Anderson Valley Brewing Company

Anderson Valley Brewing Company –

Got cabin fever yet?! Between staying home, business restrictions and social distancing, 2020 presents a major test to our ability to remain safe and yet stay sane.

Are you feeling like this?!!

However, one great way to combat your cabin fever is to take a trip to an isolated area. For example, a drive down CA128 in northern California through Hendy Grove and through Anderson Valley provides the perfect spot for a sanity restoring get-away while minimizing social interaction. Take time to stroll among the redwood trees in Hendy Grove and Hendy Woods State Park. Hendy Woods State Park also offers camping (reservation required). And Anderson Valley Brewing Company offers delicious, award-winning brews to quench your thirst while exploring the area.

Driving down CA128 through Hendy Grove enjoying the redwood trees – beautiful, relaxing and isolated.

A 12 minute drive southeast from Hendy Grove delivers you to Anderson Valley Brewing. Craft brewing pioneers David Norfleet and Kim and Ken Allen founded the brewery in 1987. The original brewery started as a 10-barrel system located in the lower level of The Buckhorn Saloon in Boonville, CA. At the time, Anderson Valley Brewing was one of only 20 craft breweries in the United States.

Due to demand growth, the owners began constructing a new brewery in 1996. The expanded brewery and current facility is located at the corner of Highways 128 and 253, just one mile down the road from the Buckhorn Saloon. Surrounded by rolling hills peppered with century-old oaks, the 26-acre property houses a 100-barrel brewhouse, pet-friendly tasting room, and beer garden. In addition, the site is home to the first 18-hole disc golf course ever to be built at a brewery.

Century old oaks cover the area.

A large tasting room provides comfortable indoor seating.

A spacious beer garden offers shaded outdoor seating.

Anderson Valley Brewing Company has won numerous Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup awards. You can see many of their awards on display in the tasting room.

Some of the awards displayed in the tasting room at Anderson Valley Brewing Company.

In 2011, Anderson Valley Brewing established their Barl Series of bourbon barrel-aged beers. In fact, Anderson Valley Brewing established an exclusive collaboration with a leading bourbon maker to ensure a consistent source of barrels. As a result, the brewery created the Barl Series of bourbon barrel aged beers. The Barl Series includes a Bourbon Barrel Stout, a Salted Caramel Porter, Pinchy Jeek Barl, and Huge Arker Imperial Stout.

In 2013, Anderson Valley Brewing began experimenting with a nearly extinct style of beer know as gose (pronounced “goz-uh”.) This traditional German-style wheat beer was known for its tart and salty flavor profile. In fact, the beer style originated and was created through open fermentation using the high saline content water found in Goslar, Germany. After months of pilot brews and refinement, Anderson Valley Brewing finally created an original recipe that came to be known as The Kimmie, The Yink, & The Holy Gose. Released in the spring of 2014, this beer was the first canned gose to be offered year-round and was an instant success. The beer is often credited with the revival and meteoric rise of the gose style in today’s craft beer industry. Since then, Anderson Valley Brewing has created several other flavored variations such as Blood Orange, Briney Melon, and the cocktail-inspired G&T Gose.

In addition, the brewery offers numerous other beer styles. Certainly, once Anderson Valley Brewing fully reopens from COVID restrictions, try a sample flight of their delicious beers.