Could he ever open his own brewery, Alex Tweet had his core beer lineup nailed down. After years of experience at Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits and Modern Times Beer, the brewer even had a vision for his flagship beer. But on Tweet’s first day of brewing at Fieldwork Brewing Company, which he cofounded with Barry Braden, Tweet scrapped his plan.
“I just want to make something different all the time,” Tweet remembers thinking on that day in early 2015. “I just walked up to [Braden] and was like, ‘Hey man, what do you think about just making different beer all the time?’ I thought it was going to turn into a big argument. He kind of just smirked and he went, ‘Yeah, go for it.’ ” The pivot is paying off for Fieldwork. The California brewery picked up a silver medal at the 2016 Great American Beer Festival, and its ever-rotating beers are among the most highly sought after in the San Francisco Bay Area. A steady stream of customers frequents the Berkeley brewery, and this summer Fieldwork opened its fourth satellite taproom in Monterey. It also has locations in Sacramento, Napa, and San Mateo, but all of Fieldwork’s beers are brewed in Berkeley.
When visiting the taprooms, expect to find a few standby styles: a lager, a pale ale, several IPAs and double IPAs, a stout or porter, and maybe even a gose. But don’t expect to return the following week and find the exact same draft list. It’s a matter of engagement and creativity for Tweet, who doesn’t want Fieldwork’s brewers and employees to feel like they’re working in a factory. Since its founding in 2015, Fieldwork has brewed more than 200 different beers, including a double IPA brewed with toasted coconut and milk sugar and a cream ale inspired by a churro.