May 14, 2024 – The location “Space N-111-1A” sounds obscure.
But the other part of the address, “Pier 39,” clicks with the ongoing and ambitious growth of Santa Cruz’s Humble Sea Brewing Co.’s geographic reach.
Humble Sea’s new San Francisco space will allow for 100 seats, with a big patio to call its own—which HSB plans to expand—in the former Wines of California Wine Bar.
A search for a restaurant/purveyor partner to steer the food is in the pipeline.
The San Francisco taproom-beer garden will join a portfolio of places that now includes Alameda Point, Pacifica, the Santa Cruz Wharf, the original Westside flagship, and Felton, which relaunched this winter with Bread Boy Co. doing smash burgers and more.
Per co-founder Frank Scott Kreuger, the play is practical for two primary reasons.
One, he and his fellow founders have been card-carrying fans of the S.F. beer scene since “well before Humble Sea.”
He cites Toronado (which he calls “the OGest of OG beer bars”) and City Beer Store (“We were also the beer dorks tasting flights in the corner”) in particular.
“So in that sense,” he says, “it’s like coming home to our beer nerd roots.”
Inspiration number two was staring up at them from invoices.
“In another sense, we just see the addresses of where we ship beer to, or where we deliver kegs to, and such a huge percentage of that beer goes to San Francisco,” he adds. “So we’re going where our fans are.”
Optimistic opening month is July. The Humble Sea flavor formulation process is more day-to-day and week-to-week.
“We make the best possible beer we can, and balance extreme innovation and experimentation with staying true to the history of brewing,” Kreuger says. “We’re in a constant conversation with our drinkers and it’s a push-and-pull relationship: We listen to what they want, and we also suggest new beer styles they may have never known they liked.
“We’re like the Spotify ‘Discover Weekly’ playlist for brewing.”
More at humblesea.com.
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.
