The owners of upstart micro-brewer Hen House from Petaluma has scored a spot on Zagat's list of 30 food and beverage standouts under age 30 from the Bay Area. The brewery, which debuted 2012, is the brainchild of Collin McDonnell and Shane Goepel, 27 and 29 respectively. The brews are [...]
Windsor's St. Florian's Brewery is marking its six month anniversary with a new brew, its California Common (what would otherwise be known as a "Steam Beer" had Anchor not long ago trademarked the name). Co-owner Amy Levin says the beer should start hitting the shelves in the region in the [...]
Draft magazine has an article this week that has generated a lot of beer chatter. It asks of America's beer boom: "Will it fall?" This is not an idle question. The industry's first boom, in the early 1990s, hit the skids pretty hard in less than a decade, leaving lots [...]
Bear Republic and North Coast will be among the brewers pouring at this weekend's Outside Lands music festival in Golden Gate Park. The beer garden, known as Beer Lands, will feature 45 beers by 16 Northern California breweries. Bear Republic will be offering Racer 5, Cher Ami, Double Aught and [...]
Beer Advocates-in-Chief Jason and Todd Alstrom, founders of Beer Advocate magazine and website, will be hitting some locations in Sonoma County on Wednesday, part of a West Coast tour that started with a session at Sierra Nevada's annual Beer Camp in Chico. The brothers will be hitting Bear Republic from [...]
I am told that the Calistoga Inn, closed for nearly a year because of fire damage, has reopened its restaurant and brewery, a day ahead of the owners' target of Aug. 5. Actually, I hear they did a soft opening Friday night, but the point is that fresh beer is [...]
The financial website The Street gives Petaluma, and the rest of Sonoma County, some beery love in its list of five hidden gems for a beer vacation (which my wife has dubbed brewcations), following on a similar list they posted in June: So why are we dumping beer lovers into [...]
Bloomberg had a fun article this week about Blue Moon, the popular wheat beer that just happens to be a branch of the MillerCoors empire. After years of taking a beating from beer purists, who complain that Blue Moon is a stealthy intruder by the big boys into the craft [...]
Our friends at the North Bay Business Journal (owned by the same people, located across the hall from the PD) have an interesting list this week: the region's breweries ranked by size. They list the 14 craft breweries they could identify and get information out of and the results give [...]
Being that this is IPA Day and all, the Twittersphere is alive with discussions of Best IPAs and the like (including some dissenting opinions, such as this one, suggesting that we celebrate IPA Day by drinking some other kind of beer). Writer and beer lover (and former Northern Californian) John [...]
I'm not sure that Craft Brew's most popular style really needs a day of commemoration, but it has one anyway. And that's today - IPA Day. Ashley Routson, also known as The Beer Wench (@TheBeerWench for you Twitterheads), explains that today is a day to share your stories, pictures and [...]
A resident of Santa Rosa for most of his life, Peter Lopez Jr., 34, has taken over the duties of beer blogger for the Press Democrat. He has been a part of the beer and wine industry for almost his entire adult life and brings a wealth of knowledge. Currently Peter is a partner at the Healdsburg Emporium where he does the beer and wine purchasing. He is also the wine 
buyer at Fircrest Market in Sebastopol and the administrator of the NorCal Beer Geeks group on Facebook.
Beer is a big business in this part of the world, with some of the best and most sought-after brews made right in our own back yard. But too often that beer culture is hidden behind the iconic wine industry that defines the region. The Beer Country blog will bring you news and notes about our local brew scene, and maybe a little about cider while we’re at it. Have news, ideas, or questions that need answering? Drop a line in the comments section of the blog or email us at info@pressdemocrat.com