Anheuser Busch Companies (BUD)

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Oakland approves Golden Road Brewing's plans to open Temescal beer garden and brew pub

By Alyssa Pereira, SFGATE
Published 9:56 am,
Wednesday, November 15, 2017

The City of Oakland has approved Golden Road Brewing's proposal to open a brew pub and beer garden in the Temescal neighborhood, a Golden Road spokesperson confirmed.

Earlier this year the brewery announced plans to open a nearly 9,000 square-foot space with seven shipping containers, multiple fire pits and an onsite nanobrewery at 320, 322 and 330 40th Street.

Concerns over noise and increased traffic forced the company was forced to significantly revise their plans. Golden Road then cut their proposed space by more than half, from 8,606 square-feet to around 4,000 square-feet.

The approved plans now include a brew pub with 1,613 square-feet of floor area with the rest of the area to be used as a beer garden. A spokesperson says Golden Road has not yet confirmed a date to begin construction.

Golden Road co-founder Meg Gill, who at one time worked for Speakeasy in San Francisco, told SFGATE in March that she was looking forward to making a return to the Bay Area.

"(Oakland) has embraced our concept of the Golden Road Flipflop pub (a nano-brewery in a container), and there is also a relaxed, yet active, community there that was a fit for us," Gill said in the spring. "Our goal is to be one of the many great options for beer in Oakland."

The project has been controversial from the start. The brewery, which is based in Los Angeles, was purchased by Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2015 and vocal critics and supporters of the craft beer industry condemned the plans, calling AB InBev's growth aspirations "nakedly monopolistic."

Sam Gilbert, the founder of the nearby small craft brewery Temescal Brewing, said Golden Road is "not healthy competition" but rather "a deliberate attempt by an international conglomerate to stifle small business and to cash in on a beer scene started through the risk and sacrifice of local beer lovers."

Anheuser-Busch InBev represents more than 40 percent of beer sold domestically. That number includes Budweiser and Bud Light, but also beers from a number of formerly "craft" brands it has acquired in recent years, including North Carolina's Wicked Weed, Chicago's Goose Island, and Oregon's 10 Barrel.

Golden Road is also opening a similar but much larger brewpub in Orange County at the end of November.

SFGATE has reached out to the city of Oakland's planning department for comment.