Justin and Tyler Catalana start homebrewing and hatch a plan to open their first brewery and restaurant in their hometown of Mill Valley, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Within a year, they open Mill Valley Beerworks, which becomes a beloved destination for locals and visitors alike.
Our Story
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.
Eager to make a mark on San Francisco’s craft brewing tradition, the brothers launch Fort Point Beer Company with Mike Schnebeck as Head Brewer and Dina Dobkin as Creative Director.
After developing a following with draft, Fort Point debuts its can line-up, quickly gaining attention for their unique approach to beer packaging.
San Francisco’s iconic Ferry Building becomes home to Fort Point’s first taproom.
Fort Point grows to be San Francisco’s largest independent craft brewery, and expands distribution throughout California.
Fort Point debuts its second location, a boldly-designed beer hall on San Francisco’s Valencia Street.
Fort Point’s flagship KSA Kölsch Style Ale is voted into SF Chronicle’s Northern California Beer Hall of Fame.
With the food and beverage industry coming back to life, Fort Point is focused on what it does best — continuing to refine their lineup of six core beers, releasing monthly Limiteds that provide a sneak peak into its innovation process, and working on a few new things to come.
With the food and beverage industry coming back to life, Fort Point reopens its SF locations and introduces a new menu: a modern take on SF style seafood.
Throughout the year, Fort Point brings home numerous awards, including a Gold medal at the World Beer Cup, the globe’s largest and most prestigious beer competition.
Fort Point applies its fermentation expertise to a new category: Cider.
The result reflects the same characteristics that define their beer — balance, nuance, and approachability.
BREWING PHILOSOPHY
BALANCE
We highlight just a few distinct flavors, and carefully calibrate them to complement, rather than overpower one another.
APPROACHABILITY
Every beer we make is easy to enjoy without needing insider knowledge or academic contemplation.
NUANCE
What makes each beer special. Approachable should never mean boring and there’s always a subtle twist that makes our beers unique.
Making great beer isn’t easy, but enjoying it should be. We believe that quality doesn’t have to be a luxury, and that’s why we insist on making our products easy to like, easy to find, and easy to pair with any occasion.
We are inspired by our home in San Francisco, and its time honored tradition of breaking with tradition. We are deeply influenced by the classics, but we’re allergic to dogma, and we refuse to settle with the way things have been done before. We celebrate diversity, and curiosity, and we always keep an open mind.
Fort Point is made up of ambitious people with ambitious plans, but to get there, we’ll need to preserve the focus and humility that got us started. We only grow when we’re ready, and we only introduce new products and projects to the world when we can consistently meet our own high standards.
Our secret weapon is an obsessive attention to detail. We relish the little things because we think they make the biggest difference, and because we care deeply about our craft.
Winning together is the only way we want to win, so Fort Point only grows when our team and our partners succeed. We hold ourselves accountable for enabling one another’s individual goals and working together towards achievements bigger than any one of us can accomplish alone.