The folks at Ruhstaller Brewing are proud to share the history and cutting edge technology behind their uniquely Californian brews. Here are the who, what, where, why, when and how straight from the Sacramento brew masters themselves.
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Ruhstaller was originally founded in Sacramento in 1881 by Captain Frank Ruhstaller, California’s premier pioneer brewer. Ruhstaller brews distinctive beers that express the unique flavors of quality California Grown – and increasingly Sacramento Grown – ingredients. They believe great beer begins with the best ingredients.
Tell us a little about your brewery, the types of beers that you brew, and what you feel makes your brewery unique.
Ruhstaller is the only brewery in California brewing with 95 percent Sacramento grown hops and 95 percent California grown barley. Our beers showcase the hops we grow and we are inspired by Sacramento’s rich hop growing legacy.
What is your most popular/flagship beer? What makes it great?
Our most popular beer is our 1881 Red Ale as it is well balanced and chef-driven restaurants love to pair their dishes with it. We grew this beer with Cascade & Chinook hops grown at our Farm & Yard here in Dixon, and Signorotti hops grown at Utterback Farms in Sloughhouse, located 40 miles to our east. We take pride in the hops that are grown in the Sacramento region and we are proud to feature them in our beers.
We enjoy hearing stories about how breweries got their start. What’s the history behind yours?
Captain Frank Ruhstaller was the leading brewer in Sacramento before prohibition. A Swiss marksman who immigrated to Sacramento as a young man, helped found the largest brewery west of the Mississippi, and at the age of 35 in 1881, he opened his third Sacramento brewery, his crown jewel: The Ruhstaller Brewery. It was Sacramento’s, and arguably California’s, first premium craft brewery – producing Steam beer 15 years before Anchor Steam was founded. We are here to carry on the Ruhstaller legacy.
We love meeting people who share our passion for the outdoors. Tell us a bit about the folks involved with your brewery, and what they enjoy doing outdoors.
We are located on a hop farm in Dixon, California with the beautiful Vaca Mountains as our backdrop, so naturally our team and our patrons are partial to spending time outside with a tasty beer in hand. Xo Pineda, our farm and yard tap room manager, “enjoys beer outside, exclusively, with her dog Stout.”
Is your beer available in cans?
Currently, the 1881 Red Ale, CAPT Black IPA, Gilt Edge Lager, and XQST Kolsch can be found in cans. Located in Sacramento, we spend much of the year otdoors whether it be swimming, fishing, boating, hiking, biking, camping, etc. where glass is forbidden, so we like to think of our cans as mobile drinking devices.
Where can we find your beer?
We have a line-up of beers that are available in a variety of specialty grocery stores and restaurants in the Sacramento and San Francisco areas.
If people want more info about your brewery, where can they go?
For more information, please visit our website at www.ruhstallerbeer.com.
