At Temescal Brewing, you can gather around a virtual fire and pretend you just hit the slopes with hot-beer toddies.
With its highest peak in the hills measuring about 1,760 feet, you don’t get much of a chance to ski on the slopes of Oakland. But you now can get the feel of a ski vacation, thanks to an Oakland brewery giving itself a head-to-toe makeover into a cheery alpine lodge.
This weekend, Temescal Brewing opened its doors as the “No Jerks Ski Village,” an ersatz ski lodge that will exist until next February. (If you’re wondering about the name, the brewery’s slogan is “Fresh beer, no jerks.”) It’s a “complete transformation and worth checking out,” asserts brewery cofounder Dvorit Mausner. “Our goal is to bring après-ski vibes to the city.”
Visitors pass through a ski-check station to enter a warm interior stocked with ski paraphernalia and hanging Christmas presents. There’s a heated outdoor tent with hundreds of floating snowballs and, fodder for the ‘Gram, a mistletoe nook bedecked with 2,000-plus shiny gift-wrap bows.
A glowing hearth tying the vibe together doesn’t employ real fire, but you can still gather around it with wintry drinks like mulled beer toddies with apple cider, cinnamon and orange slices, nonalcoholic flaming cocoa and “shotskis” to be chugged off of a wooden ski. Seasonal beers are also making an appearance, including the winter-spiced ale Cozy, a triple IPA called Follow the Snow and a black lager called Coal.
Thematic outfits are encouraged, so if you have some fleece or goggles moldering away in the closet, perhaps now’s the time to show them off. (Thermal underwear is probably taking it too far.)
Beer lovers can get themselves a No Jerks Ski Village Season Pass complete with lanyard and personalized ID card for $50, which opens up discounts and free rounds. Have a peek at what the ski-brewery looks like now:
