It is a golden age for beer enthusiasts. The proliferation of craft beers and the breweries, tasting rooms, and brew pubs that accompany them is as exciting as landing the fish of a lifetime on your last cast. In Auburn, where I have spent most of my 45 years, never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that on my doorstep would be brewed some of the finest beers in the region, maybe even in the country.
We live in an age of corporate consolidation, and AmazonAppleGoogle implants in our brains are right around the corner. However, despite this trend, the number of small, independent craft brewers has grown exponentially in the last 15 years. In fact, employment in breweries in the United States has almost tripled since the turn of the century. Like wineries, breweries offer the consumer a chance to see the process, experiment with new tastes and styles, and enjoy the company of other enthusiasts. And the unique taste, theme, and ambiance of each brewery helps the market grow — variety begets variety. Unlike many wineries, however, these small tasting rooms are unpretentious and can be found anywhere — even in the smallest out-of-theway fishing town.
Auburn is the definition of nowhere on the way to somewhere. Situated high above the confluence of the North and Middle Forks of the mighty and rugged American River, Auburn is also the confluence of Interstate 80, Highway 49, and the Transcontinental Railroad. It is this happy geographic windfall that has aided in Auburn’s development as a quiet, semirural, but thriving community. Wherever you are headed in the northern Sierra Nevada in pursuit of trout, and however you are traveling, you probably have to pass through Auburn to get there.
When you decide to make that trip and you find yourself searching for culinary and liquid refreshment, you’ ll probably notice, as travelers have done for decades, that you are about to pass from densely populated valley locations into sparsely populated foothills, and the town you are speeding through, Auburn, is likely to be your last opportunity to pursue that search for a while. Thankfully, not only do you have options, but you’ll find yourself in some of the finest breweries around, with delightful and varied edible choices, as well.
In describing the beer choices in Auburn, I’d be remiss if I did not begin with the oldest — the Auburn Alehouse. The Auburn Alehouse wins hands down when it comes to location, because it is situated in not only historic Old Town Auburn, but in one of the most historic buildings in all of the Gold Country. Locals will know it as the old Shanghai Building. Long an eclectic and popular watering hole where you would just as likely witness a good old-fashioned knife fight as you would a square dance competition, the Shanghai was sold and completely renovated (and trust me, it needed it — dust from 100 years ago was a frequent ingredient in your Bloody Mary at the Shanghai) and converted into a brewery and restaurant. People familiar with the Shanghai will recognize the exterior, but inside, it is a completely new establishment. As is true with any place in Old Town Auburn, you will have to contend with a more touristy crowd, but the beer and food will make the hassle worth it.
As with most breweries these days, the Auburn Alehouse has numerous offerings, too many to list and describe here. (Besides, it’s better to find out for yourself.) The theme is decidedly “Gold Country,” with names such as Gold Digger IPA, Gold Country Pilsner, American River Pale Ale, and Fool’s Gold Ale. Several have won awards at the Great American Beer Festival and the California State Fair, including the pilsner, IPA, Hop Donkey Imperial Red Ale, and Old Town Brown Ale. Overall, the beers are good and not too hoppy for the average beer connoisseur and therefore will find a wide audience. There are also several seasonal and “brewer’s special” beers, including my personal favorite — the ZZ Hop Triple IPA.
The only brewery in town that has a kitchen (more on that later), the Auburn Alehouse is part eatery and part brewery. If you are coming in just for a drink, there isn’t a ton of room, especially during the rainy season, when the patio is not an option. However, if you are looking more for a dining experience with a good beer to wash the food down, the Auburn Alehouse will quench your thirst. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and the fare is reasonably priced, despite the upscale motif. Grilled salmon, tri-tip, burgers, and fried chicken populate the menu alongside jambalaya, cottage pie, and spaghetti. Bottom line: you’ll find something you like — even a cheese loaf. If you are not much of a beer person, there is a full bar, and in keeping with the Shanghai’s legacy, great Bloody Marys. It is also located just yards off Interstate 80, so if you’re in a hurry, the location might win you over if the crowds don’t.
