Northspur Brewing Company
by Holly Madrigal
photos by Matthew Caine
The ten-foot-tall train-shaped arrow catches the eye as you pass Northspur Brewing Company, Willits’ fun new watering hole. The striking visual design continues inside, where giant train axles have been repurposed into tables, and rails have been incorporated into the bar and the railing. The appearance of the place is not the only thing being done differently here. I caught up with owner and friend Jakob Foley to learn about what is afoot.
WOM: How and when did you start brewing beer?
NBC: I started brewing longer ago than I care to admit. I think my friend’s dad first introduced us to brewing well before we were old enough to drink. I can remember a bunch of us standing around in my friend’s garage while his dad made an early attempt at brewing beer. My interest in the process stuck with me, and I think by my second year of college I was making beer in the kitchen of our Santa Cruz rental house. I don’t recall anything I made there being particularly drinkable, but it was a start. And it was free to my roommates who, as a result, happily consumed it and encouraged me, regardless of how bad it was.
WOM: Why did you choose Willits to open Northspur Brewing Co.?
NBC: Because I’ve thought for years that Willits needed a brewery. Mendocino Country was the birthplace of some of the earliest craft breweries, and I felt as though it was getting left behind by the current craft beer boom. I’ve been seeing successful craft breweries pop up in towns much smaller than Willits for years now. I looked into starting one in Willits seven years ago but was not able to get anything off the ground. Then a chance meeting and a lucky set of circumstances just dropped an opportunity into our lap in late 2017. My wife, Sarah, and I decided we needed to take advantage of it, and by early 2018 we were starting the paperwork for what would become Northspur Brewing Co.
WOM: Where do you see yourselves fitting into the local craft beer scene in Mendocino County?
NBC: I think we’ve filled a vacancy by opening up in Willits. Ukiah has had a brewery for years now (they had two while Mendocino Brewing Company was still operating). Fort Bragg, of course, has North Coast Brewing, and while we were building out, Overtime Brewing opened up over there as well. Even Potter Valley has a little commercial operation. The breweries that have opened up in Mendocino County over the past few years, us included, I think have helped our area catch up to the craft brewing scene in the rest of the state.
WOM: What is the hardest part of owning a brewery?
NBC: Paperwork. Always the paperwork. And the juggling. There are so many things going on at once, and we’re way too small to hire people for specific jobs. I’ve already cut back my time behind the bar so I can focus on other tasks, and we’re still perpetually behind.
WOM: Will you have a kitchen?
NBC: We are still in the process of building out our kitchen. Until then, patrons are welcome to bring their own food.
WOM: What is your favorite part of brewing beer and/or having a brewery?
NBC: Free beer. That’s really the only reason we did this in the first place.
WOM: What surprised you about what you do?
NBC: Holy Sh*t, people actually like what we’re making! It is so hard tasting your own stuff, and not everyone will give you an honest opinion when you stick a free beer (or anything) in front of them and say “Hey, try this, I made it. What do you think?” So its been really nice to see people come back frequently and discover and really care about a favorite beer. If we run out of something now, we’ll even get phone calls asking when that beer will be back on tap.
The other thing that really got our attention was the Willits community. People here care so much about this little town and its success. While we got a ton of support from the beer community, we’ve also received a tremendous amount of support from people who don’t even drink beer. For just about everyone we’ve met, what’s most important is that Willits succeeds as a town and a destination. It’s really refreshing to see how many people care about this place.
WOM: What is the most popular beer, and which do you enjoy making the most?
NBC: The Blonde (insert blond joke here). Style-wise, we sell more IPA than anything else by a wide margin, but the Blonde is our single best-selling beer. I love (and hate because it takes me ALL day) making IPAs. So many new great hops have been introduced in the past decade or so, and that gives us, as brewers, the opportunity to experiment endlessly with IPA styles and get all sorts of fun flavors into our beers. We’re even getting flavors such as coconut and whiskey from some of these newer hops.
WOM: How did you design the interior of the place?
NBC: The idea from the start was to have an open floor plan. Sarah and I have visited lots of breweries over the years, and the ones that have the brew-plant and fermenters front and center were always our favorites. We’ve also seen a number of breweries with large shared tables and found, from observation and experience, that shared tables are a great way to meet new people. Having a space and seating to foster that was really important to us from the start. There were a few practical design choices as well, such as having the walk-in cooler directly behind the bar, which makes getting beer to the bar taps super simple. Other than that, we wanted to create a warm, comfortable space for people to hang out (and drink beer, of course). We were lucky to get a space with lots of natural light, a garage door that opens onto the patio, and a classic wood truss warehouse ceiling, all of which contributed to that goal. The train theme was put together by Stu and Seth at Pinwheel. I’d asked them to help build a a square tube metal railing to separate the brewhouse from the tasting area. Once Stu saw the logo, though, he started trying to convince me that he could get an old rail for the top part. I let him roll with it and shortly after, he suggested the axles as a table base. At some point, I just started nodding my head “yes” to all of his ideas (which was his plan to begin with), and the result was the amazing industrial train theme that dominates our tasting area.
WOM: Dog friendly?
NBC: Yes. We love dogs. Unfortunately, when we open our kitchen, they’ll be relegated to the patio to comply with health department regulations.
WOM: Future plans?
NBC: Take over the world, of course. Before that happens, though, we hope to be able to get our beers out of just the taproom and into pubs and restaurants in Northern California. We’re also looking at a very small canning line so we can get our beers on the shelves of local retailers. And the kitchen.
For craft brew fans in Mendocino County and beyond, Northspur Brewing Company is a welcome addition to the scene. We’re so glad Jakob decided to turn his passion into this local gem producing truly tempting beers.
Northspur Brewing Co
Northspurbrewing.com | 101 N. Main St. Willits
Open 11:30am-9:00pm Wed-Thurs, 11:30am-10:00pm Fri-Sat,
11:30am-7:00pm Sun. Closed Monday & Tuesday for Brewing
