Award-winning San Francisco brewery launches its first East Bay location

Most people who walk into the newest Barebottle Brewing Company taproom in Walnut Creek say the same thing to co-founder Michael Seitz.

“I grew up going here as a kid, I love this place and I’m so grateful you’re here,” they’ll tell him.

Barebottle opened the brewery’s first East Bay location last month, taking over a space that’s been vacated for the better part of a decade, formerly the home of the beloved Pinky’s Pizza. Pinky’s had been there for 46 years until it closed in 2008. It reopened a few years later in a new location across town.

“We’ve got a picture from the original Pinky’s hanging in the taproom,” Seitz said. “It was given to us by the people who currently run Pinky’s.”

To honor Pinky’s, Barebottle is selling pizza made by San Francisco’s Joyride. The pizza has been so popular that the brewery expanded from one pizza oven to three within its first few weeks of opening.

The most popular beer is the Muir Woods IPA, a hazy-style IPA that generated a buzz when the first Barebottle location opened in 2016.

The second-most popular is the Mango Flossi, a mango sour ale with flavors of vanilla and coriander.

Also popular is the Hella Hetchy pilsner, which gets its name from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park.

“We get all our brewing water from that reservoir,” Seitz said. “It’s very difficult to make unless we have great brewing water.”

Barebottle just won a pair of gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival thanks to its Hella Jalepeño in the chile beer category and Dank Dank Revolution in the juicy or hazy strong pale ale category.

Seitz said the new Walnut Creek location has been a huge hit among locals, who appreciate the 4,000-square-foot indoor taproom and additional space outside, which will soon have heaters and a big TV for watching sports events.

Inside, there’s a regular taproom as well as a beer hall, which not only can be rented out for private events but also serves as a 21-and-over section on most weeknights, giving adults a place to mingle away from the kid-friendly parts of the brewery.

Barebottle began in San Francisco and has since opened other taprooms in Santa Clara and Menlo Park.

“It’s going great so far,” Seitz said of the Walnut Creek taproom. “We’ve been wanting to do an East Bay location for a long time. The community is great.”

Details: Open noon-10 p.m. Sundays-Wednesdays and until 11 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 1375 S. California Blvd., Walnut Creek; barebottle.com