Barebottle Brew Co. Now Pouring Inventive Beers in Bernal Heights

After Michael Seitz and Lester Koga won a few homebrewing competitions, they decided it was time to open up their own place. Enter Barebottle Brew Co., which has officially come to fruition in Bernal Heights, with partners Ben Sterling and master brewer Cortlandt Toczylowski (Drake’s, E.J. Phair)’s help. The idea behind the brewery is to get homebrewers involved by challenging them to create beers of a certain style, of which the winner will then be featured on tap at Barebottle.

To start, the four opening beers on tap are a pale ale, a Kölsch-style brew, a honey brown, and a super-session IPA. Two to three beers will be added each week (like a tea-infused saison, a champagne wheat, and an espresso macchiato milk stout with cold-brewed Philz coffee), including the winner of the first homebrew contest. With a theme of Muir Woods IPA, Barebottle narrowed down 25 entries to the top three, and will feature those beers soon for tasting and voting. As for food, the guys lined up food trucks to visit the 17,000-square-foot space on a rotating basis. First up for opening weekend are Upper Cuts with sliders and Soulnese with Asian soul food.

Moving forward, Barebottle will hold homebrewing classes, beer lectures, tours, and other activities to get the neighborhood involved in what is quickly becoming a beer-saturated area. The south part of the city is now home to Harmonic, Magnolia, and Triple Voodoo in Dogpatch, as well as Speakeasy Ales & Lagers and Laughing Monk in Bayview. Barebottle is open Wednesday through Friday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m.