Tap Handle #800: Brothers Brewing - Honey Brewed Amber Ale

March 08, 2023

Tap Handle #800: Brothers Brewing - Honey Brewed Amber Ale

Tap size: 11"

Rarity: brewery closed, less than 10 seen

Mounting: 3/8" flared ferrule on 5/16" anchor bolt

For every 100 taps profiled, I mark the accomplishment as a milestone for this site. It's almost laughable to look back at at an old profile like #400 in 2014, in which I discuss how I had acquired 500 taps and that there would be "at least 100 more posts for you to look forward to." So I'm going to have a drink to celebrate hitting profile #800. For this special post I'll be profiling the Honey Brewed Amber Ale from Brothers Brewing. I first saw this tap as part of huge collector's auction back in 2014, and after that, it was near the top of my wish list for years. Thanks to Bill Ford, good friend of the Museum, I was finally able to attain it. There's a cliché I use from time to time to say that photos don't do the tap justice - this is one of those times. This thing is beautiful! The main feature of the tap is a cello. Not only is the detail great, but the "wood" of the cello has been painted to look like real maple with a rich, glossy finish. At the top of the tap is a label featuring the name of the brewery and the beer variety. The label appears on the front and the back. At the bottom is a gold ferrule with a flared top. The entire piece is just gorgeous. The tap dates back to 2000, when the brewery redesigned their labels and marketing materials. I'm not sure what the symbolic connection to the brewery is...if I had to guess (based on this tap and the next one I will be profiling), I'd say that the owners were big fans of jazz music. It's 1 of only 2 taps released by the brewery. According to one particular seller on the secondary market, less than 20 of these were made. I've seen 7 others for sale so that number could be right. The last one sold in 2020 for $77 due to its poor condition. The historical price for one in good condition runs between $200-$400.

Brothers Brewing Company (BBC) was founded in Oakland, California in 1997 by Michael LeBlanc, Ralston Brown, and Thomas Parker. Brown was a homebrewer whose beers were devoured by friends and peers as fast as he could make it. He became not only a Board Certified Brewmaster, but also a graduate of the University of California, Davis Master Brewer Program. Considered an expert by industry insiders, Brown had racked up over a decade of premium brewing experience. Parker, who was Brown's brother-in-law, was working as head of the engineering department for Bay Area Rapid Transit. He had been among an elite corps of African-American navigator pilots, and had a MBA from California State University, Hayward and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Prairie View A&M University, Texas. Parker had long dreamed of being an entrepreneur and decided Brown's brewing skills were the key to making it happen. Parker approached LeBlanc, his long-time friend and fraternity brother, about the possibility. LeBlanc also had an impressive background, completing the Executive Program of Business Administration at Columbia University, receiving his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh as well as a BA from Duke University, and was President at Polaroid Asia in Hong Kong.

After LeBlanc heard Parker's pitch, he quit his job at Polaroid, flew to Oakland, and invested his own money into the fledgling brewery. BBC would become the first black-owned brewery in the country. Lacking capital and investors at the outset that prevented them from building their own brewery, BBC took some time to review nearby contract brewers. They hand-picked Golden Pacific Brewing, who had moved from Emeryville to Berkeley in 1997, around the same time that BBC was getting off of the ground. The Berkeley site was a state-of-the-art, 15,000 square foot facility that would provide BBC with all of its production and bottling, and BBC mainly chose Golden Pacific based on its ability to produce a quality and consistent product.

That quality and consistent product was evident in BBC's first beer, Honey Brewed Amber Ale. The beer was a hit with critics and beer aficionados alike, who raved about it in reviews. By 1999, BBC's Honey Brewed Amber Ale was in roughly 225 Bay Area stores and more than 50 restaurants and bars. Safeway, Lucky, TGI Fridays, Kincaids, Geoffrey's, Longs, Super Kmart, and Cala Foods were among the locations selling BBC's Honey Brewed Amber Ale. There were plans to expand into the Los Angeles and Atlanta markets, with licenses obtained in 6 states, but LeBlanc's ultimate goal was to build a $50 million enterprise that would reach the 50 to 60 largest metropolitan markets in the U.S. In 2000, BBC released their Classic Golden Lager, which was not only distributed to accounts, but also served at Oakland Raider football games. In addition, BBC redesigned their labels with a sleek, modern look. An expansion of their lineup was in the works, which would have introduced a Hefeweizen and a Porter, but those plans never materialized.

Choosing Golden Pacific Brewing as their contract brewer was a good move at the outset, but in hindsight may have proved to be BBC's downfall. Though it's not clear exactly what happened (details are difficult to find), by 2002 Golden Pacific was struggling mightily. It has been said by locals that Golden Pacific was poorly run, had poor service, high prices, and poor beer selections. The impact to BBC could have been a decline in quality, production delays, capacity issues, or even an expiring contract that wasn't renewed. Whatever the reason, in 2002 the BBC team made the difficult decision to shut down the brewery. Without further investors to infuse capital, combined with the contract brewery struggles and the inability to find a new local contract brewer, BBC ceased operations. Golden Pacific, would close the following year. Gambrinus, who bought the Golden Pacific Brewery site in 2004, had to gut the building and remodel, noting that Golden Pacific had purchased good equipment, but that none of it was salvageable. One can read between the lines to see that the state of their brewing equipment may have very likely impacted BBC in some negative way.

Brothers Honey Brewed Amber Ale was an all-natural, rich and full-bodied hand crafted micro-brewed ale. The beer was produced using only the finest natural ingredients, with no preservatives or fillers such as corn and rice found in other beers. Unlike most ales, Honey Brewed Amber Ale was stored and delivered cold, so it was received at its peak of maturity and freshness. The beer was smooth yet bursting with flavor and aroma, giving it a distinctly individual taste.