Fort Point is an independent San Francisco beer company made up of people who believe the simple things in life can be a whole lot better.

Our approach to brewing is to make the familiar taste unusually delicious. Rather than trying to recreate any particular style of beer, we focus instead on improving what makes those styles enjoyable in the first place.

Our secret weapon is uncompromising attention to detail. We think the little things that sometimes go unnoticed are the key to making beer that’s perfectly balanced, satisfying and flavorful.

The Makers and Their Production Spaces
We are one of the only breweries located in a National Park–all of our beers start their life at our 14,000 square foot production facility in the Presidio. In 2014, the year we opened, we produced 3,000 barrels of beer in the space. Today, with the help of our 15-person production team and efficient (read: creative) space planning, we make 30,000 barrels of beer annually. That’s about twice the amount of barrels per square foot as an average brewery.

The Making Process
Our beer is made using traditional brewing and fermentation methods. Each one starts out as an idea that’s inspired by a San Francisco place or feeling. Our Head Brewer interprets that idea into a recipe that is then tested and tinkered with at a small scale. If it has legs, we release it to the public, collect feedback and continue to iterate. The recipes that make it into our cans are never the first try. They’re always balanced, nuanced and easy to drink.

The Production Model
We have a curated selection of Core Beers that are available year-round throughout California, and a Limited Series of one-off beers that allow us to experiment with new styles (some end up graduating to our Core Beer line-up and wider release). Each of our cans tells a story about the liquid inside and the city of SF.

The Ingredients
Our goal is to use the highest quality ingredients, this means that some are imported while others are hyper local. Most beers are made with just water, grain, hops and yeast. Because we are located in the Presidio, we have a highly unique water source: Lobos Creek–a stream that runs through the National Park. Majority of our hops are sourced from the Pacific Northwest’s Yakima Valley. We use grain from Germany, but also experiment with local grain from Alameda-based maltster Admiral Maltings. Regrained, a local food startup, upcycles a portion of our spent grain (a byproduct of brewing) into nutritious snacks that are sold across the country.

All of our packaged beer is canned, rather than bottled. When designing the cans, our goal was to re-contextualize what a “beer can” (often viewed as a signifier of a lesser quality product) could look and feel like. The minimalist illustrations, bold colors and satin finish have become our signature and are often the first thing that draws people to our product. Aluminum cans are easier to recycle in California, require less resources to transport, and are better for the product because they securely seal the liquid and protect it from the sun.