FOLLOWING THE BEER TRAIL IN SANTA CRUZ
My Bay Area brewery tours took me to Santa Cruz recently, where the craft brewing scene has really exploded in the last few years. You'd need a weekend or more to take it all in. But there was one particular brewery I'd been dying to check out, having enjoyed everything of theirs I'd tasted at festivals and events. 1 New Bohemia Brewing
Daniel Satterthwaite's passion for lagers dates back to his days in Germany at Brauerei Ketterer, where he learned to brew 20 years ago. It's evident in the beer the UC Santa Cruz alum brews at New Bohemia — or NuBo, as the brewery is affectionately known. The Bohemia name is a nod to the Czech Republic region where Pilsners were first brewed in the 1840s.
Satterthwaite spent nearly a decade as brewmaster at Gordon Biersch, but he knew early on that he wanted to create his own brewery. NuBo's location in Santa Cruz's Pleasure Point neighborhood is a few blocks from the beach. The two-story building is compact, but includes plenty of seating on both floors with more outside. The tented beer garden is a pandemic-era addition, as is the smoker out back, which produces delicious barbecue. (I also really like the giant pretzel — it's as big as your head, maybe bigger — served with their beer cheese sauce.)
As good as the food is, it's the beer that's the star. NuBo typically has 10 beers on tap and another 10 available by the can. Satterthwaite makes some tasty traditional and experimental IPAs, from The Flow, a great West Coast IPA, to The Fuzz, a Japanese white peach hazy IPA that really works.
But the real joys here are the lagers, especially the flagship Pilsner Soquel. You'd be hard-pressed to find many authentic Czech Pilsners outside Bohemia better than this one. He also brews a terrific Vienna lager, Velvet; an authentic Bavarian hefeweizen, Highway to Hefe; and the style-bending HelleSexy, a chocolate lager originally created as a collaboration with Pete Slosberg, who started Pete's Wicked Ale in the 1980s and later had a successful artisan chocolate company. Unlike most chocolate beers, this one is crystal clear but loaded with rich chocolate flavor.
DETAILS >> The brewpub is open 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily at 1030 41st Ave. in Santa Cruz. Most NuBo beers are available in cans, which can be ordered via nubobrew.com and shipped directly to you.
2 Greater Purpose Brewing
Two miles away, you'll find Greater Purpose Brewing tucked inside the building that once housed East Cliff Brewing, which specialized in cask-conditioned English-style ales during its brief run. The progressive Greater Purpose Community Church took over the brewery space in hopes that the new business might help support the church's charitable efforts. Some 30% to 60% of the brewery's profits are donated to local nonprofits, says board member Maria Romero.
Those first months — the brewery opened in October 2020 — were challenging, but the staff made it through by canning Greater Purpose beer for curbside pickup. Now the taproom bustles with energy, food trucks stop by daily and there are trivia nights, open mics and other event pop-ups. In addition to the taproom, there's a room with ping pong tables, dart boards and other diversions, and a large outdoor seating area out front.
Shamus Mooney, who was a brewer there when it was East Cliff, continues to brew the beer, and they've expanded their offerings beyond cask-conditioned beer with a dozen beers on tap at any given time. When I was there, they included Prancing Pony, an extra special bitter or ESB; Jonah and the Ale, a refreshingly light blonde ale; 'Ello Poppet, a hazy IPA; and Unicorn's Blood, a fruited sour brewed with peach and raspberry. My favorite of their clever names was Red Wedding, a red IPA.
DETAILS >> Greater Purpose Brewing is open noon to 10 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday at 21517 E. Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz; www.greaterpurposebrewing.com.
Have a favorite, local brewery that's knocking it out of the park? Contact Jay R. Brooks at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com.