Indie brewery Fort Point is moving production out of San Francisco

San Francisco’s king of canned beers is pulling up the stakes. As part of a merger with Sonoma County’s HenHouse Brewing Co., the 11-year-old Fort Point Beer Co. will move its production to a shared brewing facility in Santa Rosa. 

Yes, that means San Francisco’s go-to park beer won’t be made in San Francisco anymore. “On one hand, yeah, it’s sad,” says Fort Point cofounder Justin Catalana. “But we’re still very much part of San Francisco. We’re San Francisco through and through.” 

Indeed, on a sunny afternoon at just about any park in San Francisco, you’ll find people stretched out on blankets with sleek, matte cans of Fort Point’s flagship beer, KSA. The company started making its stylishly unfussy products in 2014 out of a warehouse in the Presidio and has become one of SF’s most visible breweries, selling six-packs of locally produced beers at hundreds of restaurants, bars, supermarkets, and liquor stores across town. 

The decision to move was a practical one, says Catalana. He and HenHouse cofounder Collin McDonnell have known each other for a decade and “trauma-bonded” over trying to keep their businesses afloat during the pandemic. President Donald Trump’s trade war wasn’t a primary driver of the decision to join forces, he said, but it will allow the companies to save money through efficiencies. Catalana just negotiated a new contract for aluminum cans, for example, and since he’s now buying for two, he was able to negotiate a better deal. They expect it’ll be the same when it comes to buying hops, grain, and everything else it takes to run a brewery. “People kind of forget that these are manufacturing businesses that just require an unbelievable amount of stainless steel and concrete to run,” McDonnell says.

With the merger complete, the two companies will become a single entity: Fort Point HenHouse. But each will retain its distinct beer identities and most of the staff.  All five cofounders — Catalana, Dina Dobkin, and Mike Schnebeck from Fort Point, and McDonnell and Shane Goepel from HenHouse — are staying on. A single Fort Point employee on the “accounting and finance side of the business” will be leaving, Catalana says. 

Each company’s brewing team will continue to produce its beers. For Fort Point, that means the familiar lineup of six, including the popular Sfizio Pilsner and Villager IPA, and a smattering of limited releases, cider, and nonalcoholic brews. For HenHouse, that means pumping out at least one new beer a week, often a hops-forward and experimental creation, like stout made with whole oysters from Hog Island Oyster Co.

Both owners say consumers shouldn’t notice much of a change. Mostly, it just means two of the Bay Area’s craft breweries have a better chance of surviving whatever trying times may come next. “There’s a tremendous amount of unknowns right now,” Catalana says. “But I do think beer, historically, has some resilience to traumatic world and economic effects.”