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An assortment of beer from Two Pitchers Brewing Co. in Oakland, Calif.<\/p>\n
Everett M.\/Yelp<\/p>\n
A popular Oakland brewery known for its $3 beers on tap is expanding to San Francisco. And yes, that includes the cheap beer price.<\/p>\n
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Two Pitchers Brewing Co. is set to open its second taproom, this one to be at 3821 Noriega St., directly across from the famed breakfast sandwiches<\/a> at Devil\u2019s Teeth Baking Co. The brand is known for making craft radlers, lager-based beers mixed with citrus or other fruit juices for a zippy, refreshing taste. For this taproom, Two Pitchers collaborated with the buzzy Maillards smash burgers pop-up<\/a> to create a one-stop-shop of bites and brews near Ocean Beach. The space is slated to open on April 22 at 4 p.m.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we started, that was a really big focal point of ours \u2014 cheap beer. We said, \u2018We could price this at five bucks, six bucks, and even that would be pretty good,\u2019\u201d Two Pitchers co-owner Tommy Hester told SFGATE in an interview. \u201cBut we thought, \u2018You know what? We really want this to be something that brings people in and it\u2019s different from what other folks are doing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Hester said he is pretty confident that it will be the cheapest beer in town.<\/p>\n Hester and business partner Wilson Barr sold their first beer in the summer of 2012. The two became friends in college while on the baseball team together at Williams College in Massachusetts. Looking to get into the beer business, they decided on radlers because there wasn\u2019t much of a dent in that market yet in America, Hester said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was really an untapped market, especially here in the Bay Area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n They started out in distribution only, selling kegs of their beer to local bars. A decade after their first sale, they opened their first taproom, in 2022, at 2344 Webster St. in Oakland. At that taproom, they partnered with Lovely\u2019s Burgers<\/a>. So it only made sense to partner with another burger joint in San Francisco. It was just pure coincidence that Maillards owner Max Ponzurick also played baseball in college.<\/p>\n \u201cJust like in Oakland, our thought was, \u2018Let\u2019s find somebody who\u2019s really gonna put their heart and soul into the food program while we run the bar side of things,\u2019\u201d Hester said.<\/p>\n Chef Max Ponzurick makes smash burgers at his pop-up, Maillards.<\/p>\n Nico Madrigal-Yankowski\/SFGATE<\/p>\n While the smash burgers will surely bring in a crowd, no doubt the $3 Baseline Lager brew will also attract attention. It worked very well in Oakland, after all.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe want anybody to be able to come in here and feel comfortable and feel appreciated,\u201d Hester said, speaking of the Oakland location. \u201cAnd so we thought, \u2018Well, let\u2019s put our money where our mouth is. Let\u2019s do something that is affordable in an area that\u2019s getting less and less affordable by the day.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n That same logic is to continue in San Francisco\u2019s Outer Sunset, where Hester lives. For the record, they don\u2019t make money on that $3 beer. They only break even with their $3 beer.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve actually gotten comparisons to the Costco hot dog, which I thought was not too far off,\u201d Hester said, with a laugh. \u201cIn some ways, it\u2019s just a marketing expense to get people in the door. But also it\u2019s just something that we think kind of hits a lot of the core components of what we want to do with our brand, what we want to do as a company.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/p>\n