Just heard from John Martin, who owns Triple Rock in downtown Berkeley. He confirms that he has hired fiormer Drake’s ace brewer Rodger Davis to be head brewer at Triple Rock.

Haven’t reached Rodger, but John says he starts Monday.

He succeeds Christian Kazakoff, who has really made a mark for himself as head brewer at Triple Rock for the last five years. Christian has signed on as headbrewer for Michael Altman at Iron Springs in Fairfax in Marin County.

It’s a win-win deal for beer drinkers. Christian is a great brewer and Mike Altman has won tons of awards at Iron Springs and previously in Boulder, CO. where he brewed at Mountain Sun.

Rodger was the longtime brewer at Drake’s in San Leandro; his experiments with barrel aged beer have been truly outstanding. He left with the idea of starting his own brewpub, with his wife, Claudia, who works at 21st Amendment in San Francisco.

They hit a roadblock: the worsening economic situation, so it remains a dream for now. But it will happen and when it does, wow. But for now, welcome to Triple Rock Rodger. We’re your fans. And welcome to Iron Springs Christian. I now have another reason trek over to Marin.

Photo: Rodger Davis ad Drake’s in 2005.