Scenes from Santa Clara Valley Brewing, Plus Upcoming San Jose Founding Party and Loma Prieta Imperial Stout Release

San Jose is turning 239 years old on Tuesday, Nov. 29, and the fine folks at Santa Clara Valley Brewing (101 E. Alma Ave., San Jose) are celebrating with a San Jose Founding Party.

San Jose Founding Party

Currently closed on Tuesdays, Santa Clara Valley Brewing will make an exception for this event and open their doors on Nov. 29 starting at 3pm. From their event page:

“239 years ago the beautiful city of San Jose was founded, and we are going to celebrate that birthday in the traditional way – with beer! With the help of History San Jose, we are going to bring you a unique night at the brewery.

“We are going to have an historical demonstration on brewing and leather working, a brief lecture on the history of beer in the city, historical artifacts, and photos to check out. Also Beer! Don’t miss out on this night at Santa Clara Valley Brewing!”

During a recent visit to the brewery, I got word that Santa Clara Valley Brewing will be releasing their first-ever imperial stout – Loma Prieta Imperial Stout – next month.

Look below for additional release information as well as some photos from recent visits.

Santa Clara Valley Brewing co-founder and CEO Tom Clark.

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Co-founder and brewmaster Steve Donohue.

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Santa Clara Valley Brewing sales manager Peter Estaniel.

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The brewery.

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Assistant brewer Adam Nanni filling kegs with Alviso Mills Hefeweizen.

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New taproom manager Gavin Goodman.

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About to sample soon-to-be-released Loma Prieta Imperial Stout.

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Loma Prieta Imperial Stout

Loma Prieta Imperial Stout – coming in at 10.2% ABV – is set to be released in mid-December.

Look for special flights of the beer and its variants to be available then – straight-up Loma Prieta, Loma Prieta on nitro, barrel-aged Loma Prieta in bourbon barrels and barrel-aged Loma Prieta in rye barrels.

Additional photos from a prior visit below:

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Steve voguing to the music and with taproom employee Christian.

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Dairy Hill Milk Stout on nitro.

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Peter and COO Coleen Clark.

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Peter, Peter’s wife Sammy and fellow beer enthusiast Steve.

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