Linden Street Brewery - Oakland

Linden Street Brewery
photo from Our Oakland

Linden Street Brewery (LSB) was a production brewery in West Oakland. The space is now occupied by Old Kan Beer & Co. (https://old-kan.com/).

Oakland and Brooklyn were once home to many breweries, producing huge amounts of beer, but they are no more. While there have been brewpubs (i.e., beer brewed on the premises for consumption on the premises) such as Pacific Coast Brewing Company, LSB was the first production brewery (i.e., beer produced for other establishments) in Oakland since the last one, Golden West Brewery, shut down in 1959.

LSB was started by Adam Lamoreaux, and initially faced many challenges opening the brewery because there was no one with the City of Oakland that had ever dealt with one. The brewery finally opened in 2009. The brewery expanded production every year since opening, and even served as an 'incubator' for the production of the Dying Vines beers (which are now produced and distributed by LSB.)

LSB was known for session beers (i.e. that you can drink for a long session without getting too drunk) that are lower in alcohol than many craft beers today. They were brewed in the historic 'steam' style that early European settlers developed, a style best known because Anchor Steam Beer. It uses lager yeasts but at a higher temperature. Normally lager yeasts ferment in cooler temperatures (think European basement or a handy cave), but early settlers adapted to the warmer temperatures here in the Bay Area. LSB's four flagship beers were: Urban Peoples' Common Lager, Burning Oak Black Lager, New Oakland Glow Pilsner, Ol' Brick ESB, and Hop Candi Session IPA. During the summer months they produced a beer called the 'Town Lager, a light, easy-drinking beer, which might best be described as a "lawnmower beer". The Town Lager is only delivered by bicycle, so there are limited places where you can sample it.

The brewery and taproom were housed in a historic brick building on Linden Street (their ESB is named after the building). It was originally used for production of cables/wires, and the framework for the water tower and the wellhead were visible in the original taproom.

LSB was a big supporter of Oakland, and frequently donated beer to Oakland non-profits for different events, as well as hosted events for non-profits at the taproom.

In 2017, Linden Street operations moved to a location on 2nd Street in the Jack London Square area. After rebranding as Oakland United Beerworks, their taproom officially opened to the public in 2019.

Awards

Linden Street Brewery was the recipient of the East Bay Express Best Brewery Readers' Poll Award in 2014 and 2015.

Won 2014 "Readers' Choice" Best Local Brewery in Oakland Magazine.

Details

old taproom
photo from Our Oakland95 Linden Street, Suite 7/8 (at W Embarcadero)
Oakland, CA 94607
(510) 251-8898
www.lindenbeer.com