Stanislaus County brewer Dust Bowl plans new taproom. Here’s where you can find it.
Stanislaus County craft beer powerhouse Dust Bowl Brewing is expanding into Elk Grove.
The Turlock-based regional brewer announced Monday it plans to open its latest satellite location in the Sacramento County city, its furthest north location so far. The company has taprooms at its Turlock brewery as well as another that opened in the summer of 2019 in Monterey.
The new Elk Grove location will be in the city’s Old Town Historic District on Railroad Street. The brewing company is taking over an approximately 100-year-old brick building that was used to store wine grapes awaiting trains for rail transportation in the early 1900s.
Dust Bowl Brewing Company co-owners Brett Tate and Brett Honore said the location was selected, in part, because of the building’s historic past and ties back to the Dust Bowl era. The company’s beer has been sold for about the past decade in the Sacramento region by the Auburn-based distributor Mussetter Distributing.
“For us that’s ideal to just repurpose old buildings and bring them back to life. I will say the development company out of Sacramento did great work and we are going to to put the people in there to enjoy it,” Tate said in a phone interview Monday afternoon.
In recent years the city of Elk Grove and D & S Development have invested millions to revitalize the Old Town area. Dust Bowl also moved into a historic building for its Monterey taproom, converting a former train depot into a near the waterfront attraction with a large outdoor patio.
Turlock brewery plans new regional taprooms
Founded in a small brewery in an industrial part of Turlock in 2009, Dust Bowl has grown from its initial “Hops of Wrath” beer to become a recognized regional brewer with a variety of products. The company earned the distinction last year from the national Brewers Association, as it was able to produce just over 16,500 barrels in 2020 — the most it has ever produced in a year despite the pandemic.
But it wasn’t only boom times last year for the brewery, as Dust Bowl shut down its downtown Turlock location at the corner of Main Street and Broadway last summer. Opened in 2011, it was the company’s first taproom.
In 2016 the company opened its from-the-ground-up 30,000-square-foot brewery-taproom on Fulkerth Road. Last year to accommodate more outdoors seating that location opened a large beer garden that can seat 300 to 400 on its grounds as well.
Opening in the second-largest city in Sacramento County from its home in the second-largest city in Stanislaus County is another sign of Dust Bowl’s broad appeal. Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen said the city was excited to welcome the brewer.
“We believe they are a great fit for the historic building and the community,” Singh-Allen said in a written statement about the announcement. “Having a brewery of Dust Bowl’s stature will be a wonderful addition to the atmosphere and vibrancy we are trying to create in Elk Grove. It will be fun for locals to have another great craft brewery experience, and certainly an attraction for visitors as well.”
The new Elk Grove location is close to 6,000 square feet and will offer 30 taps featuring Dust Bowl beers and seltzers. The space will include banquette and lounge seating, bar rails and some traditional bar seating. The taproom will also feature some 7,000 square-feet of outdoor spaces, including a covered patio and communal picnic tables with an open-air recreation area for outdoor games and fire pits.
The building will have seating capacity for about 100, and the outdoor area will double that with space for about 200, Tate said.
Food at the new taproom will be provided by Wedo’s Kitchen, owned by Chris Tringali and Cal Leidig. The team also owns and operates Wedo’s Tacos, the resident food truck at Dust Bowl’s Monterey Tap Depot. The Elk Grove menu is being described as “upscale pub food,” and include flatbreads, chicken wings, burgers and tacos.
Work at the new taproom should begins in the next few weeks and is expected to last about three months, Tate said. The company is shooting for a fall opening in Elk Grove.
But don’t be surprised if Dust Bowl has another announcement about additional taprooms before year’s end. Tate said the company’s ultimate goal is to open six satellite taprooms, the most allowed by the state. He said they are actively looking at locations within about a one-to-two-hour drive from their Turlock headquarters.
“We’re looking east, west, south. It’s brand building and we want to reach out to other parts of California so we can capitalize on our capacity for growth,” Tate said. “The pandemic put halt to doing anything new for the last year and a half. We’re just excited to get going again and get some momentum again.”
Dust Bowl produces 14 beers year-round as well as 14 rotating specialty beers and a constantly changing selection of draft-only releases. Some of its more popular brands include the original Hops of Wrath IPA, Therapist Imperial IPA and Taco Truck Lager.
This story was originally published June 14, 2021 at 2:32 PM.
