- Bottoms Up (RSS)New head brewer at Tied House San Jose: Peter Licht of Coast Range
By William Brand
Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 12:34 pm in what's on tap.
Big changes at Tied House San Jose If you live in the South Bay and like good beer, you’ve no doubt visited Tied House, 65 N. San Pedro St, in downtown San Jose. It’s a large, barn of place in a design that in New York they call a “floor through.” You can enter on either San Pedro or the next street. They’ve always offered a long list of very drinkable beer; but I’ve never been a big fan.
That’s changing fast. The owners, who also operate Tied House in Mountain View, have hired Peter Licht, the longtime former Coast Range head brewer, as their head brewer in San Jose. Peter’s injecting new life into the pub. Among other things, he’s putting on a different cask ale every Friday. A reader and frequent poster to this blog, expressed shock at the improvement in the beer. He said the next beer on”Firkin Friday” will be a black IPA.
He also said he was told Tied House has just signed a contract to brew “exotic beers” for BevMo, to be sold under another name. “Interesting…I’ve never really think of Tied House as a destination for exotic beers,” he says.
Well, with Peter Licht at the helm, you can expect some interesting twists and turns. Tied House, by the way, is one of the original American brewpubs. The first one in Mountain View opened in 1988. The original head brewer was Cheuck Tom, who was masterbrewer at San Miguel in the Philippines, then at Anhueuser-Busch. So the beer from the start was excellent.
A second brewpub in Alameda on the Estuary opened in1989, but closed during the big craft beer downturn in the 1990s. San Jose opened in 1991.
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February 2nd, 2009 at 4:25 pm
You reported about a brewpub opening in San Diego…. When are you going to talk about the TWO new breweries NapaSmith and Sonoma Springs?
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:55 pm
It’s about time. Previously, Tied House has always brewed some very mediocre beer. I’ve always felt that this place had a lot of potential (outside of serving cheap beer to Sharks fans who will drink anything on game nights). I’m looking forward to the change. We need some good/interesting brew on tap in the South Bay!
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Adam, if you want more Sonoma Springs I’m hosting a beer week event at the Toad In The Hole in Santa Rosa next Tuesday. Roggenbier, cask pale ale and a new altbier plus a chance to meet brewer Tim Goeppinger. Should be fun.
February 2nd, 2009 at 6:54 pm
It would be nice if this new spirit could be brought to the Mountain View location, too.
February 2nd, 2009 at 8:57 pm
good point. about Napa-Smith and Sonoma Springs. have info on both,\ sorry. will post soon. My Wednesday columnn’s all about Napa-Smith.
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:07 pm
About the “new spirit”. Peter is spending time in both places, he said. So…fingers crossed…
February 3rd, 2009 at 7:34 am
And another good thing about the Tied House in San Jose, to tie this into a discussion we had about a month ago, is that there is decent public transportation. I live about a ten minute walk from a VTA light rail station, so plan to start going there more often.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:14 am
Excellent news. I’m supposed to be there on Saturday for someone’s party, I hope the firkin lasts until then. Even if I’ve taken a violent dislike to the two black IPAs I’ve had so far, it’s hard to turn down local cask ale.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:26 am
If Tied House gets a decent brewer I will be forced to try the stuff again. Considering how weak it has been for so long I will need to be impressed. An IPA in SJ? Could it happen?
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:05 am
Here’s hoping for big changes at Tied Hose. About public transit, it’s also about a mile from Dierdon Station where Caltrain and Amtrak stop. I checked Google and there’s a bus outside the station that runs several times an hour to downtown. I’m going to try that next time I come to San Jose (I know I’m a fool..but I love trains.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:15 am
If anyone visits Tied House before I do, let us know how it went.
February 7th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Made it out on Saturday night to the San Jose location. It’s been a while since I was last there so I can’t make a good comparison but the porter was very good, medium mouthfeel and lots of roastiness. You could mistake it for a stout. The brown ale was decent, though not my favorite style. And the amber ale.. I think they were trying to get rid of an old keg since it was part of their 25 cent beer thing – it had a sour apple aftertaste that was a little baffling. The food was standard. A little disappointed the cask ale is limited to Fridays – the firkin was propped up on the bar, taunting me throughout the night. I’d go again, but would make sure it was a Friday.
February 7th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
I talked to Peter Licht, the brewer. He said he’ll put a firkin on handpump on the first Friday of each month. I plan to be there next month. Good to hear the repoirt on the beer; Peter always made an excellent porter.
About the food, when you look at restaurant rating sites, people complain about the food. Was there about 18 months ago, ordered a hamburger, which was fine. The beer was just blah. That’s before Peter was hired.
April 11th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Anyone know how much a keg of Tied House is? and how to tell if its still good. Someone sold me a whole keg for $30, but I don’t know how to tell if its still good. Someone let me know. thanks.
April 11th, 2011 at 6:53 pm
Jessica,
It’s hard to say. You haven’t provided some of the crucial information needed to determine the answers to your questions.
For example, I assume you mean a half keg, which is 15.5 gallons. Nobody sells whole kegs, which are 31 gallon and are only used as a unit of measure. But there are also 5 gallon kegs and it’s possible by whole you mean that the keg is full. A 15.5 gallon keg from the Tied House runs about $135 and a 5 gallon keg around $60.
Unless there’s a date on the keg, there’s no way to know how old the keg is and in any event there’s no way to tell how it’s been stored before it was sold to you. That has a direct impact on how long the keg will stay fresh. If it’s never been tapped, the shelf life is a little bit longer, but if it has been tapped before then oxygen has been introduced in the keg, and it won’t last nearly as long. In any event, even under the best of conditions, that it is stored cold, an unpasteurized keg (Tied House beer is unpasteurized) will only last around 45-60 days before it’s tapped. Once tapped, only a few days (3-5) if stored optimally (as in a bar) or a few hours in your home.
I don’t want to alarm you, but whoever sold you the keg was breaking the law, too, as you have to be licensed to sell beer in California. Every keg by law has to have a tag on it, indicating where it came from, who bought it, and other information.
The best way to see if it’s still good is to drink it. Even if it’s gone bad, stale been won’t hurt you, it just won’t taste good.