Oktoberfest runs year-round at Fremont craft brewery
If you attended one of the Bay Area’s many Oktoberfest celebrations this fall, you might have discovered an affinity for German beers. If so, take a trip to Fremont and check out JP DasBrew, a craft brewery at the southern edge of town, near the Tesla factory. Owner and brewer Jan Schutze grew up in Germany and learned how to brew from his grandmother. The result? We get to enjoy Oktoberfest year-round.
The brewery has eight beers on tap — six of them German styles on the day I visited. The standards include Buxom Blonde, a light and refreshing kolsch; Revealing Red, an Irish red ale; and Mean Monkey Hefeweizen, a German wheat beer with strong banana and clove flavors. The specialty beers on tap offered a nice variety: a double IPA, a German pale ale brewed with Huell Melon hops, a Munich dunkel, a Märzen amber lager and a Rauchbier (more on that in a second). German beers are known for their balance — not too hoppy, not too malty — and this brewery hits the mark.
The current tasting room is in a space adjacent to the brewery. It’s actually an eclectic collection of rooms, with both indoor and outdoor seating. Here, a sampler set of four 4-ounce pours runs $8 and full pours are $5 to $6, depending on the style. Light snacks are available for purchase, and a food truck is on-site most Thursdays and Fridays. According to co-owner — and Schutze’s wife — Priscilla La Rocca, the brewery has plans to increase capacity and open a German restaurant early next year.
Don’t miss: If you want to try something completely different, ask for the Kettenraucher, a 7.3 percent alcohol by volume Rauchbier. It’s a smoked beer, a German style that originated in Bamberg. It’s a bit of an acquired taste, so if you’re curious but not entirely sure, it might be safer to get this as part of a sampler set.
DETAILS » Open from 4:30 to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, until 10 p.m. Fridays and from 2 to 9 p.m. on weekends at 44356 S. Grimmer Blvd. in Fremont; www.dasbrewinc.com