Greetings fans and followers! This is the sixth in a multi- part series of reviews highlighting the breweries I visited during the Great Beer Now Roses, Rivers, and Peanuts Beer Tour 2018. My visit focused on Santa Rosa, California and surrounding areas, which happen to rank among the best locations in the United States for craft beer. Sit back, open a bottle or can of your favorite craft beer, and follow me along on my journey. Cheers!
Breweries often have a theme of some sort; a mascot or message that defines what the brewery is all about and how its beers are titled. Most of the time, the theme is apparent in the brewery’s name but other times, it catches you by surprise. One brewery with a theme you don’t see coming is Cooperage Brewing, located at 981 Airway Court in Santa Rosa, California.
A Beautiful Taproom
Cooperage Brewing is a cool place for beer, television viewing, and simple games. Opened in June, 2015, Cooperage has been around for a short span of time, but it impresses on several levels.
The greatest asset at Cooperage Brewing is the taproom. It is much larger than taprooms at most other breweries of roughly the same age and there is plenty of seating to go around. The long bar contains a large number of stools with tables and chairs comprising the rest of the seating.
Cooperage Brewing has darts, board games, and other simple entertainment to keep you occupied. They have a few televisions and, when the time and game are right, they will project a sporting event on the wall above the bar, for a larger than life image. And if you like artwork, you won’t have to look very far to find it, as the walls are covered in art. They even have prices marked on most of the pieces, for a quick take- home souvenir.
There is no kitchen at Cooperage Brewing. They sell bags of snacks but they do not prepare any food of their own. However, it is common to find food trucks on the premises, selling local favorites.
Beers of Endearment
When I visited Cooperage Brewing, there were 11 beers on tap. I ordered small samples and managed to try eight of them. Here is an alphabetical listing of the beers I tried, followed by the style and my Untappd rating for each, on a 5- point scale:
- Brett Midler, Saison, 4.25
- Clear and Loathing, Double IPA, 4.00
- Coop Dreams, Double IPA, 4.25
- Curt Cobain, American Pale Ale, 4.25
- Diamond Puddles, New England IPA, 3.25
- Hella IHU, American IPA, 4.25
- Simcoe Says, American IPA, 4.25
- Wet ‘N’ Mild, English Bitter, 2.75
Overall average rating: 3.91 out of 5
I liked all of the beers I sampled here. The emphasis is on IPA and Double IPA and these were easily the standouts in the pack. The English Bitter was the only one that didn’t suit my tastes, but the overall rating was still high, as most every other beer was noteworthy.
From Here to Beerternity
Cooperage Brewing was one of the many breweries I visited during my Santa Rosa brewery tour. Knowing the name was Cooperage, I expected to find a brewery centered on this theme. As some of you may already know, cooperage refers to the practice of making barrels and casks so I assumed this would somehow be worked into the theme of the brewery and in the naming of its beers.
Well, as you can probably already tell, the theme that Cooperage takes is actually quite different. The beers are named using variations on popular movies and entertainers, which is not something I saw coming even though many of the beers are Oscar- worthy. However, aside from the naming of the beers, there are no other signs of entertainment in the other aspects of Cooperage Brewing. The atmosphere at Cooperage is one that emphasizes art and the board games, well, they emphasize having some simple yet enjoyable home- like fun as you consume your chosen beer. There are a few large barrels on display, so there is at least something that ties in with the brewery’s name. Everything varies, so there is no distinct theme at Cooperage Brewing, which I feel adds to its appeal.
The most impressive feature at Cooperage Brewing is the taproom. As I said, it is significantly larger than the taprooms at other breweries with similar opening dates. I loved the open spacious feeling inside Cooperage Brewing and appreciated the added elbow room. It’s the type of place that is extremely inviting, not just due to its size and excellent beer, but also due to the friendliness of the staff and the patrons who frequent here. The brewery is in an industrial area and isn’t very far from anything in Santa Rosa, so it’s an easy place to find and enjoy. And thanks to the industrial/warehouse location, there is almost always going to be available parking.
Cooperage Brewing has much to offer and the atmosphere is dog and kid friendly. Grab a glass of one of the IPA on tap and play a few rounds of Connect Four with a friend. If your family is there with you, then how about a game of Life while you sample a flight of brew? It’s a laid- back and non- pretentious place for certain and a brewery I rank among my favorites in Santa Rosa. Pay a visit to Cooperage Brewing the next time you’re in the Sonoma County area. And tell them Great Beer Now sent you.
Looks like a really cool spot! I love any brewery with multiple IPAs on tap 🙂
It’s a common occurrence at California breweries to have several IPA. Here, there were even more than expected- almost half of them were IPA or double IPA