Rohnert Park Owners Expand BeerCraft Tap Room To Novato

By BRENT AINSWORTH (Open Post)

So, what are you doing Friday after work? Want to help a new business celebrate its grand opening with a pint of fragrant and flavorful artisan ale? Taps will be flowing for the first time at BeerCraft, Novato’s newest downtown destination.

Four years after brothers J.T. and Matt Fenn opened their first BeerCraft location in Rohnert Park, their second craft beer bottle shop and taproom takes over at 7388B Redwood Boulevard in Novato, a few steps north of the recently opened Copperfield’s Bookstore and around the corner from the under-renovation Novato Theater. BeerCraft has taken over a spot previously occupied by an antique store that closed for good.

When you see the logo of a gorilla hoisting a glass of beer, you’ve found the right place.

J.T. Fenn, a six-year Novato resident, will run the operation while Matt takes the helm in Rohnert Park.

“We’ve known for a long time that we wanted to do this, and we kicked around a lot of ideas before finally deciding,” J.T Fenn said. “We’ve been well received up in Rohnert Park and people asked us to open in Santa Rosa, but about a year and half ago we decided that there really were not a lot of places to enjoy and learn about craft beer in Marin. It came down to just the right combination of factors, such as the convenience of me living here, a good spot becoming available, and the convenience for the people who have come to BeerCraft from all sort of places around the Bay Area.”

What will you find at BeerCraft? The hard-to-find stuff. It’s the limited edition seasonal craft beers from small, independent breweries that the Fenns take special effort to hunt down, so don’t bother swinging for a case of Bud Light. You might find a beer from an obscure but highly regarded brewery that just opened six months ago several hundred miles away. Thus, you might find beer geeks standing slack-jawed inside the store because of the range of choice.

Craft beer continues to blow up in a good way. With the ever-expanding variety of styles being introduced from tiny nanobreweries up to the more established craft beer stalwarts, consumers have craved bold flavors. The craft beer sector has been gaining about 1 percent of market share in the overall beer market every year, slowly biting into the international macrobrewery profits. It’s up to 12 percent of the total market after 15 percent growth in 2015, according to the Brewers Association.

“It’s crazy, the selection out there,” J.T. Fenn said. “It’s fun to be in the middle of it all. It’s scary, too, because it’s hard to stay on top of it. It’s growing so fast.”

The Novato location will be slightly smaller than the Rohnert Park one. Fenn said there will be about 200 choices in bottles and 14 taps that will feature a rotation of fine selections. Due to limited space on the shelves and in the refrigerators, “We can’t stock everything,” J.T. Fenn said. “Sometimes we have to say no. But we try to keep up the local representation.”

Bottle sales represent about two-thirds of BeerCraft’s total sales, with most of the other third coming from pint sales from the taps. There’s also a subscription-based beer club for which the Fenns select limited edition, seasonal, or out-of-market beers for beer club members to pick up in the store each month. J.T. Fenn said he’s had inquiries about special event rentals and having staff serve as craft beer specialists at offsite events. One trend tends to be hiring beer advisors for weddings.

“It’s quite possible we’d grow in that direction but we don’t really know yet,” Fenn said. “We’re a small team, and we need to get our feet under us and get a feel for what the market will be like. It’s a good sign that people are thinking that way, though. We hope to continue growing. “

The vibe at BeerCraft is likely to be more like a British pub than a sports bar. Odds are that you won’t see a TV in there. You can stop by for a pint and stare at your smartphone in silence if you want, but you’d probably enjoy it more by joining a conversation about the wackiest new sour beers, the fruitiest saisons, the most tweaked chili pepper beers or the most bitter hop-bombs imperial IPAs.

“(In Rohnert Park) we’ve seen a lot of friendships develop just from people getting to know each other over a beer,” J.T. Fenn said. “The level of interest in craft beer has gone up, and the level of education has gone up naturally. All we do is answer questions all day, and then we see our customers start to answer questions for other customers. We have a lot of like-minded people who have been very loyal, and we’re hoping to attract the same crowd in Novato. Hopefully we can thrive in a town like Novato, and then maybe it’s something we can keep replicating.”

Beercraft’s hours will be 1-8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays plus 1-5 p.m. Sundays. Look for hours to be expanded later. For more details, check out www.beercraft.com.

(Image via Brent Ainsworth)