New Temescal brewery on tap with crowdfunding

Temescal Brewing's founders (from l-r): Sam Gilbert, Dvorit Mausner, Wade Ritchey, and Tollef Biggs. Temescal Brewing's founders (from l-r): Sam Gilbert, Dvorit Mausner, Wade Ritchey, and Tollef Biggs. Photo: Courtesy Of Temescal Brewing Photo: Courtesy Of Temescal Brewing Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close New Temescal brewery on tap with crowdfunding 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

Something is brewing in Temescal.

A new 15-barrel brewhouse, arts space, and beer garden at 4115 Telegraph Ave. — aptly dubbed Temescal Brewing — is preparing to open in the Oakland neighborhood of the same name next month. Created in theory over a year ago by Sam Gilbert, who in 2011 founded the homebrewers' collective BrewLab in San Francisco, the brewhouse turned into a community project.

After partnering with Wade Benker-Ritchey, a brewer with a career boasting stints at Cellarmaker and Triple Rock brewing companies, Gilbert buckled down on the new brewery's construction, licensing, and working with contractors, and eventually launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund some of the brewery's more ambitious projects.

It worked. After just a few weeks, Temescal was able to raise over $50,000 to fund the construction of a German-style biergarten and the commissioning of local artists to paint murals across the entire side wall of the brewery's exterior.

"Everyone's doing a Kickstarter, so we thought it might be an extra bit of help for everything, but specifically the beer garden, which is really the focus of the physical business," Benker-Ritchey tells SFGATE. There will be "mixed seating, more intimate Adirondack chairs, picnic tables, probably classic beer garden games: bean bag toss, darts. Hopefully, weather permitting, it will be a sunny place to hang out."

And then, of course, there's the beer.

To start, the brewery will offer 4 to 5 classic styles — a Pale Ale, an IPA, and a stout to start, probably — but soon, they'll explore more adventurous offerings, including some ales aged in bourbon barrels. "As soon as we are brewing those secondary batches, we'll be brewing some low ABV saisons and pilsners," Benker-Ritchey adds. "Generally we will [also] have some kind of Belgian beer."

Aiming to produce around 1,200 barrels annually, the brewery will first focus on selling beer at the Temescal location, and then look to spread to tap rooms after about a year, as well as get into bottling "sooner rather than later."

But one of Temescal Brewing's other main goals is to support the arts community in Oakland, using beer as "a community organizing tool," Gilbert said.

We have just ONE WEEK left in our Kickstarter campaign! Time is flying by. See how we went from "Empty to Tanks" in just 120 seconds... Posted by Temescal Brewing on Thursday, March 24, 2016

Noting that Oakland is experiencing a period of change, especially for artists, Gilbert says, "I think that breweries and beer play a big role in building communities and bringing people together."

"There are just more artists per capita than anywhere else in the country, and now, because of all the change happening in the city, those communities are at risk of being displaced, (not just) from where they're living, but also from the spaces where artists gather," he said. "At the same time, craft beer is doing pretty well, and we found an opportunity to set something up. It seemed like a great alliance to do what we could to turn some of our space (into) canvases for artists to work with."

While at the moment, the brewery is finishing up its construction and decorating, the duo and the rest of the brewery's co-founders and staff are looking forward to "sharing space" with those in the arts world.

Besides providing work for painters and muralists, Temescal Brewing wants to hold "creative events at the brewery," as Gilbert adds.

"Beyond that we want to donate our beer to arts causes, [hold] gallery openings, and do what we can to play a role and be an ally to artists in Oakland."

Alyssa Pereira is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: apereira@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @alyspereira