Discover recent brews in Fremont and Hayward

I’ve spent the final couple of years exploring the Bay Space’s vibrant brewery scene, dropping in on taprooms from Santa Cruz to Walnut Creek. A number of weeks in the past, I headed south to Fremont and Hayward, the place I discovered a number of breweries effectively value a go to.

Jack’s Brewing, Fremont

This Fremont Hub brewery initially opened in 2000, and shortly ran headlong into the lockdowns that shuttered the taproom. However regulars Brian and Tricia Sparling have been so unhappy to see the brewpub shut, they purchased and reopened it the next yr, hiring brewer Patrick Wolpert to supervise the beer finish.

Jack’s had closed in such a rush, there was nonetheless beer within the fermenters, so it took a while to get the whole lot cleaned up and restored. The following problem was recreating the unique recipes, a frightening process given the brewery’s recipe e-book was so water broken, it was practically not possible to decipher. Wolpert resurrected the beers with assist from Jack’s regulars and their style recollections, after which started making a number of brews of his personal.

The beers are all clear and well-made, with a pleasant vary. Each the Gridiron Amber Ale and the twenty fifth Anniversary Golden Ale are gentle and delicate with good taste. Try the Boys of Summer time, a refreshing wheat ale, and the Apricot Mango, which is flavored with these fruits.

Jack’s is actually a sports activities bar with massive TVs and house for watch events, Open Mic Tuesdays and music. The kitchen serves up beer-battered fish and chips alongside salads, sandwiches and extra.

Particulars: Opens at 11:30 a.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. Saturday and 9:30 a.m. Sunday at 39176 Argonaut Method in Fremont; jacksbrewing.com.

Extra in Fremont

Redwood Metropolis’s Freewheel Brewing lately purchased the previous Das Brew in Fremont and reopened it as a taproom providing all of Freewheel’s beers. Drop in between 4 and 9 p.m. weekdays and midday to 9 p.m. on weekends at 44356 S. Grimmer Blvd., Fremont; freewheelbrewing.com.

Jack’s Wolpert additionally runs Unreal Brewing. The endeavor he launched in 2015 at the moment brews by contract at Jack’s Brewery. Unreal’s beers are bought at Jack’s brewpub and different areas within the East and South Bays, however plans are afoot to open a bodily brewery in Santa Clara this summer season.

Buffalo Invoice’s Cerveceria, Hayward

Buffalo Invoice’s was one of many first brewpubs within the U.S. when it first opened in 1983. Its proprietor was Invoice Owens, who wrote one of many first business brewing manuals, “How to Build a Small Brewery,” two years earlier than. In a full-circle second, that was the e-book that impressed Geoff Harries to start out dwelling brewing; Harries later grew to become Buffalo Invoice’s brewer and acquired the place in 1994.

Like so many breweries, Buffalo Invoice’s was hit laborious by the pandemic. Harries closed the brewpub in June of 2022 to the consternation of beer lovers throughout the Bay Space, together with Hayward restaurateur Alejandro Gamarra.

Gamarra’s restaurant empire started with a taco truck, however quickly grew to incorporate six areas of his brick-and-mortar Metro Taquero and different eating places. His Casa Del Toro is virtually subsequent door to Buffalo Invoice’s, and Gamarra couldn’t bear to see the place shut. Anxious to protect Hayward’s historic legacy, Gamarra stepped as much as purchase Buffalo Invoice’s, bringing in brewery guide Phil Cutti and brewmaster Miles Atkinson and rebranding it as a cerveceria to higher replicate the neighborhood.

They tweaked the recipes, holding outdated favorites like Tasmanian Satan and Hayward Hefe and added some newer types together with Chela Mexican Lager, Haystack Hazy IPA, B Road IPA and rotating seasonals, resembling Blueberry Stout and Orange Blossom, which will likely be coming this spring.

Particulars: Open every day at 11:30 a.m. at 1082 B St. in Hayward; buffalobillscerveceria.com.