USA, CA: Humble Sea Brewing Co. set to open its doors in the Santa Cruz Mountains

The beer that’s quickly become a Westside staple will soon be served in the Santa Cruz Mountains as Humble Sea Brewing Co. is set to open its doors at the historic Felton Cremer House early this summer, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported on April 2.

“It’s about the most exciting thought possible right now,” Humble Sea Brewing Co-founder Taylor West said. “This is our hometown — where we grew up — and it feels great to be able to come back to that space in the most iconic area of Felton. There’s a lot of pressure to do well in this location.”

The new establishment, dubbed Humble Sea Tavern, will feature a full kitchen, a bar and of course, draft beer.

“It will be a much more sophisticated kitchen, compared to the Westside which is a very minimal, beer-focused space,” West said. “We will have a liquor license, a full kitchen, the same beer offerings, plus more, like cocktails.”

The Cremer House — at 6256 Highway 9 in Felton — dates back to the 1870s. Most recently the institution became a Felton staple as a restaurant and Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing alehouse, an operation that folded during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The downtown location is a turnkey establishment, according to the business owners.

“There’s a lot of rich history in that building,” West said. “The previous restaurant at the Cremer House did a great job of capturing that and we’re not looking to really change much at all.”

West, co-founder Frank Scott Krueger and head brewer Nick Pavlina grew up in the San Lorenzo Valley. The childhood friends launched their Westside location in 2017. But they started brewing beer in the Santa Cruz Mountains years before that.

“The very first beer we ever sold was at Don Quixote’s,” Krueger said. “It was an Allie Blonde Ale, it was for a one-night Coffis Brothers show, who are our really good buddies that we grew up with, and years later we’re opening up across the street.”

The business trio said they feel grateful to have found success during the pandemic. As Santa Cruz and Bay Area residents were told to only leave their homes for essential purposes, Humble Sea was already set to expand its beer production.

“We’ve always had this issue of having enough supply to meet demand,” Krueger said. “The canning line was up and fired a month into the shutdown so it gave us a better capacity to brew just because of lucky timing. With that ability to can, we could be more flexible and creative, it really helped us to get beer up to go, and ramp up our shipping program.”

That success marked a jumping off point — Humble Sea is also set to open a taproom and restaurant in Pacifica this May.

For the Santa Cruz Mountain locals, the opening up at the Felton institution is a coming home, too.

Cremer House owner Bob Locatelli, who Humble Sea is leasing the space from, was West’s and Pavlina’s football coach at San Lorenzo Valley High School.

“It’s kind of that classic small-town connection,” Pavlina said.

04 April, 2021