Most of Petaluma's Taps Pour Beer Brewed Somewhere Else, Except on North McDowell

"There are a lot of fine dining restaurants and dive bars in Petaluma, but not much middle ground," Rachel Pignata, general manager of Old Caz Backyard, told the Press Democrat when the Grey Street taproom opened on Saturday, August 8, 2026. Old Caz now pours 30 taps in that middle ground. It brews every one of them in Rohnert Park.

That is the pattern across most of Petaluma's beer scene this fall. More of the town's pints come from brewers based in other Sonoma County towns. Beer and cider made inside Petaluma come from a short stretch of North McDowell Boulevard.

The Block's handoff went to a brewery up the 101

The Block opened at 20 Grey St., behind the AutoZone on East Washington Street, during Butter & Egg Days in 2017. It began as a food truck park and beer garden. Over the years it added a brick pizza oven, barbecue kitchens, a full bar and an outdoor stage. Owner Cody Hildreth closed his run with a farewell "Blockfest" on Saturday, May 9, 2026, and told Petaluma News the space was going to "a group we know and trust, and who we consider as family."

That group was Old Caz, and the opening day showed where the beer comes from. A 7.3-mile procession of 300 cyclists and 50 walkers carried the brewery's original handmade tap handle from its Rohnert Park taproom at SOMO Village to Grey Street, where about 500 people watched it go in. Old Caz's production facility is still on State Farm Drive in Rohnert Park.

The Petaluma location still has local roots. Co-founders Tom Edwards and Bryan Rengel started Old Caz in 2018. They met on the Sonoma State rowing team and used to row on the Petaluma River, a short distance from the new taproom. The Backyard has a fire pit, local wine and cider, and a kids' play area with a miniature Old Caz trailer. The kitchen serves pizzas like the Pig N Peach, made with house spicy sausage and roasted local peaches. By late September the in-house Caz Eats program was running alongside rotating food vendors. In September, Old Caz and the Museum of Sonoma County also released a limited Running Fence West Coast IPA, sold at both the Petaluma and Rohnert Park taprooms.

Where the beer on Petaluma's taps is made

Here is where the beer at each Petaluma taproom comes from, based on each business's own description and local reporting:

Crooked Goat states its approach plainly: "We brew all of our beer at our Sebastopol location and ship what we need to Petaluma." The Howard Street taproom opened in 2022, 17 miles from the original. Neither location has a kitchen, so in Petaluma the taproom takes orders from short menus by Acme Burger and Stefano's. Brewsters works the same way on a bigger board. Its live draft list credits beers to makers such as Great Notion and Humble Sea, and HenHouse's Wedding of the Century is listed under HenHouse's name. Even the cider on the west side of the map comes from out of town. Ethic Ciders lists its cidery at 8490 Occidental Road in Sebastopol.

How a Petaluma brewery ended up brewing in Santa Rosa

HenHouse shows the pattern most clearly. Petaluma friends Collin McDonnell, Shane Goepel and Scott Goyne started it in 2013. Two years later, at 2,000 barrels a year, it moved brewing out of Petaluma Hills Brewing Co. and into a Santa Rosa facility built for 30,000 barrels. Petaluma Hills closed in 2017.

In April 2025, HenHouse merged with San Francisco's Fort Point Beer Company. The Argus-Courier described the deal as a response to declining craft beer sales. Production was consolidated in Santa Rosa after Fort Point closed its Presidio brewery. The combined company makes about 40,000 barrels a year, which made it the fourth-largest craft brewer in Northern California, behind Petaluma's Lagunitas and Chico's Sierra Nevada. The brands stayed separate, the merger came with no layoffs, and McDonnell summed up the strategy as "deep, not wide."

That phrase also describes how the area's beer businesses are growing. They expand by opening more places to drink their beer, not by building more brewhouses. Old Caz brought its Rohnert Park beer to Grey Street. Brewsters' owners went the other way and took over the former Bear Republic taproom by Roberts Lake in Rohnert Park, which reopened as Waterhawk Lake Club on July 30, 2025. Beer now crosses the county line in both directions, and Petaluma ends up with more places to drink and fewer places that brew.

The North McDowell stretch where the beer is still made

Head northeast toward North McDowell Boulevard and the story changes. Within a few hundred street numbers, three producers make beer or cider within sight of where you drink it.

1. Lagunitas, 1280 N. McDowell Blvd. The company calls this its flagship brewery and offers tours on site. The taproom is open daily, with the kitchen running Thursday through Sunday.
2. HenHouse Palace of Barrels, 1333 N. McDowell Blvd. Most HenHouse beer is brewed in Santa Rosa, but the Palace ages beer in oak here. The brewery's current page lists a 2026 barrel-aged stout release at this location, and the tap list was updated October 1, 2026.
3. Goat Rock Cider, 1364 N. McDowell Blvd. The cidery is in Petaluma, and the company invites visitors to see where its ciders are made. Tastings are by appointment, Tuesday through Sunday, year-round.

Lagunitas is the one brewery here that has grown while much of the industry shrank. An August 2026 Press Democrat profile reported that Lagunitas's Petaluma taproom revenue was up about 7%, or roughly $400,000, compared with the same quarter a year earlier. Sales of A Little Sumpin Sumpin Ale were up 19% in the first six months of the year. CEO Bernardo Spielmann called Lagunitas the fifth-biggest craft brewer in the U.S., with about 300 employees nationally, more than 200 of them in California.

The same profile explained something people on the SMART pathway behind the brewery noticed this summer: two crumpled 15,500-gallon stainless steel tanks. Each tank collapsed inward when it was emptied without enough venting. The first incident was in 2021, and the second was overnight on June 18, 2026. No one was hurt, and both tanks had been used for small batches. Lagunitas still runs 58 fermentation tanks between its production brewery and pilot brewery, and it has no plans to replace the two damaged ones. Core beers like Lagunitas IPA and the Hazy IPA use about 70% of the 250-barrel brewing system while they are being made.

The brewery also hosts events beyond its regular schedule. On Saturday, October 3, it hosted the 24th California Jug Band Festival, the festival's first year in Petaluma after several years in Dixon.

Pours on the October calendar

Some October dates are already fixed across both kinds of taprooms:

• Brewsters Oktoberfest: The Water Street beer garden's last fall weekends are October 10 and 11, following October 3 and 4.
• Lagunitas weeknights: Trivia every Wednesday and music bingo every Thursday at the North McDowell taproom.
• Crooked Goat on Howard Street: Weekly trivia all year, plus a Halloween party the brewery calls "legendary." Both locations welcome dogs.
• Old Caz Backyard: Running Fence IPA is a limited release poured on Grey Street and in Rohnert Park.
• HenHouse Palace of Barrels: Check the barrel-aged stout and the food-truck calendar before you go. Both are posted on the brewery's Petaluma page.

A walk from Grey Street over to North McDowell takes you from a taproom for Rohnert Park beer to a brewery that has been pouring in Petaluma for more than 25 years.

Being close to places like Grey Street, Howard Street or the North McDowell corridor shapes everyday life in a Petaluma home, and it shapes how buyers see that home. If you're wondering what your home's location is worth in today's market, Jen Birmingham is glad to talk it through. Request a free home valuation and seller consultation, and you'll get a clear, local read on your home and its block.