Growing SF Brewery Will Open Surprise New Taproom

In an unexpected move — even for the company itself — fast-growing San Francisco brewery and distillery Seven Stills is expanding to the Mission. The brewers, who are also building out a new flagship space in Mission Bay, will take over 2704 24th Street with hazy IPAs and smooth pilsners as soon as next week. The new Seven Stills taproom will also serve as a testing ground for food from new executive chef Patricio ”Pato” Duffoo, formerly executive chef at Divisadero tapas hotspot Barvale.

Seven Stills’ new 24th Street taproom was formerly home to Almanac Beer Co,. but that brewery left the space in January to focus instead on their huge new brewing facility and taproom in Alamada. In the Mission, Seven Stills creative director Amos McCray-Goldsmith is freshening up the taproom’s interior with new murals, and installing Adirondack chairs and fire pits on a backyard patio.

Currently, Seven Stills brews its beer (then ferments some of it into whiskey) in the Bayview, pouring it at a network of its own taprooms in the Outer Sunset, on Nob Hill, and in a temporary Mission Bay space. Based on liquor licensing, the new 24th Street location won’t serve Seven Stills’ spirits, which are available in the Bayview and in cocktail form on Nob Hill. That’s because the company is employing a taproom duplicate license, which comes included with their small beer manufacturer’s license, for the Mission location. The license for 24th Street and Seven Stills’ expansion was first reported by the Chronicle.

“I wasn’t planning on taking on any more projects right now,” says Seven Stills co-founder Tim Obert. But with buildout delays at the new Mission Bay brewery and taproom, and chef Duffoo newly onboard, 24th Street was an opportunity Obert couldn’t pass up.

In the Mission, Duffoo will prepare beer-friendly food like burgers and fried chicken sandwiches, plus small plates with influences from his Peruvian background. He’ll also capitalize on beer and whiskey in recipes, he says, putting byproducts like spent grain “to good use” in the kitchen.

From there, it’s on to Seven Stills’ Mission Bay flagship: That could open as soon as late summer, Obert says.

• Seven Stills to take over former Almanac taproom in San Francisco’s Mission District [SF Chronicle]
• Almanac Beer Co. Closing 2-Year-Old San Francisco Taproom [ESF]
• Seven Stills Will Multiply Beer and Whiskey Output With Massive Mission Bay Flagship [SF]