Scenes from Floodcraft Brewing Company, Featuring Floodcraft Sprechen Sie Fest? Festbier Plus my Favorite Local Pale Ales

We had the chance to stop by Floodcraft Brewing Company on a recent weekday in the early afternoon.

It was great to see eight of their own beers on tap.

I ordered up the newly released Floodcraft Sprechen Sie Fest? Festbier, which I was really looking forward to trying and the main reason for our visit.

The Festbier was excellent – clean, bready, crisp. Brewmaster Guy Cameron shared that it was brewed with freshly kilned Pilsener and Pacific Victor malts from local Admiral Maltings.

I also got a flight of mostly pale ales:

  • Floodcraft Something Tropical Pale Ale – citrus forward, mango, bitter hoppy goodness
  • Floodcraft Shedding Demons Pale Ale (recently released) – ripe pineapple, very smooth mouthfeel, low hop bitterness
  • Floodcraft Nothing for Granted Pale Ale (recently released) – citrus with a good amount of hop bitterness
  • Floodcraft Choose your Reaction IPA (recently released) – grapefruit, melon, low/medium hop bitterness

I was happy to taste the several pale ales and the IPA, and several were new to me. They were excellent and continued to reaffirm my belief that Guy brews the best local pale ales and IPAs, including the double, triple and hazy IPA styles.

In honor of National Nachos Day, we ordered the loaded pulled pork nachos from the adjoining Whole Foods Market, which we seemed to devour in record time.

Guy graciously took some time for a chat. It’s always a pleasure catching up with him.

In the midst of catching up, he let me know how bummed he was that this would be the last week for assistant brewer Ben Wright, who leaves behind big shoes to fill. Ben’s next plans are to join the brewing team at the 21st Amendment Brewery & Tap Room in San Leandro.

Best wishes, Ben!

A photo of Ben Wright and Guy Cameron back in Summer 2017.

Cheers! Prost! Gunbae!

~Andy