September 3, 2024 – Alvarado Street Brewery has a lot going for it, including booming brewpubs in three cities, a popular production facility/tasting bar in industrial Salinas and a growing regional following.
Still, ASB head brewer and co-creator J.C. Hill felt something was missing. The best place to find it, he figured: the birthplace of beer.
“Research and development are a big part of our identity—we’re always trying to try new things, learning through experimentation,” Hill says. “I felt I personally lacked some of the proper basics on brewing education, and what better place to gain that than Germany?”
Now, after moving his family to Munich for six months, he’s bringing back helpful brewing fundamentals, a refreshed passion for metric measurements and a fuller passport.
“I was lucky to cross a lot off the list—Helles in Munich, Kolsch in Cologne, Pils in Prague, Trappist Ale in Belgium,” he says. “I was fortunate to try a lot of classic styles in their freshest form and talk to the brewers that made them.”
“A pretty cool family experience,” he adds.
He also carried home a master brewer certificate from Doemens Academy, a prestigious brewing school in Germany, through their joint venture with Chicago-based Siebel Institute, known as the World Brewing Academy.
“What I realized was how much I didn’t know,” he says. “It was quite humbling—and not just around brewing, but how to be more efficient with raw materials, energy and brewing traditions like mashing.”
The results mean clearer identities for the Alvarado Street outposts and an Oktoberfest Celebration Saturday, Sept. 21.
Going forward, Alvarado Street Brewery & Bistro in Carmel Plaza will focus entirely on traditional European-style lagers and ales.
Downtown Monterey’s flagship location will specialize in progressive hop-forward styles that Alvarado is known for historically.
“This switch in brewing focus between Carmel and Monterey will allow us to pursue all the German, Belgian and Czech beer styles we could ever make, beers that we see coming back into favor from our customers, and as brewers we totally crave them,” he says, adding later, “Monterey will carry the R&D flag with lots of really experimental and modern IPAs and pale ales.”
The Salinas Production Brewery on Dayton Street will continue to pump out staples like Mai Tai, Monterey Beer, Cold Pressed, Pils and Howzit Punch—while Hill and his team consult with newfound German friends on updating and expanding output.
“We’re reaching capacity with our brewhouse out there, and this trip to Europe helped with how to invest in a new one,” Hill says, “so we can put a system in place to help us grow at a sustainable rate for the next 20 plus years.”
Alvarado on Main, meanwhile, will remain steady, but featuring weekly debuts from both Carmel and Monterey.
A number of Hill’s first German-inspired beers will debut at ASB’s annual Oktoberfest Sept. 21 at all Alvarado Street Brewery locations.
The annual Festbier (a 5.7 ABV strong, pale lager), Oktoberfest Märzen (a full-bodied golden lager), a Schwarzbier (full bodied, dark lager), and an updated batch of their Bistro Hefeweizen (pale, smooth wheat ale) will all flow from the tap.
Alvarado Pils and Monterey Beer will also be available in their European-leaning glory.
For his part, chef and Alvarado Street Culinary Director Brian Parks has some complementary specials assembled.
Those include brotzeit (“bread time”)—a Bavarian snack board with pickled veggies, pretzel, rye bread, creamy Obatzda cheese spread made using Marzen lager and sausages that are part of a collaboration with Chef Todd Fischer of the Meatery in Seaside. Fisher is making custom knackwurst and Thuringer “wurst”‘” with ASB Oktoberfest Märzen and Schwarzbier for the occasion.
Also on the menu is zwiebelrostbraten (an “onion roast” undergirded by a 10-ounce Niman Ranch porterhouse steak smothered in dark beer gravy with sautéed onions and käsespätzle, a Bavarian mac ’n’ cheese with crispy fried onions) and berg schnitzel (or “mountain schnitzel,” a pounded and pan-fried pork cutlet that’s served with roasted potatoes and salad).
Lederhosen and dirndl outfits are encouraged, but the ultimate focus lies elsewhere, with renewed verve with the Hills back by the bay.
“We could push the whole party and lederhosen further,” J.C. says, “but it’s all about the beer.”
More at asb.beer.
About the author
Mark C. Anderson, Edible Monterey Bay's managing editor, appears on "Friday Found Treasures" via KRML 94.7 every week, a little after 12pm noon. Reach him via mark@ediblemontereybay.com.
