North Star
Sonoma’s Newest Microbrewery

Petaluma.

Home of eggs, cat ladies and Winona Ryder. Also: big mecca for beer.

You already know Lagunitas. Well, there’s a new, smaller, more intimate brewery a few blocks down you should really get acquainted with...

Meet 101 North Brewing Company, a brand-new microbrewery from a former Bear Republic guy, now open on Fridays or by appointment.

What you have here is a sort of mad scientist’s beer laboratory, but in a warehouse. Copper tanks and fermenters scattered about. Experimental jugs of red ale fermenting along the wall. Kegs everywhere. You know, beer-making stuff.

For now, your drinking options are limited. So limited, there’s only one option: Heroine IPA. It’s brewed with water vapor (instead of the usual fire) and uses an unusually large amount of hops and malt to give it a heartier kick. (Always a good thing, beer-wise.)

Come spring, they’ll be adding a taproom, picnic tables, a sound system and some more beers. In the meantime, you can sample it on tap at the Tee Off Bar or Oakland’s Beer Revolution. Or just hit the brewery, where you can take your pints out to the white plastic chairs in the parking lot that’s serving as a makeshift beer garden.

If you squint your eyes really tight, it... still won’t look like a beer garden.