Bay Area brewery day trip: Sipping suds at Calicraft and Mike Hess

This week, our brewery day trip series took us to two stellar Walnut Creek breweries.

My Bay Area Brewery Day Trip series has seen me traipsing — and sipping — my way through breweries from Alameda to Santa Cruz and Redwood City. This time, I circled back to Walnut Creek to visit two stellar breweries and taprooms — and there’s big news ahead for one of them.

Calicraft Brewing

At age 14, Calicraft founder Blaine Landberg already knew he wanted to own a brewery someday. He began home brewing while studying at UC Berkeley, then gained commercial experience with a non-alcoholic start-up, Honest Teas.  What began as a contract brewery — with a very popular sparkling beer called Buzzerkeley — became a bonafide destination when Calicraft opened a taproom and beer garden in Walnut Creek in 2012, with an R&D brewery where Landberg and brewmaster Thomas Vo could work out recipes for new beers.

There’s a small bar indoors, but the beer garden is the big draw, with decks, picnic tables, Adirondack chairs and fire pits. It’s a popular spot all year round, but especially so when the weather warms. And there’s big news ahead.

Calicraft is opening a 25,000-square-foot beer garden in August — on the other side of the same Shadelands business park lot where they are now — with a new building to house their 10-bbl brewhouse planned for spring of 2025. A new rooftop spot is set to open downtown in early summer, upstairs from Va de Vi, and a Davis taproom will open next year.

No need to wait, though. Head over to the original Calicraft now, and you’ll find 18 Calicraft beers, plus “blooms” — untraditional ciders made with fruits other than apples and  strong, distinct flavors. The blooms allow them to play around a bit with beer cocktails, Vo says. There’s a slushie machine behind the bar mixing up two varieties each day, including a non-alcoholic version. And the beers can be mixed with blooms or slushies to create unique drinks.

I’m a fan of Buzzerkeley sparkling ale, but there’s also a great, old-school Oaktown Brown ale, a Karl the Fog IPA — hazy, of course — and Coast, a Kolsch-style beer. Soon, they’ll be pouring a new West Coast IPA called Westside IPA.

I also tried a Blue Manhattan, a beer cocktail that was quite tasty, and one that tasted eerily like a Cosmo. If you like unique flavor combinations, you’ll love Calicraft. Food trucks are on site most days, and Tuesday nights are devoted to trivia, courtesy of Geeks Who Drink.

Details: Opens at 3 p.m. Monday-Thursday and noon Friday-Sunday at 2700 Mitchell Drive in Walnut Creek; calicraft.com.

Mike Hess Brewing

Walnut Creek native Mike Hess actually made his name in San Diego’s beer world, opening a nanobrewery there in 2010. Today, there are seven Mike Hess Brewing locations with an eighth opening in Long Beach next year. As the company grew, brewer Jason Stockberger became director of brewing operations.

The Walnut Creek taproom is in the Orchards Shopping Center, with a large beer garden that sits on a deck under a 70-year-old oak tree. Inside, there’s a bar and tables, of course, but it’s that expansive deck that’s the star. The taproom is dog- and kid-friendly, with regular diversions including Taco Tuesdays, live music Saturdays and Sunday
Fun Days.

You’ll find the entire line of Hess beers and hard seltzers here — nearly two dozen at any given time — and the brews are helpfully divided on the menu into Light, Hoppy, Dark & Malty and other categories. Hop Cloud Hazy
IPA is the best seller, with a solid fruited IPA dubbed Grapefruit Solis and a West Coast IPA, called Solis West Coast. But I was perhaps more taken by their less common styles, including Grazias, a red ale; J$ Brown, an American brown ale; and Claritas Kolsch, a slightly bitter Kolsch. If you want a sipper with some heft, there’s
Umbrix, a 10.2-percent imperial stout with rich malt and chocolate notes.

Details: Opens at noon daily at 2313 Oak Grove Road in Walnut Creek; mikehessbrewing.com.

Make a day of it

If you want to add to your outing, try some of the nearby breweries I’ve featured in previous brewery day trips.  Morgan Territory’s brewery, at 40B Crescent Drive in Pleasant Hill, is about 15 minutes from Calicraft. Ditto on the distance for Headlands Brewing, which is located at 3420 Mt. Diablo Blvd. in Lafayette.

Know a local brewery or brewpub that’s knocking it out of the park? Tell me about it at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com.