2018 update:
It’s been an interesting few years, friends.
This blog’s posts plunged from frequent to half-assed to No Fucks Given. A thousand new places opened and I didn’t care about most of them, no matter how hard I tried. Too many places I liked closed up shop or changed for the worse. Some guy I still haven’t met started a popular Instagram with the exact name of this blog. Far too many of the people I used to see at bars and events moved away, stopped drinking, disappeared, or died
Since this blog started to feel like a chore, we ushered in the Beer for People Who Don’t Like Beer era. I haven’t felt so out of touch with beer since I had my first sip of macro lager and struggled to understand why anyone drank.
But I’m not dead yet. Beer isn’t designed around my tastes anymore, but maybe my 2 cents are still worth at least a cent and a half.
I won’t be comprehensive. I probably won’t be covering your cool new place or your fun event. A poet is not a jukebox. We’ll see what catches my interest. Let’s try this again and see how it goes.
Some of you are silently questioning the relevance of yet another industry dinosaur telling kids to get off her lawn. But if you’re still reading, you can handle text longer than a hashtag and maybe even viewpoints you disagree with. You are my people. As I said to my boss last year, “Thank you for seeing me as ‘having passion,’ not ‘being an asshole.'”
Let’s party like it’s 2009.
———–
Original mission from 2012:
When we say “East Bay,” we mean the parts of California’s Bay Area east of San Francisco, mostly covered by Alameda and Contra Costa counties. When we say “beer,” we mean non-corporate beer with flavor. As I type this, the approved word for good beer is “craft,” just like in the ‘90s the favored term was “microbrew.” I look forward to seeing what we call it in 20 years….maybe “beer?”
We are East Bay-centric but not East Bay exclusive. We like San Francisco and this is not a competition. Just like “SF” Beer Week includes events all over the Bay Area, so will “East Bay” Beer address the whole Bay Area as time allows. However, our information grapevine leans east and we have a lot of friends who work at East Bay breweries and bars, so we’re inherently biased. We’ll do our best to spread the love around.
The beer world is large, and we will sometimes step outside the Bay Area to editorialize on larger issues or share what we discover on the road. It’s just beer, let’s be flexible 
Cheers!
-Jen
Contributors
Jen Muehlbauer: founder, writer
Jen started writing about beer in 2002 after befriending the publisher of a beer newspaper on a pub crawl in Boston. She is the assistant manager of beer, wine, spirits, cheese, and coffee at a San Francisco location of a grocery store you may have heard of.
Rick Hayes: webmaster, photographer
Rick wrangles genomes for the government by day and brews (and drinks) beer by night. He’s been making websites and putting up with Jen since 1994. He’s a certified BJCP judge, built his own kegerator, and has an epic beard. If you’re nice he’ll make you a carbonnade.
Eric Pietras: photographer, contributing writer
Eric isolates blood stem cells and then does science to them. He is an avid photographer and writes about beer for UCSF’s newspaper, Synapse. [ETA: Eric has moved to Denver, he is missed!]
Hey Jen!
Hope you’re doing well. We met back at the Rare Barrel a while back (December?). We are all finished with construction of our tasting room and brewery and would love to have you down sometime. Brewing Batches 1-4 this week and should be open for business by 2nd weekend of October.
Cheers,
Connor
If you are interested in receiving the media release and kit for the Thursday, April 10th premiere of ‘CRAFT’ in Oakland at The New Parkway Theater shoot me an email.
Thanks!
Kris
press@craftbeermovie.com
Hi Jen, Rick, and Eric,
We are opening a new craft beer bar in Dublin in November – Three Sheets. We’d love to have you three out to share a pint.
Cheers,
Stefanie and Wendy
threesheetscraftbeer.com
Hi Jen
Having a triple (of course I’m so predictable) in 0L.
Hope your new gig is working out. Miss your company on Sundays, mind you though, the music has improved 😉
Will follow your blog.
Neil (that Scottish guy)
Not that predictable Neil, it could have been a saison 😉 Hope you and your wife and boys are having a great holiday season. (Not sure why it took me a month to see this.)
Hey there, I was hoping some of you might be interested in coming into a new beer space in the Uptown District of Oakland. We are called Diving Dog Brewhouse, we have 30 taps (more if needed for events) a growing bottle selection, and a Brew on Premise program for customers to use to brew their own beer. We would love to show you around and get some feedback from your expert point of view. Let me know if you are interested!
Hi
Good job with this. Can you install an email subscription link or RSS feed to this?
cheers
Mark
sorry, this got tagged as spam for some reason and I’m just seeing it. You can subscribe with RSS. Search your reader for EastBayBeer.com. Pops right up in feedly, which is what I use.
