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The season for the Damm Family Vineyards has slipped by quickly, and Sept. 29 marks the last day this year that its tasting room, The Silo, will be open to the public. This means one last chance to enjoy its Pinnacles Beer, brewed on-site by Hollister’s code3brewing.
Well-known to local aficionados, code3brewing poses the question, “What do you get when a firefighter and two cops start homebrewing?” The answer seems to be some fantastic beers produced by former Sunnyvale Public Service Officer Ralph Chavez, San Jose Fire Captain Cuco Chavez and Monterey County Sheriff’s Deputy Brian Kennedy.
The crew started brewing about ten years ago when, by chance, Ralph was jogging by neighbor Dick Rogers’ house and saw him setting up what he took to be a sculpture.
“I had no idea what it was,” Chavez said. “He said, I’m brewing beer.’ He was being taught by his older brother, who had been taught by one of the original brewers from Hollister’s San Andreas Brewing Company, which was way ahead of their time, in my opinion.”
Chavez began with small home brewing kits, and code3brewing was born within a year.
“That San Andreas beer-making tradition began to trickle down to me,” he said. “Cuco and Brian both have a passion for craft beers, so I invited them to join me. Home kits are great because you are just producing a gallon, and if something goes wrong, you don’t feel bad about dumping it.”
Cuco at first didn’t know what to make of his brother’s new project or of the five-gallon jugs from Lowe’s or the strange equipment that he had never seen before.
“I’d hang out at his house watching the process and having a beer, he said “I thought, ‘This is pretty cool, this is interesting.’ “He started putting me to work, and as I started learning the processes, he got me hook line and sinker.”
Learning how to brew beer is, Ralph said, relatively easy at first, and just a simple setup can produce great results.
“You can use inexpensive materials,” he said, “and you can literally start on a cooktop and ferment in a plastic bucket. You can make a quality beer if your technique and procedure are correct. It gets expensive when you want to advance to the next level.”
When the friends started brewing, they were producing beer in five-gallon batches. That changed when Ralph retired from the force a little over three years ago.
“I was going to buy a retirement gift for myself,” he said. “I ended up getting a one-barrel system and made a deal with my brother and Brian that they would buy the ingredients and we would brew together. That way everybody walks away with at least one five-gallon keg of beer.”
A one barrel system produces 30 gallons of beer, which friends discovered was much more than their individual needs required.
“We have been able to sponsor a lot of nonprofit organizations here in town,” Ralph said. “We would donate our beer to good causes and we still do that to this day. We feel blessed to be where we are at, in this stage of life, to be able to get back to the community.”
Ralph said that his favorite part of the process is sitting down with a piece of paper and a pencil and putting together a recipe that they haven’t tried before.
“We try to marry the grains with the hops and the yeast to produce a good-tasting, quality beer,” he said. “And the way we judge our beer is if we drink a pint and say, ‘You know what? I’d enjoy a second glass of that,’ then we know we did alright. That’s our standard.”
At the moment, the friends are still brewing just one barrel at a time for the Damm family— over 40 barrels so far this summer—but their beer has proved to be so successful at the tasting room that they will be getting a bigger system next year.
“I enjoy brewing commercially for the Damms,” Ralph said, “ because it still allows me to enjoy my retirement. I don’t feel like I’m consistently working all the time and it keeps it at a point where it’s still a hobby, which is fun. And I have to say the Damms are fantastic people, and they give us their full support.”
The Beers of Pinnacles and code3brewing Companies
A-Damm Red Ale (5.1%) – “One of the Damn brothers is Adam,” Cuco said, “and this is kind of a spin-off of his name. We don’t make a lot of red ales, but I absolutely love this one. I love how it’s conditioned. For me, it’s a really good clean tasting red that’s beautifully balanced, and I’ll leave it at that.” With a roasted malt aroma mixed with floral notes from Cascade, the only hops used in the brewing, it presents with a pleasant herbal spiciness. The malt lightly coats the mouth, lingers for a moment, then softly falls off at the end. It’s easy to drink, with a bit of caramel and an edge that quickly dissipates with no bitterness. This was my favorite of the beers I tried.
Damm Good Hazy (6.0%) – This New England-style IPA is brewed with oats, which gives it a nice creamy texture and the hops give it the citrusy mango aroma with the touch of pineapple. It smells like a summer day—Cuco described it as “Fruity Pebbles on the nose.” It’s a gentle beer with a finish that just vanishes, which makes it very easy drinking. The flavor profile is compelling and attractive, and it’s exactly the kind of beer I love. This, to me, is a must try.
Backroads Blonde (4.3%) – “This is the beer that sells the most here,” said Ralph. “it’s brewed to be light, clean and refreshing and in beautiful hot weather, when you’re just relaxing, you can have several pints and not have the worry about feeling you had too much to drink.” Made with Two Row grain, Munich malt, and a combination of Amarillo and Willamette hops, there is a touch of citrus in the aroma, a gentle, sweet smoothness to the flavor and a crisp finish that leaves you wanting more.
Pale Dust Pale Ale (5.9%) – “This is brewed like a traditional pale ale,” said Ralph, “so you’re gonna get the bitterness, but more of a welcoming rather than harsh bitterness. The hop are Chinook from Hollister Hopyard, so it’s almost like you’re getting San Benito County earth coming through those hops.” The bitterness comes mostly as a tingling sensation on the front of the tongue, but the boldness of the hops quickly replaces it, with a slow retreat that offers a return to light bitterness in the finish. This is the kind of beer that would go well with a big bowl of nachos, something to complement the boldness of the flavor.
Recommendations for future Eat, Drink, Savor articles can be emailed to roberteliason@benitolink.com.
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