Pull Up A Stool with Jay Goodwin and Alex Wallash
of The Rare Barrel
The Rare Barrel has 10 taps in its tasting room, offering a selection of sour beers and guest beers. Photo by Jon Page.
Jay Goodwin and Alex Wallash At A Glance
Founders, The Rare Barrel, Berkeley, CA
Years brewing: six
Go-to beer from another brewery: Sierra Nevada Nooner Session IPA and Stone’s Go To IPA (JG); Saison Bernice from Sante Adairius Rustic Ales (AW)
Beer that inspired him to brew: Duvel (JG); took a tour of New Belgium and realized that brewing is using the science of biology to make art (AW)
He couldn’t live without: having a job I love to do (JG); golden sours fermented with peaches or apricots (AW)
Favorite place to have a beer: the outdoor patio at Jupiter in downtown Berkeley (JG); Moeder Lambic Fontainas, Brussels, Belgium (AW)
Wishes he could buy a round for: “the group of American brewers who went to Belgium and investigated Belgian beer. If they hadn’t done the hard work and started making sour beers in the U.S., there’s no way we’d be doing what we are today” (JG); Eugene Rodenbach, pioneer of the Flanders red beer style (AW)
Biggest passion besides brewing: baseball (JG); surfing (AW)
Keeping him up at night: “Thinking about what’s next” (JG); “One of the most common questions we’re asked is how long someone should cellar our bottles before drinking them, and we really don’t know, since our oldest bottled beer is just six months old” (AW)
Brewery profile
The Rare Barrel
Berkeley, CA
Founded: brewed the first batch in 2013
Annual Production: 700 barrels in 2013, due to double this year
Availability: Draft and bottles available in the tasting room. Members of the brewery’s Founder’s Club may also purchase bottles through the website.
Julie Johnson
Julie Johnson is the technical editor of All About Beer Magazine.
I live in ky can I get your red sour strawberry at my liquor store