Background – The Rare Barrel
The founding team at The Rare Barrel is Jay Goodwin, brewer and blender, Alex Wallash, sales and marketing and Brad Goodwin (Jay’s father), overseeing legal and finance. Jay has been interested in craft beer since college, when he and Alex homebrewed beer in their apartment. Jay worked at The Bruery in Orange County, CA for four years before leaving to help start The Rare Barrel. The all Sour brewery opened December 2013.
The Rare Barrel is an interesting blend of a gypsy brewery and brick and mortar. At the time of this blog all Rare Barrel beer is brewed at another bay area brewery. They bring back the basic golden sour base and blend it, barrel it and after aging, bottle or keg the final product.
Experience
We are big Sour fans and have been looking forward to visiting for some time. I am also a big fan of the Rare Barrel podcast over the last few years. We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and found the Barrel pretty packed. We did snag a spot at a big group table. Entering the tasting room we found a huge facility mostly of course packed with barrels. A fairly large tasting room contains many long common tables and a bar. There are approximately 12 stools at the bar and all ordering of beer and food takes place at the bar.
We started with a flight of three, enjoyed the nicely soured Bourbon Barrel Ensorcelled, Mister Tea, an earthy green tea sour, and Ales for ALS, a great hoppy sour. Also tried Blurred PsM, a red wine sour and a guest beer, Slangin’ Juice, an excellent juicy IPA from Cellarmaker Brewing. We also snacked on one of the best charcuterie board we have ever had. An impressive array of house made meats, cheeses, spreads and veggies complimented the ales we ordered. Our food was served beautifully which definitely enhances the experience at this popular spot.
No nearby lodging noted. When in the area we also enjoyed the new Almanac brewery and of course the legendary Russian River. We suggest at least a one week beercation in this area.