Since we started this hoppy journey in chronological fashion, we’ll move to the brewery that was established next — the Knee Deep Brewing Company. True beer fans will recognize the name, because Knee Deep has gained cultlike status nationwide. The distinctive artwork that adorns their beers — a cartoonish, hop-headed mad scientist character — is quite recognizable. More importantly, the beer is D. LISH. However, it packs a massive punch, so you have to be careful — pace yourself, and drink some water between beers.
Knee Deep started brewing in 2010 in the Reno-Tahoe area. In 2011, they moved to a facility in Lincoln and began filling growlers off the loading dock on Fridays. Those were the days! The loading dock developed an eclectic community of followers who would gather religiously to get their fill of beer for the week, and the Knee Deep legend began to spread, as did their distribution. Today, Knee Deep is housed in a 28,000-square-foot warehouse in the North Auburn area near the municipal airport. On sunny days, you can kick back on the patio and watch small planes come and go while sipping a hoptastic single, double, or triple IPA. (Probably a quadruple, too, if you ask nicely.) The neighborhood is industrial, but Knee Deep has done a nice job carving a trendy spot out of their space. There are several picnic tables inside and out, cornhole games, TVs, live music occasionally, and lots of friendly beer fans who will gladly share their table with you. You can converse with the brewers as they work in the off-limits zone of the warehouse, and they may even sit down and enjoy one of their masterpieces with you. The tasting room is also pet and kid friendly.
Part of the reason that Knee Deep is so widely sought after is the very hoppy nature of their award-winning beers. If you’re not into hops, you might want to look elsewhere. If you are, this is the place for you. Beers such as Lupulin River, Breaking Bud (currently the subject of a lawsuit by Sony), Hoptologist DIPA (double IPA), and Simtra Triple IPA will satisfy the most devout West Coast–style beer fans. There are a few non-IPA offerings, such as Tanilla Porter, Imperial Stout, and Citra Pale Ale, but not many. These beers are quite potent, as well, so do a little training before you visit.
Next up on the beer crawl is the Moonraker Brewing Company. On my first visit, when they had recently opened, I asked if the owner was a big Roger Moore aficionado. Nope — a moonraker is the topmost sail on a ship. Who knew? Either way, Moonraker is this writer’s personal favorite brewery. Don’t get me wrong, I love each and every brewery in Auburn, and you can find me at one or the other on any given day. But if I had to choose, it would be Moonraker. They have a diverse selection and a great space that is as inviting as a warm blanket on a frosty February evening.
Moonraker specializes in New England IPAs, or “hazy” IPAs, and YOJO is their flagship brew, with several more New England–style options to wet your whistle. But don’t let that fool you — they have an excellent selection of West Coast–style IPAs, as well. At any given time, they have well over a dozen different beers on tap. On Fridays, they have a “Can Release,” where customers can grab four-packs of 16-ounce cans of their favorite flavor. There are several non-IPA options, but the majority of Moonraker’s offerings, like their neighbor Knee Deep, are hoppy, delicious, wonderful yummy IPAs of several different stripes. If you’re noticing some similarities to Knee Deep, you should — head brewer Zack Frasher began his professional brewing career there. My personal favorites are The Hermit and Zulu Haze.
Moonraker’s beers all are excellent. They have quickly built a reputation for themselves as one of the best small breweries around, and the awards are pouring in. Their Extremis Triple IPA knocked off the mighty Pliny the Younger at the seventeenth annual Double IPA competition in a blind taste test, thrusting Moonraker into an elite company that includes Knee Deep, who beat Pliny in 2012. They were also named best new brewery in California and ninth best in the world in 2017, a year after opening on Earth Day 2016.
