![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.comstocksmag.com\/sites\/main\/files\/imagecache\/lightbox\/main-images\/dsc_0015.png\" "\\"Balance")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n Balance maintains about a dozen beers on tap and two seltzers
\n with adjustments based on the season.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot of breweries go into the heavier distribution
\n model and not succeed. And I think you saw Device do that and
\n fail. Rubicon did that and failed. That was, you know, way before
\n COVID. Right. Track 7 did that and failed,\u201d says David Weiss,
\n president of the Sacramento Area Brewers Guild and brewer at Blue
\n Note Brewing in Woodland. \u201cEveryone that\u2019s local in the industry
\n pays attention to what\u2019s going on, and seeing that happen again
\n and again discourages breweries from going that route.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Balance isn\u2019t the only relatively young brewery to focus on a
\n neighborhood model. Twenty minutes north, Granite Bay Brewing Co.
\n opened in 2023 with a focus on the neighborhood. \u201cI knew when we
\n opened that craft brewing seemed to be in a downturn,\u201d says
\n Carter Gray, one of the owners and head brewer at Granite Bay
\n Brewing Co. \u201cBut I wanted people to come to a brewery, and when
\n they left, have it feel like it\u2019s their bar. The key to a small
\n neighborhood brewery like ours is managing overhead and making
\n sure that we can serve anyone walking in the door with a beer
\n they like.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Movement Brewing, celebrating its sixth anniversary in Rancho
\n Cordova, was built around a similar neighborhood craft beer
\n model. Co-owner Alanna Cavanagh says Movement Brewing still
\n prides itself on brewery collaborations and a spring,
\n 1990s-themed nostalgic brew event, \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of
\n industries where people collab and work together this much. The
\n \u2018beer people\u2019 are just the best. There\u2019s so much potential for
\n even more growth for the beer community in Sacramento.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Weiss from the Brewer\u2019s Guild echoed a similar sentiment,
\n \u201cQuality-wise, we have amazing breweries here in Sacramento that
\n go toe-to-toe with breweries from Portland, San Diego or Denver.
\n You\u2019re going to find as good a beer in the Sacramento area as
\n anywhere in the country.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Finding opportunity in the craft beer downturn<\/p>\n