Is there not contact info here?
trying to minimize spam. username is eastbaybeer, and I use that Google email thing people seem to like.
Hi Jen!
We are having an unofficial open house on Saturday, May 23 at our brewery in Concord. We aren’t open yet but we are working hard to have our construction done in a month or so. Let me know if you can stop by!
Thanks,
Erin Schally
Epidemic Ales
erin@epidemicales.com
I think you need to update your Bio, Ol is so so long ago.
Hello Jen, Rick and Eric
I am the East bay sales manager for a local craft brewery. We will be opening our taproom shortly and would love to invite you for a pint on opening night. Feel free to contact me through email.
Thank you.
Thank you Jen for the great write up on our Brewery. We are proud to be part of the Richmond community!
Jen,
We just started up a 14 passenger Beer Bike in Oakland. We’d love to tell you more about it and have you check it out. Please let me know if I can give you more information about what we are doing.
Hi Jen! I’d love to talk to you for an article I’m writing about East Bay brew and bars. Can you contact me…My info is below. Thanks!!
Jen, thanks for all that you do to support the blooming east bay beer scene. Perhaps you would be interested in a very unique (and awesome) tasting event this Friday.
I am the founder of a bay area beverage startup that’s making health-enhancing alcoholic beverages. They are radically fresh and tasty, and authentically made from fresh, organic fruits, herbs, ginger, spices and hops. We are out to revolutionize the beverage industry with this healthy alcohol. We have a tasting event this Friday and a live crowdfunding campaign. The tasting this Friday is currently the only way for people to get access to what we are making. Would you please alert your food and beverage people and consider coming yourself? This is cutting edge stuff, and those who have tasted it are blown away. Your support would be incredible.
Event details are here, http://bit.ly/2tasteparty
Our crowdfunding campaign is here, http://igg.me/at/drhops
Thank you.
Hello! I work at California Historical Society and was speaking to the brewer from Federation at their new taproom in Oakland and he suggested I email you about our Vintage, beer, wine, and spirits labels exhibition open through April 23. I would love to share more information with you!
I work at California Historical Society and was speaking to the brewer from Federation at their new taproom in Oakland and he suggested I email you about our Vintage, beer, wine, and spirits labels exhibition open through April 23. I would love to share more information with you!
awesome! I will email you.
Jen we need an update! If only what you drank last night…
Good Afternoon,
My name is Victoria Pratt and I am serving as the Marketing Chair for the Berkeley Humane Society’s 5th Annual Pints for Paws Event on Saturday June 2nd, 2018. One hundred percent of the proceeds from this event will benefit the Berkeley Humane Society which has been saving animals since 1927. I was hoping East Bay Beer would assist us in getting the word out now that tickets are on sale now.
Event Details
• Date: Saturday June 2nd , 2018
• Location: 9th Street and Carleton Street in Berkeley, CA
• Target Fundraising Goal: $150,000
• About the event: The Event invites and hosts 25 breweries and wineries with a majority of them being from California. All kegs and bottles served are donated. The VIP tent is an exclusive area of our event, filled with specialty breweries and wineries for participants who purchase the VIP
ticket for $100. (*General Admission is $65.00 and does not allow access to VIP specialty kegs)
Let me know if you have any questions, additional event details can be found at https://berkeleyhumane.org/PintsForPaws
*I have a list of current confirmed breweries for the event as well.
This festival allows participants and sponsors to support Berkeley Humane Society while enjoying some of the best beer and wine from the Bay Area and beyond. Please reach out to me with any questions you might have. I hope I can count on you to help promote our event!
Cheers,
Victoria Pratt
Marketing Chair – Pints for Paws
Berkeley Humane Society
Victoria.pratt@porchdrinking.com
Introducing the Half-Pint Guides!
Designed for locals and tourists alike, The Half-Pint Guides to Craft Breweries offer snapshots of the best craft breweries in California (one pocket-size guide covers Northern California and one covers Southern California). Some of the breweries in the books are famous and long established; others are new and innovative additions to the craft brewing scene—all are worth a visit.
In each entry, the brewer talks about the brewery’s best-loved beers, the biggest challenges, the atmosphere, and some surprising stories and fun facts about the brewery. It’s like pulling up a stool and chatting with the brewer across the bar. Each entry also includes essential information such as location, opening hours, food, and whether the brewery is dog and family friendly. The breweries are spread across the states California so that (almost) wherever you are, you can find a local craft beer. Maps are included.
We are having two parties in the East Bay to celebrate the publication of this new series: June 6 at Gilman Brewery, 5:30-7; and June 14 at Ocean View Brew Works, 5-8. Stop buy and pick up a copy–if you buy a book, we’ll buy you a pint!