Catching Up with Bay Area Brewing Pioneer Brendan Moylan

Heading into the last days of 2023 SF Beer Week, it’s time to catch up with San Francisco native Brendan Moylan, one of the Bay Area’s craft beer enduring stalwarts and ambassadors.

His time in the industry dates to the early 1980s when he was a homebrewer and beer buyer for a major San Francisco liquor store. Inspired by the idea of a combining an artisan ale manufacturing facility and a restaurant – commonly known as a brewpub, a new concept back then – he was a co-founder of Marin Brewing Company in Larkspur. It debuted in 1989, and six years later, he opened Moylan’s Brewery & Restaurant in Novato, his longtime hometown.

Marin Brewing, or just BrewCo to locals, was a victim of the COVID pandemic and closed for good in January 2022. Thousands in the Bay Area mourned the passing of the oldest brewery in Marin County and converged for final pints last winter. Moylan’s brewmaster there, another respected industry pioneer Arne Johnson, took a long vacation and contemplated his next move after brewing there for 27 years.

Today, Brendan Moylan splits his time between Moylan’s in Novato and Moylan’s Distilling in Petaluma; the distillery will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2024. Moylan’s brewmaster is none other than Arne Johnson, one of the most award-laden brewers in the country. Johnson is the recipient of countless World Beer Cup and Great American Beer Festival medals for his bold brews, and is now celebrating his one-year anniversary heading to Moylan’s brewing operation (See separate interview).

Let’s catch up with Brendan.

Q: As you head into 2023, what is new and exciting at Moylan’s?

A: Having Arne move up to Moylan’s was big for us. We’ve combined and are producing both brands and our brewing operation is in great shape. Knowing that we had some staff turnover a few years ago and changes at the brewery, things got complicated throughout COVID as it did for everybody. Now COVID is mostly over and the changes are over, so it’s a fresh start. Arne, Aidan, and Jesse are making sure everything is up to Moylan’s standards of excellence and we feel like we’ve regained momentum.

We have changed things up with our menu, too. Chef Maynor is doing a great job in the kitchen coming up with awesome specials. His team is making great pastas and great salads while still making all our favorites. The giant burgers have always been popular, and the massive Rueben sandwiches stacked with corned beef are just fantastic. Our wood-burning pizza oven is still kicking out fantastic pies. So even for non-beer drinkers, just going to Moylan’s for the food a definite plus.

Q: What reactions did you get from other brewery owners when you told them Arne was moving up to Moylan’s?

A: You know, honestly I don’t talk enough about the brew gang with people I know in the industry. Arne has always been more social, which is great. I’m deeply into our distillery business in Petaluma, and that keeps me busy.

Q: You started out brewing your own beer about 40 years ago, so you know the routine intimately. What traits do you respect the most about Arne as a brewmaster?

A: I have always appreciated a brewmaster who is smarter than me, and he fills the bill. I would say it’s his incredible thoroughness. He is not about to cut any corners. He’s going to do it the right way, a first-class way. That’s real important to us and to him. He doesn’t want to be associated with subpar beer. There is a lot of mediocre beer in the craft business now, and people have to be careful with their choices.

Q: You’ve talked about the benefits of marketing what is fresh on tap and selling that beer to go as well as at the brewpub. Why are you passionate about that?

A: Arne and I both want to offer the freshest beer possible. You can’t beat the freshness of what you can buy straight from the breweries. If come right to Moylan’s, where all our beer is made, you get some great prices and do not have to go through additional retail markup. Those beers will be much better tasting than something that has been in a warehouse or on a shelf, especially at room temperature. We are still doing a lot of keg business. God bless those people who have their kegerators at home. They know what I’m talking about when I go off about freshness. Just keep those beer lines clean, folks! Call me and I’d be glad to come show them how to do it.

Q: Of the Marin Brewing beers that you and Arne have kept alive, which style means the most to you personally?

A: First, it’s just good to see those getting produced to this day. We are using up our supply of labels and starting to change them over. A lot of people had pints of Mt. Tam (pale ale) in the past and we don’t want them to have to change their ways now. For a lot of local people, that beer was the first craft beer they ever tasted back in the day. They have enjoyed those beers for decades, and now there’s a bit of nostalgia tied to them. We are keeping those classic brews available at Moylan’s and at local stores so they can reminisce about that little place in Larkspur.

Q: What were the key things you learned as you brought Moylan’s back from the worst pandemic times?

A: How to take it on the chops, basically. It was pretty horrific, especially for everybody affected by the sickness. From a business point of view, we shut down for six months, which something a lot of businesses can’t recover from. And we were incredibly restricted in the time right after that. It was quite an economic hardship, but we are back now. We still haven’t recovered to pre-COVID sales numbers – not many businesses have. I guess people don’t go out as much at night. COVID changed people’s habits, so there’s a little less of the pub life everywhere, and we certainly miss that. It’s coming back slowly and surely.

Q: Are there any other long-term plans with Moylan’s?

A: Well, someday it would be great to serve Moylan’s fine whiskeys at that location. We’re just a bit restricted because of licensing.

(Brent Ainsworth, a former Novato Patch editor, spent a decade as a contributing writer to Celebrator Beer News and craft beer columnist for the Marin Independent Journal. He still writes about the beer scene once in a long while.)