1 step forward, 2 steps back

In a month's time, Contra Costa County has gained a brewery, but lost another plus a tap room.

Ale Industries got its start in the county, with its original brewery having been located in wharehouse space next to the MoreBeer! showroom in Concord, where some of guys also worked.  After a few good years there, they felt the need to expand their facility, and to brew closer to the owners' homes in Oakland.  The story is that in 2013 they moved the brewery piece by piece, in a pickup truck, to the new Oakland facility, which opened in 2014.

However, Ale industries did not abandon Contra Costa, and opened their Concord tap room, The Pig & The Pickle, even as they were opening the brewery in Oakland.

Unfortunately, on December 7th Ale Industries announced on the The Pig & The Pickle's FaceBook page that, in order to "restructure and reinvent our retail presence" it was "temporarily" closing The Pig & The Pickle, inviting everyone to instead visit their brewery tap room in Oakland.

Then, on January 12th, Pyramid announced on FaceBook and on its webpage that the Pyramid Alehouse in Walnut Creek was closed. Following the closure of the Berkeley alehouse, this move leaves Pyramid with no taprooms or brewpubs in California.

On the plus side, the county has had the opportunity to welcome a new face to the beer scene: Concord's Epidemic Ales.  

Epidemic held the grand opening of their brewery and tap room at 150 Mason Cir. on Jan. 2nd.   They managed to get it all set up in time for SF Beer Week, which they are participating in.

I hope to get to their facility soon to sample some of their brews.



 Correction:  I stated above that Pyramid has no taprooms left in California. They do in fact have at least one small one, in Terminal 2 of the Oakland International Airport. (5/28/16)