New Helvetia: Sacramento’s Co-op Brewery

The aroma of hops, pale ale, and crisp lager fills the air as you enter the small craft brewery on the corner of 18th and Broadway.

New Helvetia Brewing Company, open Wednesday through Sunday, was founded 13 years ago as a celebration of the city’s history and culture. 

The brewery hosts community events that include run clubs, trivia nights, and special dinners. 

Owner David Gull said the name of the brewery is his love letter to Sacramento. 

“New Helvetia was the name of the land grant that established what would become Sacramento,” Gull said. “That's always been part of our story. It’s what we can do that highlights some of the cool stuff that happens around here and our history and tell our stories.”

The brewery stands out by offering tap beers that pay homage to Sacramento landmarks and historical figures, such as a 916 Pale Ale and an American Red Ale named after actress Molly Ringwald, who is from Roseville.

According to Gull, New Helvetia aims to become the first cooperative-owned brewery in Sacramento.

“My goal has been to celebrate Sacramento and our people, our stories, our history,” he said. “The employees and the community will become the owners of this brewery. We have roughly 300 Co-op members now. We launched this endeavor about two years ago.”

In July, the brewery partnered with former Jim Denny’s owner and Tower Bridge Chef N’Gina Guyton, where she brought the spirit of her former restaurant in the form of a food truck.

Beer and food 

Jim Denny’s, located on 12th and H Street, abruptly closed in early July. Knowing the owner, Guyton, through their shared industry, Gull said he reached out and asked if she would be interested in working on the food truck.

“I admire people who do things and starting a business of any kind is difficult,” Gull said. “She came and looked at [the food truck] and thought it over, and then said, ‘Yeah, I think we can make this work.’”

Guyton is working the food truck on Wednesdays through Sunday, serving dinner from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. According to Guyton, she’s still figuring out what's best to serve the customers. 

“We still have the classics, like, we still have the burgers, we still have the dogs. We are also learning that some items don't work here because it is next to a brewery and people want more bar snacky foods,” Guyton said. “We just recently added chicken wings on the menu, which we had at Jim Denny's, but they weren't a hit there, but they are here.”

Being in a food truck, as opposed to a full-service restaurant, does present its own set of challenges.

“You can still put out great food, but there are some amenities and luxuries that are missing, and it does make things a little more difficult,” Gull said.

Guyton agreed and said the number one thing that’s challenging is the heat.

“It's hot, a food truck is, she's a hot cookie,” she said.” The other challenge, I would say, is just people's expectation that we're going to be able to carry the entire menu like we did at Jim Denny's, and we just can't do that.”

On Monday, September ​​22, the brewery will be hosting a dinner inspired by Terra Madre America’s food festival. According to Guyton, the dinner will feature southern cuisine, and Gull will pair each course with a beer.

“There’ll be an appetizer, the mains and a dessert course,” she said. “Definitely going very southern with this. It's what the people want, so I'm going to give it to them.”

Beer and Community

Gull said he’s doing a special beer for the Terra Madre Dinner called the HIMBY Project, which stands for “hops in my backyard.”

“We had a couple dozen local Sacramento area residents that literally grew hops in their backyard,” he said. “We took it a step further and used a local, Northern California malting company.”

Malt provides the sugars necessary for beer production, Gull said. 

Kevin Becraft, the head brewer of New Helvetia, said the brewery has 18 taps available. 

“We have on tap a Belgian-style wit beer, a Japanese-style lager that's made with rice, an Irish-style dry stout, and we have West Coast IPA,” Becraft said. “Then we have a classic American-style lager. It's called Buffalo Lager.”

According to Gull, the brewery revived the Buffalo Lager as an homage to Buffalo Brewing Company — one of the biggest distribution centers in the early 1900s — which was based in Sacramento. They supplied beer to California, Oregon, Mexico and Hawaii, and eastern regions of Asia.

Becraft said what he likes most about brewing beer at New Helvita is the community.

“I really like that our brewery is a neighborhood brewery,” he said. “A lot of people that frequent our establishment come from the neighborhood surrounding New Helvetia, and I've become friends with a lot of customers.”

Becraft said one of the frequent customers used to come into the brewery all the time with his dog. 

The dog unfortunately passed away, so Becraft asked if there was anything he could do for him because his dog was a staple. The customer requested that he brew a beer and name it after his dog, Chloe, which he agreed to.

“I have this old recipe that I used to make a long time ago that incorporates some spices and some honey and some orange peel, and it was just the beginning of the summer. It's kind of a summer ale,” he said. “So we made a beer in commemoration of his dog, and we designed a label with her portrait on the front, and some of the proceeds of the sales of that beer went to the ASPCA.”

The brewery will be expanding to the Sacramento International Airport, Gull said.

“You’ll see a big new bar at Terminal A, [where] United and Delta and American fly in and out of,” he said. “We’ll be paired with Magpie Kitchen and Paragary, Centro. And it really is one of the most marquee spots in the terminal.”

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