modern fruity hop Pils. Dry enough that it'd be refreshing anytime you want a cold beer, but with hints of the modern fruity hops that the current IPAs are known for. The dry-hops are German: Saaz and I think Hallertau, so not exactly "juicy". But you do get a little bright fruit character from it.





The owner, Sam Gilbert, led tours throughout the event. He explained that the original Temescal location will do all of the brewing up until fermentation. Then the beers get transported to this Jack London warehouse for the finishing steps. This increases their beer capacity to double their production right now, but with room to grow to triple.

What the Jack London space will give them is the ability and capacity to do beers that require longer processing/conditioning time, primarily lagers for now but also some barrel-aged stuff in the future.





For the people who don't really care for Temescal's stuff now (*cough* hazebros *cough*), this expansion won't change anything.

But I love how Temescal is committed to making tasty low ABV beers. (That being said, with the addition of a barrel program, Sam did indicate they will be offering more higher ABV beers in the future.)

 

I want Temescal to get more popular because I love them, but I also like not having to fight to get their beer haha. While they were mostly doing east coast/west coast hybrid-type IPAs for the first couple years, e.g. Post Coast, Magic Hour etc, their recent hazies, like Hula Hoop and the most recent batch of Wonder Why, have been fantastic.

 

They may have a flagship pils now but about 90% of Temescal beers are attempts at the hazy NE style. The reason "hazebros" don't like them is because they just aren't that great tbh.