Is it even legal to set up a pickle business, jam shop, or restaurant here and NOT source ingredients locally? Local isn’t just a trend these days, it’s wound into our DNA. Case in point: Jesse Friedman (above, left) and Damian Fagan, the duo behind San Francisco’s Almanac Beer, who infuse their brews with fruits they've carefully vetted and sourced from California farms.
Farm-to-bottle brews on tap in California
Jesse Friedman (L) and Damian Fagan (Photographs courtesy of Almanac Beer Co.)

Jesse Friedman (L) and Damian Fagan (Photographs courtesy of Almanac Beer Co.)

Is it even legal to set up a pickle business, jam shop, or restaurant here and NOT source ingredients locally? Local isn’t just a trend these days, it’s wound into our DNA.

Case in point: Jesse Friedman and Damian Fagan, the duo behind San Francisco’s Almanac Beer Co., who infuse their brews with fruits they’ve carefully vetted and sourced from California farms – like the 1500 pounds of Swanton Berry Farm berries used to make a strawberry lambic that will steep for 12 months before it’s ready to bottle.

That makes for beers so local, they practically come with their own papers. You can trace the organic hops to a farm in Clearlake – northeast of Santa Rosa – the citrus in their Extra Pale Ale to the San Joaquin Valley, and the honey in their Honey Saison to a beekeeper just south of Napa.

Better yet, they’ve now packed this beer terroir into smaller 12 oz. bottles – available starting Aug. 31 – so you can have a beer over lunch (shhh…) and still be upright when you get back to the office.

Plus, the packaging (from Damian, a former designer) can almost double as wall art. Doesn’t get any more local than that.

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