Rancho Cordova’s Barrel District brings craft brews and distilled drinks to Budweiser town

Cory Anderson calls them hoppers.

They come into Thin Line Brewing in Rancho Cordova, order a sampler flight with four or five beers on it, then hop to another brewery. Or a meadery. Or a distillery.

Brewery hoppers in Rancho Cordova have a smorgasbord of options to consider as the city’s service industry continues to expand the palates of the burgeoning suburb. Here in the Barrel District, five breweries, a distillery and a meadery all are close to Sunrise Boulevard in Rancho Cordova. And more is on the way: a hard kombucha brewer hopes to open by the end of October.

“The Barrel District is a key spot. … There’s a lot of energy out here,” said Randall Echevarria. He and his husband Monte Hudoc have worked hard to get Shorebirds Hard Kombucha up and running to join Rancho Cordova’s craft alcohol movement. Their’s is a modest-sized spot behind a collision repair shop; light rail lines and train tracks decorate the area just beyond the parking lot.

“Rancho Cordova is a growing community,” Echevarria said. “There’s development everywhere around us. The community is super supportive of the beer industry. We’re excited to be a part of that energy and bring a new product to the table.”

The clustering of establishments is unusual for Rancho Cordova’s reputation as a quiet bedroom and industrial community. And the clustering is very unusual for the Sacramento area, which doesn’t have dense clusters of breweries in other suburbs. Roseville, a city of more than 140,000 people, doesn’t have a single active brewhouse, cidery or distillery.

But Rancho Cordova is not the city it was even five years ago. Anderson, who co-owns Thin Line with her husband Scott, sees it as a collaborative push between a city eager to change its image and small business owners who want to work in a fun industry.

“They’re building out the city that I’ve lived in for 20 years,” Anderson said. “It’s extremely cool and it changes the face of Rancho.”

Drink options galore

Normally, when brewers are asked about city government, they complain about red tape. But the city of Rancho Cordova has played a vital role in creating the Barrel District.

Before 2018, Rancho Cordova had few places to get local alcoholic beverages. Businesses started popping up like bubbles of carbonation. Claimstake is the oldest active brewery on the Sunrise Boulevard corridor, opening in 2015; Thin Line opened in late 2017 and three more followed (Burning Barrel in 2018, Log Off in 2019 and Movement in 2020). Not that into beer? Strad Meadery sells its sweet drinks in a cozy tasting room in the middle of an industrial area, across the street from Mr. Mouldings. Gold River Distillery is across the street from Burning Barrel and a very busy Taco Bell.

The city’s Barrel District also includes J.J. Pfister Distilling, which is about 5 miles away from a brewery, and Fort Rock Brewing, which is about 3 miles away from the nearest point of revelry.

The work on Shorebirds Hard Kombucha continued last week. Echevarria and Hudoc look to become part of a trend.

Bart Watson, from the national Brewers’ Association, said clustering of breweries and service industry spots is common.

“While I don’t have a study to point to on the suburbs, I don’t see any reason that clustering wouldn’t occur in suburban areas, assuming they have enough population to support multiple locations,” he said. “In fact, depending on how those suburbs are zoned, there may even be additional pressures to cluster given more limited commercial and manufacturing zoning in those areas.”

Rancho Cordova’s zoning has a lot to do with how the Barrel District has become a drinking destination.

Rancho Cordova’s transformation

Bringing the taps online at Shorebirds has not been a smooth process. Among others, Echevarria is friends with Duncan Alexander, co-owner of Burning Barrel about a mile away. Echevarria leans on Alexander for tips and advice, but he has another ally: the city of Rancho Cordova.

“The city of Rancho Cordova has been phenomenal,” Echevarria said. “Their Economic Development Department is top-notch. They consistently reach out and check on what they can help you with, permitting processes, planning department questions. They have been a great partner in getting this business open.”

Amanda Norton, economic development manager for Rancho Cordova, said the city has been actively seeking to diversify its offerings. It changed zoning laws to allow breweries and similar establishments in vast swaths of strip malls and industrial spots.

The results: Rancho is no longer a place people come only to work, nor is it just a bedroom community.

“The zoning code has been amended to allow breweries, wineries, and distilleries by right in most commercial and industrial zones throughout the city,” Norton said. “We also streamlined the process for businesses by hosting free Development Services Team meetings weekly, to enable all businesses to get information from every city department and from outside partner agencies before signing a lease.”

