Getting Our Hands Dirty at Fieldwork Brewing Co

Brian York

Brewery Name: Fieldwork Brewing Co.
Type of Brewery: Retail Brewery

Location: Berkeley, CA

Website: http://www.fieldworkbrewing.com/
Facebook: Fieldwork Brewing Co
Twitter: @FieldworkBrewCo
Instagram: @fieldworkbrewingco (private account)

Background: Berkeley is a hidden gem of breweries that I had no idea existed until arriving on the West Coast. North of Oakland and South of wine country, Berkeley is a really great representation of laid back Cali lifestyle, but remains a quick Bart trip out of the city. I was invited out with a friend (who deserves credit for introducing me to several East Bay breweries now), and Fieldwork was the first stop. I had recently tried and fallen in love with their Convergence IPA at an Oakland beer garden, Lost & Found, so I was pumped to get a chance to visit the brewery!

Growlers: You know it! They offer growlers and crowlers of most beers on tap. They keep a couple off that list, presumably based on quantity (or maybe nitro tap), but there's a ton of beer available so there is surely something to fit your fancy.

The Beers: Fieldwork seems to rotate beers quite a bit, and there are always a whole bunch of beers on both sides of the spectrum. As per the norm of a West Coast brewery, there are tons of IPAs and Pale Ales available, but they also have one of the better showings of dark beers that I've seen out here. I highly recommend the Convergence, which I had tried previously, but here are some of the others I grabbed while on site:
​

• Gosaic - Gose - Sea salt and Mosaic hops make for an amazing combo in my book. This comes out nice and tart with a very hearty fruit tone to it.

• Chocolate Milk Brown - Brown Ale - Top pick for me here! Would love to talk to the brewers about how this gets so smooth and packs such a huge amount of chocolate flavor. Definitely the highlight!

• Morning Time - Coffee Breakfast Stout - Second favorite only to the brown ale for me. Brewed with local coffee, this puts out not only the breakfast vibe of a coffee oatmeal stout, but has plenty of cocoa to it as well.

• Daypack - Pale Ale - Simple day drinking beer. Hoppy fairly aggressively but not bitter, not sweet, and not over malted. Great sessionable brew

• Longshore - IPA - Very layered with fruit front a nice dank body and bitter but balanced finish. Bright in appearance and great hop combo with El Dorado and Calypso among others.

• Ascender - IPA - Another layered IPA that combines several styles. You’ll get bitter fruit tones like grapefruit all throughout, but also notice plenty of the Northern West Coast resin tones.

• Amnesia Haze - IPA - Really fun IPA. Combines styles of East and West coast IPAs leaving you with a delicious combo of fruit and pure dankness. Highly recommend if for nothing else than a cool pallet experience

• Terrace - IPA - A bit on the heavy side for me, but, again, impressively complex. Big body to this beer so if you’re looking for a good dinner brew or a nice solid pint to start your drinking for the day then this is certainly it.

Vibe: LOVE the setup of this place. It's got every type of spot you could want when visiting a brewery. Plenty of bar space, a big outdoor seating area, couches in a small lounge section, tables and high tops throughout their space, all with a view of the taps and/or the brewing backdrop.

There's a clear laid back California vibe to the space, the staff, and most of the people there, which makes for a nice experience when you just want to sit and enjoy good brews. It's a bit tough to get to without a car and isn’t much to look at from the exterior, but, after all, it's what's on the inside that counts right?

One last point--I'm not sure which section this belongs in but the flight tray and glasses deserve special mention. The tray is just sheet metal but for whatever reason you feel like a boss when carrying it back to your table. The flight pours all come as generous servings in normal size glasses, which help you feel like you got a whole bunch of beer without looking like mostly empty drinks.

Dogs: Seemed to be cool in the outdoor area at least. Wasn’t clear about inside but there were treats and water bowls so I’m going to go ahead and assume yes.

Price ($ to $$$$$): $$$. Flights were very fair, and full pours mostly come in between $6 and $8. Their to-go prices on crowlers and growlers and right about the norm for what I see in California.

Food: Yep! They do a series of puff pastry items in a few different styles such as bacon cheeseburger, cornish beef, and chicken with ginger and garlic, to name a few.

​Final Thoughts: Really impressively wide spectrum of beer styles and an amazing space!

-- York

---

Don't forget to follow us on social media!

Facebook: Together We Drink
Twitter: @TogetherWeDrink
Instagram: @TogetherWeDrink
Untappd:​ Together We Drink