Sonoma County Nanobrewing: Healdsburg Beer Company
Microbrewing is so passé. The Bay Area alone has dozens of breweries that would qualify under this antiquated term. You want small batch? You want locally distributed? Get on the nanobrewing train.
Within Sonoma County, there is only one nanobrewing candidate, Healdsburg Beer Company. Owner and brewer Kevin McGee started his fermentation career as a home winemaker, admittedly not very good wine. In an act of self defense, to prevent herself from having to try any more of his wine, wife Katee suggested he give beer a try. That was over 4 years ago and Healdsburg Beer Company opened back in July of 2008. Today, Healdsburg Beer is brewing approximately 800 gallons of beer a year with three selections available locally.
The best place to start would be the Golden Ale, admittedly Kevin’s go-to when drinking at home. Brewed with a pilsner malt and intentionally forward yeast flavors, this amped up blonde ale has noticable wine-like qualities and a solid fresh grass hop flavor that is definitely not just a beer brewed to bring in your BMC drinkers. Kevin has plans of “aging” hops for future batches to give this beer more traditional Belgian flavors and remove some of the bright qualities in the finish.
Next in line is his award winning English IPA. This beer took home the bronze in the 2009 U.S. Beer Open Championships. This beer stands out in the northern California scene because of a distinct lack of hops by local standards. Malty and rich to start, the hop flavor builds with each sip until a comfortable hop sting remains on the tongue after the first pint goes down. Kevin uses only Fuggles and East Kent Goldings hops in this brew and a continual addition of hops that begins with first wort hopping to create the “layers” in the hop profile that he strives for.
The final beer in Healdsburg’s current offering is the newly released Winter Ale. This beer is brewed following the Reinheitsgebot and falls somewhere between a stout and a brown ale. Rich and malty with coffee and berry notes coming out in the end, the Winter Ale is surprisingly refreshing for beer of this style. This is a common theme among the Healdsburg Beers as their beers tend to be highly attentuated and clean on the palate.
With only 3 beers currently available and the Golden and IPA the only year-round offerings, it is nice to try the full spectrum of a brewer’s offering by the pint and in one sitting. For Sonoma County residents, head to Affronti in Healdsburg to find these beers on draft and expect more Healdsburg beer to make it to taps around the Russian River Valley in the future.
Random Healdsburg Beer Company Fact: Owner and brewer Kevin McGee also works with thoroughbreds during the day. You may have heard of some of the horses: Curlin and Rachel Alexandra.