And the work goes on after a lease is signed. Echevarria cited almost-weekly phone calls from the city, at points, to make sure Shorebirds could navigate the permitting process. Several brewers said the city makes a point to stay in touch; Anderson from Thin Line said she can text city officials if she has a quick question.

Over at Burning Barrel, Alexander stood outside his brewery as about 15 cars tried to navigate the drive-through line at Taco Bell on a weekday afternoon. The food situation is not unlike how the drinking scene in Rancho Cordova used to be, Alexander said. Even a few years ago, tastes had not changed. People in Rancho Cordova might be fine with mass-produced beers. But the midtown Sacramento beer scene was mostly built out by 2017, when Alexander was looking for a spot to brew. It was time to find a new frontier.

“When we came here, we were always looking at midtown Sacramento, but we felt like with what (Rancho Cordova) told us about the explosion in housing development and what they’re plan was, we had a similar vision,” Alexander said. “We wanted to be somewhere that’s new, exciting. Sacramento has such great offerings, but it can seem a little cluttered with how many choices you have. But with Rancho Cordova, with how many people were starting to move here, it was pretty obvious after we opened, we chose the right location.”

Different kind of drinking

A couple of things distinguish this from drinking at a bar. For starters, the latest anybody stays open is 10 p.m. Kids are generally welcome to hang out. On weekends, you’ll see neighbors riding bikes from brewery to brewery.

People from around the metro area will drive to Rancho Cordova to visit multiple spots, in part because the breweries have strong scores on beer rating sites such as Untappd.

“When they’re here, they’re hitting a couple other spots to make it worth it,” Alexander said. “Sometimes on Friday, I’ll go over to other breweries and see our regulars over there. We get a lot of that now. People coming into the area want to make it a day trip, almost like going out to Amador for the winery experience. You’re not going to just one if you’re out there, you’re going to visit two or three.”

The Barrel District options are close together, but they’re not close enough that people typically walk from place to place. And Rancho Cordova doesn’t have e-scooters or Lime bikes (though Norton said the city is interested in adding them). Local hoppers can ride their bikes between spots. Out-of-town hoppers must choose a designated driver or take a ride-share service to go a mile or 2.

Norton, the city’s economic development manager, said no drunk driving problems have sprung from the Barrel District.

“Customers and Barrel District members are responsible and respectful of their safety and the safety of others, and police data bear this out: we haven’t had a single incident,” she said.

Friendly competition

One of the other reasons this all works is this is not cutthroat business. More high-quality drinks bring more high-quality customers, owners said. If a brewery or distillery is celebrating an anniversary or hosting a big event, all the other businesses also get busy.

Jim Noss opened LogOff Brewing with Matt Risse in 2019. While they weren’t drawn to the area because of all the other drink options, they said they’ve found a home in a collaborative industry.

“That’s one great thing about the industry is people are willing to share,” Noss said. “Even our neighbors will share with us. For example, if we need a bag of grain or a bag of hops, somebody from down the street will help us or we’ll help them. It’s very collaborative.”

“There’s so much demand. And so many people are getting into beer, we don’t have to be cutthroat,” Risse said. “What got us into the business was how collaborative it is. ... The more of us that make better beer, the more people will enjoy the beer.”

Noss finished that thought: “The more quality we have, the more we’ll take business away from Budweiser, Coors and Miller.”

For decades, macro brewers like Budweiser have been an easy punching bag for craft brewers. The big guys sell watered-down versions of lagers and pilsners, they say, but there’s nothing like the real thing.

But it often takes some gentle prodding for consumers to make the transition from Bud Light to a hoppy IPA or a viscous stout. Anderson said Thin Line probably gets more of those customers than most breweries because it appeals to police officers and supporters who maybe haven’t ventured into craft beer. They might have a blonde ale at Thin Line and decide this craft beer thing is all right after all.

And wouldn’t you know it, you can check out a bunch of other places nearby. Some specialize in fruit sours; some are known for their IPAs; some sell mead, a fermentation method that involves honey. There’s something for everyone.

“If we all had Coors Light on tap, what’s the point of going to places?” Anderson said. “You get the experience of trying these places, and that’s part of why I think people love to hop.”

This story was originally published October 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.