Get Morning Report and other email newsletters

Get Morning Report and other email newsletters

I’ve been circling the Bay Area for more than a year now on a series of brewery day trips to Richmond, Sunnyvale and beyond. That beer tour took me to Morgan Hill recently, a city whose history dates back to the 19th century, when Hiram Morgan launched his Morgan Hill Ranch, one of several ranches in the shadow of El Toro Hill.

There were wineries back then, but the first brewery — El Toro Brewing — didn’t appear on the scene until 1994. It closed in 2017, but happily another one opened the following year — and a cidery soon followed.

This Morgan Hill brewery hails from Bay Area native Ross Kelly, a home brewer who trained at Chicago’s Siebel Institute before landing at Jack’s in Fremont as head brewer. Kelly opened his eponymous brewery in 2018 with a rare setup: All his brews use open fermenters, a traditional, labor-intensive method that few breweries undertake anymore (although Anchor Brewing still uses open fermenters for its Steam Beer).

His 7-barrel brewhouse was built by Alan Pugsley, a British brewer and consultant whose mentor was Peter Austin, 20th-century England’s microbrewery pioneer and founder of Ringwood Brewery. Kelly uses the famous Ringwood Yeast that Austin and Pugsley brought to the U.S., because it’s designed to work well with his brewing system.

As you might guess, Kelly Brewing emphasizes ales, but the taproom keeps about 20  beers on tap, including eight core beers plus one-offs, seasonals and kettle sours. His two best-sellers are the Farmer Nelson, a strong citrus hazy farmhouse IPA, and Kelly Light, a thirst-quenching golden ale. I was particularly taken with his cream ale, Go Nuts, which has great malt character and a touch of spiciness, and Sir Isaac Brewton, a coffee porter. And his kettle sour, Peach Galactic — brewed with local peaches — was very clean with great peach flavor.

The brewery taproom has a “Cheers” flavor to it, right down to the friendly people calling greetings as they enter. You’ll find pool tables, foosball and other games, too, but be sure to look up. The tall ceiling holds murals by local artists depicting Kelly’s 16 favorite album covers. There’s a large beer garden with live music on Saturdays, food trucks roll by daily and special events include Trivia Tuesday and Open Jam Wednesday.

Details: The brewery opens at noon daily at 70 E. Fourth St. in Morgan Hill. Find a list of markets and restaurants that stock Kelly beer at www.kellybrewco.com.

Prefer cider? TenFiveOne was founded by Laura and Robert Bertoldi, who cut gluten — and therefore most beer — from their diet during a weight loss challenge. So Robert, a longtime home brewer, tried his hand at making cider, which is typically gluten-free. He’d  found many of the commercially available ciders too sweet, so he made flavorful, unfiltered ciders with no added sugars. The Bertoldis received such positive feedback from friends and family, the couple opened a commercial cidery in 2019.

Related Articles Restaurants, Food and Drink | San Jose’s ‘Bulb Guy’ says his backyard garden is closed for good Restaurants, Food and Drink | Celebrate Japanese-Brazilian beer this weekend in Sunnyvale Restaurants, Food and Drink | “The Craft Brewery Cookbook” — 70 great beer pairings from around the country Restaurants, Food and Drink | Prost! 7 great new Bay Area beer gardens to explore Restaurants, Food and Drink | Campbell community briefs for the week of Aug. 26 It’s a family affair in every respect. The seasonal taproom is quite literally in the backyard of their home, with umbrella-shaded tables, sofas and room for 80 people to spread out and have a good time. Their kids direct traffic from the front, and their next door neighbor graciously lets them use his property for overflow parking.

The ciders are made with apples from Washington state and other fruit, locally sourced when possible. Their flagship, Choir Practice, is a very solid apple cider with terrific flavor. The Pineapple Shubbie runs s close second with great fresh pineapple flavor that’s not overwhelming. Life Gave Us Lemons is a tasty lemonade-like cider, and Bada Bing has a strong cherry flavor that’s not too sweet.

Robert is doing some experimental things, too, including a surprisingly good Jumping George made with jalapeños and Barely Legal, an un-aged fresh cider.

Details: TenFiveOne Cider is open by reservation from noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 3-4 and Oct. 15-16 at 17635 Hill Road in Morgan Hill. Make reservations at www.tenfiveoneciderco.com.

Know a local brewery or brewpub that’s knocking it out of the park? Drop me a line at BrooksOnBeer@gmail.com and tell me why you love them.

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. We reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

Get Morning Report and other email newsletters