Napa Smith Brewery on tap to open in Vallejo by fall
Vallejo business and property owner Dennis Brinson says Vallejo’s fortunes are changing.
And he is fairly bubbling with news of the proof.
Case in point — the city will soon have a new Napa Smith Brewery, on Yolano Avenue where the old Sears service center once was, likely by the end of summer, he said.
“This beer is served in the White House. It’s a top brand at Disney World — this is a huge top brand,” the Vallejo native said. “They’re going to be ramping up production worldwide. ‘Brewed and bottled in Vallejo, CA.’ will be on all the bottles.”
The Vallejo Planning Commission in February approved the application for Napa Smith Brewery and tap room to operate out of the existing 36,000-square-foot building at 101 Yolano Ave. City staff said the operation will include 10 full-time, and six part-time employees.
“I heard they wanted to relocate from where they are now, in Napa, on Highway 29, for a new brewery, and there’s no better place for water supply and treatment capacity than Vallejo,” Brinson said. “I approached them with that — I contacted their headquarters in Memphis, Tenn. — and officials came out and on a handshake, we decided to start a relationship.”
That was a couple of years ago, Brinson said.
“All the due diligence, the vetting, the planning and regulations — and there’s a lot of it — had to be worked through,” he said. “But, the city has been a great support in helping achieve this.”
Founded in 2008, Napa Smith, whose parent firm is R.S. Lipman Co., makes “great food-friendly beer,” according to winecountrybeer.com.
“Napa Smith also knows wine well, since it operates a winery, too,” the site says. “It understands the distinct roles and strengths of wine and beer when it comes to complementing food. And that’s what Napa Smith is all about, producing distinctive artisan beers that pair so well with the great foods of the region (or anywhere).”
The new winery will include a tap room with food, and daily guided tours, said Brinson, who is carrying on a family tradition of bringing business and employment to Vallejo that started with his grandfather, who came to town in the early part of the last century and opened a market at Sonoma Boulevard and Georgia Street.
That is also where Brinson’s grandfather in 1934 built the structure that for years housed the largest Sears store on the West Coast, he said.
Brinson is also largely responsible for bringing the city’s second Grocery Outlet to downtown, eliminating what for decades had been an official “food desert.”
“The Grocery Outlet was great for downtown and this (Napa Smith Brewery) will be great for the city,” he said.
Recognizing that Vallejo’s schools need improving to make the city more attractive to large employers, Brinson said this and many other problems will fix themselves as more companies come and bring more jobs.
Vallejo has or soon will have nearly everything most large firms need in terms of location, transportation and other infrastructure, and it’s just a matter of helping the reality begin changing perceptions — inside and outside the city, he said.
The brewery, construction of which is already well under way, is only part of what’s on the horizon, he said.
“They’re putting a huge investment in the city,” Brinson said. “We really have the wind at our back.
It’s a new day for Vallejo.”
Contact Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at (707) 553-6824.
And he is fairly bubbling with news of the proof.
Case in point — the city will soon have a new Napa Smith Brewery, on Yolano Avenue where the old Sears service center once was, likely by the end of summer, he said.
“This beer is served in the White House. It’s a top brand at Disney World — this is a huge top brand,” the Vallejo native said. “They’re going to be ramping up production worldwide. ‘Brewed and bottled in Vallejo, CA.’ will be on all the bottles.”
The Vallejo Planning Commission in February approved the application for Napa Smith Brewery and tap room to operate out of the existing 36,000-square-foot building at 101 Yolano Ave. City staff said the operation will include 10 full-time, and six part-time employees.
“I heard they wanted to relocate from where they are now, in Napa, on Highway 29, for a new brewery, and there’s no better place for water supply and treatment capacity than Vallejo,” Brinson said. “I approached them with that — I contacted their headquarters in Memphis, Tenn. — and officials came out and on a handshake, we decided to start a relationship.”
That was a couple of years ago, Brinson said.
“All the due diligence, the vetting, the planning and regulations — and there’s a lot of it — had to be worked through,” he said. “But, the city has been a great support in helping achieve this.”
Founded in 2008, Napa Smith, whose parent firm is R.S. Lipman Co., makes “great food-friendly beer,” according to winecountrybeer.com.
“Napa Smith also knows wine well, since it operates a winery, too,” the site says. “It understands the distinct roles and strengths of wine and beer when it comes to complementing food. And that’s what Napa Smith is all about, producing distinctive artisan beers that pair so well with the great foods of the region (or anywhere).”
The new winery will include a tap room with food, and daily guided tours, said Brinson, who is carrying on a family tradition of bringing business and employment to Vallejo that started with his grandfather, who came to town in the early part of the last century and opened a market at Sonoma Boulevard and Georgia Street.
That is also where Brinson’s grandfather in 1934 built the structure that for years housed the largest Sears store on the West Coast, he said.
Brinson is also largely responsible for bringing the city’s second Grocery Outlet to downtown, eliminating what for decades had been an official “food desert.”
Recognizing that Vallejo’s schools need improving to make the city more attractive to large employers, Brinson said this and many other problems will fix themselves as more companies come and bring more jobs.
Vallejo has or soon will have nearly everything most large firms need in terms of location, transportation and other infrastructure, and it’s just a matter of helping the reality begin changing perceptions — inside and outside the city, he said.
The brewery, construction of which is already well under way, is only part of what’s on the horizon, he said.
“They’re putting a huge investment in the city,” Brinson said. “We really have the wind at our back.
It’s a new day for Vallejo.”
Contact Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at (707) 553-6824.
