Gilman Brewing celebrates second location with announcement of a third

In 2015, two veterinary orthopedic surgeons and a musician opened Gilman Brewing‘s production brewery and taproom on the bustling Gilman Street in West Berkeley, Calif. Together, the three friends transformed an old, 9,500-sq-ft automotive repair shop into a brewery and taproom with their own hands.

From that humble beginning came loyal customers and award-winning beer. In fact, Gilman Brewing Co. just finished off an expansion by opening a second taproom and gastropub in Daly City. What’s next? Well, why stop at two? The team marked the occasion by announcing that they are set to open a third taproom in downtown Pleasanton, Calif., in 2020. Oh, and while they are at it, they are expanding the original Gilman Street location from 9,000 to 13,800 sq ft.

Featuring light fixtures, taps and trim handcrafted by Owner and Brewmaster Sean Wells and his crew back at the brewery in Berkeley, the 2,900-sq-ft Daly City location features a farm-to-table food menu developed by Executive Chef Kurt Steeber, formerly a chef at Zuni Café. Every item is prepped in-house, with locally sourced and organic ingredients featured whenever possible. Just like their focus on handcrafting only the finest brews, the Daly City crew produces artisanal sausage and butchers fresh calamari — they even grind their own hamburger by hand. 

“We’re super excited to be the first and only craft brewery to open a taproom/restaurant in Daly City,” said Wells. “The community here needs a gathering place for great locally brewed craft beer. Living here in Daly City, it personally means a lot to me for the city to finally have fresh beer available at the level that northern California beer aficionados have come to expect. Gilman Brewing is now here in Daly City to fulfill that need.”

Wells said they plan on also opening an adjacent 400-sq-ft enclosed heated outdoor patio before the end of the year.

Get to know Gilman

Gilman Brewing has amassed a rabid following of craft beer fans through its hard work and grit churning out an interesting lineup of rotating beers. Gilman Brewing thrives as one of the top East Bay craft breweries with its premium IPAs, but its farmhouse ales and saisons are Gilman’s most decorated beers, winning awards across the country.

Wells and his laid-back crew of brewers, bartenders, musicians and builders said they are “devoted to taking the pretension out of craft brewing with a beer lineup representing its blue-collar spirit and fascination of workin’ on cars, motorcycles, metal and wailin’ on Johnny Cash songs with the house band while on break at the brewery.”

With beer names such as Satan Is My Motor, Quarter Panel, Antifreeze, Fuzzy Dice, Dashboard Jesus, Bad Tattoo and Autoshop IPA, Gilman Brewing Company rotates 35 seasonal and annual beers throughout the year available both on draught and select special releases in 16-oz cans. The 3,000 bbls of annual production is served fresh at its West Berkeley taproom and new Daly City taproom/restaurant located at 2001 Junipero Serra Blvd.

When not brewing their idiosyncratic beers, Wells and his team can be found performing live music in their adjacent barrel-aging room or working on one of their never-ending projects expanding the brewery, installing larger fermenters, welding tap handles or trim for the taproom, or wrenching on their handbuilt ’69 Triumph chopper and the iconic company mascot ’66 Chevy pickup.