Napa Smith: Making beer in wine country

In the sea of wineries that is Napa Valley, Napa Smith Brewery is an anomaly. While there are now about two dozen craft breweries in Sonoma, with Don Barkley at the helm, Napa Smith Brewery is the only producing brewery in Napa Valley.

'It takes a lot of beer to make good wine,' Barkley says with a smile. 'There's a lot of thirsty winemakers out there.'

Barkley is no stranger to beer or the valley. He's been perfecting the art of making beer for 35 years, driven by a fascination with the beverage that began with an illegal brewing kit in his garage. That was followed by an education in beer making at UC Davis, then a job where he lived in a tent in the hills above Sonoma fighting off squirrels and working for beer, and eventually becoming one of the legendary, award-winning beer masters in the country.

Beer is in Barkley's blood. His great grandfather grew hops in the 1870s, near the Pope Street Bridge in St. Helena. He also ran the David Cole winery.

Barkley brewed his first successful batch of garage beer in 1971, when it was illegal to do so. He was hooked. By 1976 he went 'whole hog' into the art of making beer, and attended the brewing program at UC Davis. Although he is also educated in making wine, you have to wait too long to drink it, he said.

After graduation, with long, flowing hair (these days it's tied back in a ponytail) Barkley went to ask the owner of New Albion Brewing Comapny, Jack McAuliffe, for a job.

Founded in 1976, New Albion, in Sonoma, was the first new brewery to open in the U.S. since the repeal of prohibition in 1933. Without the kind of facilities available today, they were modifying old dairy equipment to make it work.

'I went in 1978 and asked Jack for a job. He told me to leave under no uncertain terms,' Barkley recalled with a smile.

He went back again several months later and was hired under new management. He worked for a case of beer a week and all he could drink on the job – doing all those things that involved making beer. During this time, he lived in a canvas tent in the hills above Sonoma with his girlfriend, who is now his wife, and he still remembers the squirrels that were relentless after his granola.

In 1983 Barkley, joined the crew at Mendocino Brewing Company. He was intrigued by the brand new idea of an on-site brew pub, the first one in the U.S. since the repeal of prohibition; brewing beer in the back and serving it out front. He stayed there for 25 years, and still has a home in Hopland.

In 2007, Barkley crossed the county line into Napa when his father fell ill.

Napa Smith Brewery opened that same year, when Greg Cutuli and his wife, Kathy Smith-Cutuli, bought the former Hakusan Sake Gardens. Pelican Brands of Indiana acquired the South Napa business in 2010, then three years later was bought by Lipman Brand out of Tennessee.

That first year, the brewery put out 500 barrels of beer. Today, they are shooting for 4,500-5,000 barrels a year.

Napa Smith opened a tap room in 2013, where patrons can taste their way through the 10 brews on tap or hang out for a pint and a game of darts. Their beer is distributed in about a half-dozen states, such diverse markets as Disneyland, Disney World and Sweden, and has been known to make appearances at Burning Man, thanks to Barkley.

Like the wine industry, Napa Smith pairs its beer with food. On the back of each label is a food pairing suggestion. The Pilsner, for example, is paired with brick oven pizza, fresh fish and sautéed shrimp. They also take their beer on the road to food parings.

'Beer inherently goes better universally with food. Wine can be spectacular, but it's more specific,' Barkley said.

Barkley's credo is quality over quantity, and he readily admits he looks to the neighboring wineries as a model, also comparing the growth of craft brewers to the growth of small wineries.

'Each beer and bottle is my handshake and smile to the customer,' he said.

Organic beer

Making beer brings together all of the disciplines Barkley is fond of; artistry, technology, physics and microbiology.

He decided to add an IPA to Napa Smith's repertoire in 2009, and true to his perfectionist nature, wanted to make it a special beer.

Sourcing from various regions across the U.S., Barkley said organic hops were a rare commodity back then and the quality of organic malt was variable. It also took a lot longer to become certified organic than he thought it would.

Switching from making regular beer to organic is a pretty straightforward process, he said. Between batches that involves purging the lines, stringent cleaning, and sanitation is king. Raw materials need to be kept separate from non-organic and everything needs to be documented.

While making wine needs to be done close to the source of grapes, beer-making materials can be shipped in from anywhere. Barkley's organic IPA has a unique flavor because he uses Palisades hops, which he could initially only find in New Zealand. Now he sources them from Yakima, Wash. The hops are the principal flavor component, and its savoryness separates it from most IPA's which are 'piney and dark,' he said.

The only other brewery producing organic beer in the Bay area is Mendocino Brewing Company in Sonoma.

Sweden and Burning Man

Napa Smith distributes its beer to Whole Foods, Lucky's, Safeway, and specialty bars and restaurants that Barkley travels the country hand selecting.

Sweden is the biggest consumer of Napa Smith's Organic IPA. In 2012, the country put out a call around the world for an organic IPA, and Napa Smith's came out on top. The beer is in the more than 100 state-run liquor stores called Systembolaget, the only retail stores allowed to sell alcohol.

As for in Burning Man, Barkley has been a regular participant in the eclectic festival that takes place every year in the Black Rock desert in northern Nevada. And of course he brings beer.

In the past, he and his cohorts have rigged wheels onto a desk, and with cold beer stacked on top they rolled the portable bar around the communal event giving away beer.

'We were contributing to the party. What tastes better than a cold beer in a hot desert?' Barkley said.

As for the craft beer's growth, Barkley sees great potential, with brewers from all over the world coming to the U.S. to learn how to make craft beer.

'To look at the craft brewing industry today, it's far beyond anything I could have dreamed, with the creativity and opportunity for an American success story.'