Uptown Oakland is quickly becoming a destination for outdoor craft beer tippling. Soon to join the Telegraph Beer Garden, Lost and Found and the cozy patios at bars like Beer Revolution and The Trappist is Drake’s Dealership, a restaurant and beer garden from San Leandro-based Drake’s Brewing Company.
Drake’s Dealership will open this month as part of the Hive Oakland complex on Broadway’s Auto Row, and it will feature wood-fired pizza, 32 beers on tap and a “brewery store” with a growler station in addition to an open-air beer garden. Its name is a reference to the original occupants of the 100-year-old building — a Dodge dealership that operated through the 1950s. Drake’s Dealership was designed by Flynn Architecture and Farm League Design (the folks behind Berkeley’s East Bay Spice Company, Tigerlily and Westbrae Biergarten).
Drake’s is one of the more established East Bay breweries; it was founded in San Leandro in 1989 by Roger Lind, who cut his beer brewing chops at Berkeley’s Triple Rock. Lind originally brewed British-style ales exclusively for draft-only distribution. Eventually, Drake’s shifted to a West Coast style of beer-making, placing a greater emphasis on hoppy brews like IPAs, and began bottling its beers for wider distribution. Drake’s opened its San Leandro tasting room in 2011; the Dealership will be its first foray into full-fledged brewpub territory.
In addition to the full line-up of Drake’s beers, the Dealership will pour exclusive releases from their “Brewhouse One” experimental brewing program, and rotating guest taps from other local breweries. The full-service pizza-focused restaurant at the Dealership will be helmed by Taylor Smith, formerly of San Francisco’s Local Kitchen and Jasper’s Corner Tap.
Hive Oakland will also soon be home to Calavera, Red Bay Coffee, Firebrand Artisan Bread and Numi Tea. It will be hosting a block party as a part of Oakland’s First Friday event August 7 from 6:30-10 p.m. The party will include food and cocktails from Calavera, pizza and beer from Drake’s and late-night haircuts from People’s Barber. The jury’s out on how smart a 10 p.m. haircut will be after a few beers or margaritas.
Drake’s Dealership will be at 2325 Broadway (between 23rd and 24th streets), Oakland. Connect with the brewery on Facebook and Twitter.
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