Third Street Aleworks Keeps it Simple #Visitsantarosa

Greetings fans and followers! This is the third 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!

 

Coming up with a name for a brewery and its beers is growing ever- challenging. With so many thousands of operational breweries and brewpubs in the United States, is has become increasingly difficult to come up with a unique name and theme. But what if your brewery was founded quite some time ago and happens to be located on one of the main streets in the downtown section of your city? In these instances, a good name might simply be the road on which your brewery is located. Not fretting over the name and focusing instead on what matters most are the hallmarks of Third Street Aleworks, located at 610 Third Street in Santa Rosa, California.

Welcome to Downtown

Third Street Aleworks has been around since 1995, making it one of the more mature brewing and dining establishments in Santa Rosa. Utilizing a 14 barrel system, this brewpub is able to churn out approximately 1,500 barrels of beer annually and has won multiple awards for its different beers.

Third Street Aleworks is equally popular as a downtown restaurant and the menu consists of American pub- style grub. Burgers, sandwiches, pizza, and a handful of entrees and appetizers comprise almost the entire menu, but there are a few desserts as well and, since Santa Rosa is deep in the heart of wine country, they offer several wines. The atmosphere is laid back and non- pretentious. With signage, pictures, and various props, there is much to distract on the walls and behind the bar at Third Street Aleworks. And while it can get busy, they have an upstairs and outdoor seating to handle overflow crowds.

Bring me a Flight, Please

At Third Street Aleworks, patrons will find about 12 to 18 beers available at any given time with a large flight sampler available containing about 15 (!) options. Here is a summary of the beers I tried when I visited, listed alphabetically by name, followed by the style and my Untappd rating on a five point scale:

• Annadel English Pale with Earl Grey, English Pale Ale, 4.25
• Annadel Pale Ale, English Pale Ale, 4.25
• Blarney Sisters, Dry Irish Stout, 4
• Bodega Head IPA, American IPA, 4
• Bombay Rouge, Double IPA, 4.5
• Blarney Sisters, Dry Irish Stout, 4
• Cossack, Imperial Stout, 4
• Dortmund Export, Lager, 4
• Double Standard, Double IPA, 4.5
• Golden Sour Saison with Mango, Sour Ale,4
• Helles Lager, Lager, 4
• Something Light, Blonde Ale, 3.75

Overall Average Rating: 4.10

The well- crafted beer at Third Street Aleworks is reason enough to visit. I was impressed by most everything I tasted, with the Bombay Rouge Double IPA ranking as my favorite. Much to my pleasant surprise, even the lightest beer on tap, Something Light Blonde Ale, was still quite good and easily better than other light brews.

Keeping it Simple

Third Street Aleworks is a cool brewpub in downtown Santa Rosa and the perfect place for a quick meal and delicious beer. I visited here for lunch and beer while touring Santa Rosa by brewery and I was impressed by what I saw and tasted.

This brewpub has been around for more than 22 years and with that level of experience, expectations are generally high. A newer brewery can get away with the occasional gaffe and most customers will be willing to forgive, attributing the oversight to the common problems associated with business growing pains. But when you’ve been around for two decades, well, the standards are bound to toughen. By this time, customers expect the loose ends to be tightened and the quality to be heightened. There is no longer room for error, and standards must be met or exceeded.

Fortunately, Third Street Aleworks has, indeed, met and exceeded customers standards for quality and this is evident on various levels. I was in a chicken type of mood when I visited so I ordered the Bird on Third sandwich with a side of sweet potato fries. The sandwich is comprised of chicken breast, bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato, jack cheese, and onion. It was fresh and tasty and made for the perfect midday meal. The atmosphere was cool as well and I like that they have so many different seating options.

But even more impressive to me was the beer. I took a quick tour of the brewhouse with one of the personnel and learned more about the production side of things before settling down to sample the brew. I discovered several standouts in the bunch and a quick glance around the main dining area revealed a banner showing all of the awards Third Street Aleworks has won at the Great American Beer Festival. A total of 13 GABF medals have been awarded to Third Street Aleworks over the years, with 5 Gold Medals and 8 Bronze Medals in the trophy case. I found it interesting that Third Street Aleworks hasn’t won any Silver Medals at all, but has 13 combined Gold and Bronze Medals. I suppose it shows that Third Street Aleworks isn’t the type of place to fall into the “runner up” category very frequently. Sampling the beers first hand, I was able to taste why Third Street Aleworks has been decorated with so much professional praise and recognition. It made perfect sense to me.

My lunch was just about the right size for a midday meal, but I’ve noticed that many of the other foods served at Third Street Aleworks are more generous in proportion. The same is true with the flight samplers. With spaces for 15 samples of beer, the flight sampler served here is the largest I have ever experienced, and I have visited a LOT of breweries and brewpubs. Not surprisingly, I found that if I search for shared pictures of Third Street Aleworks online, I see more pictures of this massive flight than anything else. It’s not every day that you see a flight of beer 15 samples strong and it is certainly something that remains etched in your memory.

Breweries and brewpubs are growing in number. Third Street Aleworks enjoys greater longevity than the majority of brewing operations and its expertise shows in every sip of beer and in each bite of food. It’s right here on Third Street in downtown Santa Rosa and the simplicity of the name makes it easy to remember. Pay a visit to Third Street Aleworks the next time you’re in the great city of Santa Rosa. And tell them Great Beer Now sent you.