Located in the same industrial complex as Knee Deep, Moonraker has a similar “warehouse” feel, but it is different in many ways. The outside space is completely covered and therefore a great option any day of the year. Plenty of picnic tables and chairs adorn the covered patio, which also houses solar panels to help offset the carbon footprint. They’ve also installed an electric boiler to meet their sustainability goal, and indeed, Moonraker is recognized for their water and energy conservation each year. The inside has a traditional tasting room with “hightops” and a view of TVs and some of the brewing equipment, but there are also a couple more private settings adjacent to the bar area, one of them being “adults only” — a nice option for those who don’t want to be around families with kids.
Newest to the Auburn beer scene (Auburn beer scene? I still can’t believe I’m writing that) is the Crooked Lane Brewing Company. Crooked Lane opened in autumn 2016 in a renovated iconic Auburn building. Some may remember it as a theatre from their childhood, and it has gone through a number of transformations since its days as a cinema. Its most recent manifestation as a brewery is by far the best, however. The building and various spaces available are beautifully laid out and a bit more luxurious than the warehouse spaces of Knee Deep and Moonraker. There is an open “great” room inside, a covered patio at the front of the building, and a wonderful outdoor spot with a fire pit, picnic benches, mood lighting, and a warm, campground feel.
Crooked Lane’s beers are varied and delicious. With Knee Deep and Moonraker being a bit IPA-heavy, Crooked Lane has found a niche by offering more variety. Their focus is on utilizing the bountiful local resources in their beers. Dueling Drones Honey Wheat uses honey from Miller Honey Farms — a local farm. The mandarin juice in their Mandarin Pale Ale comes from a farm in nearby Penryn, and local hops are being used, as well. With the variety of options, Crooked Lane is a great choice if you have a party of people who aren’t all “hopheads.” IPAs are a unique and acquired taste, and many people don’t care for them. At Crooked Lane, you will find wheats, lagers, ales, and yes, IPAs. My favorites are the SR16 IPA and the Veedels Brau Kolsch. If you go, be sure to keep your eyes open for one of the owners who looks like a steelheader. He is, and he will talk to you for hours about fly fishing and steelhead.
At this point, you’re probably wondering, “Hey, what about food?” Aside from the Auburn Alehouse, none of the Auburn breweries offers food — of their own. However, almost every night of the week you will find one of several local food trucks parked at the brewery. The Sacramento area has a ton of creative food trucks with delicious offerings from lobster, to Vietnamese, to hotdogs, pizza, burgers, and Mexican. What if I don’t want a delicious Maine lobster sandwich? Well, you can bring your own food, if you want. Go to In-N-Out, Ikeda’s, or McDonald’s and grab a burger or order pizza or Chinese takeout and have it delivered. Bring a veggie tray, chips and salsa, or fondue, if you so desire. Essentially, anything goes foodwise at these breweries, as long as you’re there for the beer — bring and eat what you want.
The best part about the growing beer industry is that it is not an isolated phenomenon. Grass Valley and Nevada City, Truckee and Tahoe, Reno and Sacramento are all going through a similar beer renaissance, and traveling to these spots simply for beer and fishing is a perfectly acceptable use of your time. Each of the Auburn breweries is kid friendly, and Moonraker and Knee Deep allow pets, too. The mood is mellow and inviting, so don’t be bashful about stopping in with kids, dogs, cats, or a parrot (I’ve seen ’em all). Beer tourism is growing in popularity, much as wine tasting did in the 1990s. And we are all the better for it.
If You Go . . .
Auburn Alehouse, 289 Washington Street, Auburn; http://auburnalehouse.com. Open Monday through Thursday, 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.; Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.; Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m.; and Sunday, 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. The kitchen closes one hour earlier each evening.
Knee Deep Brewing Company, 13395 New Airport Road, Auburn; http://kneedeepbrewing.com. Open Monday through Wednesday, 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.; and Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Moonraker Brewing Company, 12970 Earhart Avenue #100, Auburn; https://www.moonrakerbrewing.com. Open Monday through Sunday, 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., but closed Tuesdays.
Crooked Lane Brewing Company, 536 Grass Valley Highway, Auburn; http://www.crookedlanebrewing.com. Open Monday through Thursday, 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.; Sunday, 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Check each brewery’s social media for current food truck options.
