Thank You and Goodbye Rubicon Brewing

A little before we launched The Full Pint in 2007, we were ticking as many microbrews as we could get our hands on. Whether it be clearing out the shelf at BevMo, or getting tickets to a Stone Anniversary celebration, we wanted to try any and every craft beer we could. Right off the top of my head, we got very familiar with brands such as Moylan’s, Marin Brewing, Mad River Brewing, North Coast Brewing, Lost Coast Brewing as well as Sacramento’s own Rubicon Brewing. In our impressionable minds, anyone Stone Brewing invited to their Invitational Beer Festival must be good brewers with good beer, so that was a good point of reference for us.

Rubicon Brewing had their flagship IPA on the shelves of big box liquor stores as well as local liquor stores, and it was always a no-brainer to throw it into the mix of “new” and “tried and true.” It was always under six bucks a bomber and usually fresh. As we got The Full Pint up and running, one of the first people we wanted to talk to was Glynn Phillips, owner and brewer over at Rubicon. He got us up and running with samples to review, and would grant us interviews or blurbs about current events in NorCal.

Then the big craft beer boom happened around 2012. Their distribution in our area of SoCal dried up. Many beer bars began opening up near their brewpub and you began hearing less and less about the nearly 30 year old brewery as the waves became too big and too strong. Rubicon would often report of challenges in their neighborhood that would set them back.

To be perfectly honest, until I heard the news yesterday of Rubicon Brewing closing it’s doors, Glynn and his brewery were buried deep in my memory banks. Although we lost touch, and strong forces led to tough decisions, we won’t forget that Rubicon was part of what made The Full Pint what we are today. We’d like to extend a big thank you to Glynn and his team and hope that everyone involved lands on their feet. Here is the letter Glynn wrote to the public yesterday.

It is with a heavy heart that I share that Rubicon Brewing Company will be closing its doors this month. For nearly 30 years, you have been  part of the Rubicon family, an amazing, dedicated group of beer lovers who made our pub a home away from home. The Tap Room in West Sacramento will be open Thursday & Friday next week (August 17&18) and then, will close permanently.  The Brew Pub in Midtown will be serving food until Wednesday (August 9) and beer until the end of the month (or until we run out…)

More information will be coming later this week, but for now, everyone at the Rubicon thanks you for your many years of support, friendship and laughs. We hope to see you over the next few weeks to enjoy a pint and say goodbye.

Cheers to you and for your friendship and patronage through the years.

Glynn Phillips