Adobe Creek Brewing's New Taproom Creates Buzz In Bel Marin Keys

NOVATO, CA — Hand-crafted artisan ales and lagers are flowing from new taps at Adobe Creek Brewing Company in Novato, two years after it first started creating flavorful brews for keg-only customers at the same location. Now after a major renovation at its home base, anyone can stop by, pull up a stool, and enjoy a brew or two.

On June 14, founder and brewmaster Jonathan MacDonald poured the first official pint – a hazy pale ale called Before the Narrows – for his father, Steve MacDonald. Steve and his wife, Robin, were among the many family members who gathered for the soft opening. Jonathan also was flanked by his fiancée, Ashley Jennings, a Petaluma and Novato native who handles all company artwork and marketing. Jonathan’s business partner, Tim Hemmelgarn, was there with his wife and son.

For Jonathan MacDonald, a former homebrewer making his first swandive into the pro ranks, the opening of the taproom resulted in a bit of every emotion mixed into one.

“We worked a long time to get the taproom open, so there was a sense of accomplishment,” he said. “We’re excited the space is finally open and pretty relieved to open the doors.”

A visit to Adobe Creek Brewing means venturing into the busy business park complex of Bel Marin Keys, just east of Highway 101 in southern Novato, and sniffing out the whiffs of malted barley and fragrant hops. Pull into the driveway at 67 Galli Drive and you’ll see the painted sign above the grated roll-up garage door. If you want a front-row seat, there’s a bar with six stools right next to the 12 taps. There’s a large communal table, a few smaller tables, and a stand-up ledge spread out in the room.

Although there is no food menu, Adobe Creek welcomes patrons who bring food from home, order it for delivery to the brewery, or haul in takeout from places like Taqueria Real, which is a few steps away on Bel Marin Keys Boulevard. Occasional food truck visits could be lined up soon, MacDonald said.

“It’s an industrial setting, but we tried to make it a family and neighborly space with a rustic feeling to it,” MacDonald said.

Everyone inside Adobe Creek Brewing is under the watchful and spooky eyes of a spectacular owl in flight, with talons wide open. He’s not just painted on the wall, but spraypainted by San Rafael artist Eyan Higgins Jones. The owl is Adobe Creek’s bad-ass mascot, and it’s breathtaking – just like MacDonald’s beers.

Opening day at the taproom featured nine beers, including IPAs, a pale ale, a blonde ale, a lager, a heavily fruited kettle sour, a stout and a barrel-aged stout. Since then that lineup has been bolstered by two new double IPAs, a fresh pale ale, and another lager. A visitor can expect about a dozen choices on any given day, give or take.

Probably the most unique beer in early July was Breakfast Bowl, a golden stout with cinnamon, vanilla, coffee and lactose.

“I don’t think differentiating from every other brewery is necessarily our mindset,” MacDonald said. “We’re making an extremely fresh and local product and aim to create good-tasting beer that people enjoy. That’s more of our goal. We will try to have a new beer on the board every weekend so the rotation keeps moving.”

MacDonald’s equipment features six new 7.5-barrel vessels (approximately 232.5 gallons apiece) and four 1-barrel tanks left over from the previous setup. In his first two years, MacDonald made about 100 barrels each year – that’s micro-tiny. He expects to be closer to 500 barrels in 2019.

The idea of opening a brewery started seven years earlier, when he received a homebrewing kit as a Christmas gift. He was working in the information technology field in San Jose at the time and needed a creative outlet. Inspired by Russian River Brewing’s wildly hoppy and internationally heralded double IPA, Pliny the Elder, MacDonald played mad scientist in his parents’ garage in Los Altos Hills. It took him two years to gain enough confidence to enter his first homebrewing competition. Not too long after that, he won five medals at the California State Homebrew Competition, officially cutting the ribbon on his obsession. He received coaching and encouragement from friends on Homebrewtalk.com.

“Not everyone is so lucky to have a mentor in the field they want to be in,” MacDonald said. “As I was learning, I used the internet as my main resource.”

These days, other brewers in the Bay Area know Jonathan MacDonald … if not by handshake then by reputation. Since March 2017, he has found buyers for his small-batch brews as soon as the beers are ready – even a porter flavored with figs from Novato trees, which he called Figgy Smalls. Taprooms from Santa Rosa to Los Altos have featured his beers, and they usually kick quick (as in run dry).

As MacDonald generates some industry buzz as a brewer, he’s putting a lot of trust in Hemmelgarn, who had a professional audio-video background. An Ohio native, Hemmelgarn had dabbled in homebrewing as well, but like MacDonald had never worked at a brewery. They met one day at Beercraft Novato, a downtown taproom, brought together by Beercraft owner J.T. Fenn. At first, the budding business partners thought Hemmelgarn would focus on sales.

“The way it’s worked out, we can both do a bit of everything,” MacDonald said. “We both do sales and Tim has slid into the role of the taproom manager and bringing on our beertenders. But he helps me out on every brew day. And Ashley has helped and encouraged me from the beginning, which is a big reason why we were ready to open to the public.”

With that teamwork and a growing walk-up clientele from nearby businesses such as Mike’s Bikes and pharmaceutical manufacturers Biomarin and Ultragenyx, Adobe Creek Brewing has arrived. Usually Bel Marin Keys is silent in the evenings. Now there’s friendly chatter coming from one roll-up garage on Galli Drive. Also some killer craft beer.