Bay Area Bites: What beer are you brewing now that is more experimental? Where do your ideas come from?

McLean: I’m currently working on a potential family of beers from the same starting point using wooden barrels. The beer is blended with an unaged version of itself. Since I’ve got elements of time and space, I can stack in the new space and let the beers sit and do their thing.

We work with a farmer in England. Each year we started out trying one ton of malt which sounds like a lot but it got us through four or five batches of beer. This year since we had the space we can get malt and have it at Dogpatch and then bring it over here and use as needed. We have room to play around with it.

Inspiration comes from everywhere. There’s a general receptivity about ideas that strike you at time--in conversations with colleagues. Collaboration is the nature of our industry. We talk a lot online and in person. That fosters an environment. An idea can come from any time if you’re being open to it. Research is not the norm anymore, but it was at the beginning of my career.

Bay Area Bites: Where do you think we are with craft beer production and appreciation in the Bay Area and nationally?

McLean: In both cases it’s at an all time high. I don’t know if my peers 15-20 years ago were setting out to change the American beer industry. The American beer culture has changed. The share of the market that is craft beer is higher than people ever thought possible.

Just like the food movement, people are showing that they prefer to identify with things made in their back yard by people they know. Those same hallmarks are showing up in the craft beer world. Not that long ago that you had to go to a craft beer pub but now you can’t open a restaurant without a decent craft beer component. I would expect it for the Bay Area because this is the cradle of the craft beer movement. One could argue that only recently the Bay Area is realizing its potential for the craft beer community.

The rest of the country is definitely catching up. There are more interesting statistics --a vast majority of Americans live within ten miles of a craft brewery. That was a surprise.

Bay Area Bites: Tell us about your career and goals.

McLean: The nature of this craft beer movement at magnolia is that what’s possible continues to expand and that bucket gets bigger. It allows for this constant assessment and reformulation of vision.

In the beginning I was a 26 year-old home brewer. At that point the goal was surviving and not going out of business. The industry grew and we started making more beer. I got involved in events and had a history with people, which is important to add that to my vision.

This next growth spurt is a new level of visioning of what to do with the beer. I don't want to characterize things as doing it by the seat of our pants because there is strategic thinking involved. Yet some of the charm of what makes it fun to come to work is figuring out, “Where are we going with this?”

It’s not all been a super easy or rosy path to get here and I have made dumb mistakes. Thinking as a brewer that it is easy to run a restaurant was almost catastrophic mistake Number One. I hired friends, and we spent a lot of time nearly failing. Now I’d like to pivot off the trial and error period that’s lasted ten to fifteen years and make something that’s built to last.

Now that I’m in my forties, I think about the fact that there are breweries that outlive their founders. So it’s coming up with a succession plan. We’re going to grow the business and grow the brand. I’d like it to be such a great place to work that we keep folks for a long time. There’s a natural maturation when you manage and operate something that leaves a good mark. Being a bit bigger gives you more freedom and flexibility to create a better work place that’s more sustainable in all ways, not just in ingredient sourcing. I try to live up to that.

Bay Area Bites: What are your favorite local joints for beer and food?

McLean: We have such a community of people approaching their craft in the same way. When you go out, it’s “who do you want to check in on and see what they’re up to?” I subconsciously landed myself at the nexus of cocktails, craft beer and food.

I love the Ferry Building. My wife and I love Nopa and our whole family loves the quesadilla roja con chicharon at Nopalito. I admire and look to Nopa and Nopalito to see how they do it – the folks there are kindred spirits.

Similarly, running into Bi-Rite Market’s Sam Mogannam at events always feels like I’m with a long lost cousin or brother.

Zuni is a familiar comfort spot. At the off peak times, it’s better and feels like an awesome San Francisco thing. That inspires me. I love that you can be hungry at three in the afternoon and find a place that’s doing killer drinks and food.

Ryan Farr's burger at his 4505 Meats stand is always amazing. It’s an addiction.

Related Information:

Magnolia Gastropub and Brewery
Address: Map
1398 Haight St.
San Francisco CA 94117
(415) 864-7468
Facebook: Magnolia Gastropub & Brewery
Twitter: @magnoliapub

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