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Get the Inside Sip: Urban Roots
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Urban Roots is an independent craft brewery and smokehouse located in Sacramento. They have been around since 2018, and have some truly amazing beer. Learn more in this exclusive interview with their co-founder and brewmaster, Peter Hoey.
Urban Roots is an independent craft brewery and smokehouse located in Sacramento. They have been around since 2018, and have some truly amazing beer. Learn more in this exclusive interview with their co-founder and brewmaster, Peter Hoey.
As a brewer for a unique, local brand, what is your brewing mantra? We like to make interesting, approachable and balanced beer in a variety of styles. Beer should be a joy to drink, not a challenge or something you have to learn to like. Inspired by art, music and travel, we pour those experiences into our beer flavors and label art.
How would you describe your brewery? Beer is a thing that brings people together, the great connector. At any given time, you can see people from all walks of life from all over the world having a beer together at our pub. We live by the mantra, “Travelers Welcome,” which is painted just above our front door. Our style is inspired by world travel and the beer cultures we have experienced all over the world, and we want to share that same welcoming atmosphere with our guests.
What sets your brewery apart from others? Any future plans? While we may be known for IPAs and saisons, we make a lot of lager as well. These beers take longer to make, so many breweries choose to only make ales; however, from day one we designed the brewery with lager production in mind. This year we plan to expand our experimental IPA offerings and add in some fun new wine and spirit barrel-aged beers.
What brewing processes do you use that are different or less traditional than most breweries? Time. Our lagers are cold-aged for a minimum of 45 days, and our spirit and wine barrel-aged beers take anywhere from 6–24 months to develop the flavors we want. To put that in perspective, a typical IPA can be made in 14 days from brew day to packaging.
What are you doing to make the brewing industry more sustainable? All of our spent grain (what is left after we extract the sugars from barley malt) goes to a local farmer who raises goats and sheep. There are efficiencies built into our brewhouse to reclaim water for subsequent brewing and cleaning operations, and we have a high-volume on-demand hot water generator so we don’t have to spend energy keeping large volumes of water hot and ready to use.
How many local folks do you employ? During normal operations, our two restaurants and brewery employ about 60 people.
Do you use local ingredients? We have an entire line of saison-style beers that use all local ingredients. Wheat and barley are grown in Woodland and Esparto, California, which is then malted in Alameda. We also have beers in this series featuring local fruit.
Have any good stories about failed experiments? We say that when an intended outcome fails that the beer just wants to be something else. It is up to us as creators to let that happen rather than fight it. For example, we have a beer in our seasonal lineup called “Juice Flowers” which is a double IPA with apricots. Originally, we wanted a piney, citrusy double IPA, but when we tasted it after dry-hopping, it was all stone fruit flavors from the hops. We rolled with that by adding apricots to enhance that character even further, and a new beer was born!
How much beer do you make in a year? Last year we produced 2,600 barrels, which is about 5,200 full-size kegs or 26,000 cases of 16-oz. cans.
What new releases will we be seeing in our stores? Modest Pleasures IPA is our most recent addition to our lineup—it’s a tropical, easy-drinking unfiltered IPA. Also expect to see Mellowwood Maibock, a traditional German-style lager that we cold-age in Bogle wine barrels, as well as a series of constantly rotating IPAs.
What brewing trends are you most excited about? We are starting to see more and more brewers make lager, which is exciting for us, but we also like the trend back toward clean, crisp West Coast-style IPAs.
Who is your favorite local brewer? Flatland Brewing in Elk Grove, California. Creative, interesting beer while still being something you can drink a whole glass of.
What’s your favorite beer to drink right now? The beer I drink most is Urban Roots 10 ̊ Czech Lager.
What is your “Desert Island Beer”? Saison DuPont.
What beers are you most proud of creating? Our 10 ̊ Czech Lager. It is such a light and delicate style, there are no loud flavors to hide flaws behind. To make a beer that is only 3.7% ABV but so clean and full of flavor is something we are very proud of.
For another fun Q&A, check out our interview with New Glory!
