Riley's Brewing Co.
Craft Brewery from Madera, California.
Looking for distributors worldwide
A long, long time ago, in a garage not far, far away, a great beer was brewed…well, not right away; at first, it was something that the dog wouldn’t even drink. Thank goodness for perseverance!
Before I was even born, my grandparents and parents were home brewing beer. Living on a farm in Oregon, they had an abundance of their own hops. A lot of fruit beers and simple wheat brews became favorites around the farm. By the time I was born, they had the home brewing process down.
I spent many hours of my life next to my grandfather while he brewed beer and he would tell me stories of his and my parents’ brewing experiences.
Not only did I listen, but I was even permitted to help bottle and brew. Eventually, life became busy with my time in the Army, as well as working in the family’s steel business; but throughout it all, my grandfather and I remained close. We would spend hours discussing home brewing and with his expertise, my own home brewing began to grow and develop.
I started with five gallon batches and it was a process to figure out how to brew it just right. My biggest critics were my dad and grandfather; talk about no mercy! If it was a bad batch, they made sure I knew it and I’d start all over again.
I’m sure you can imagine how my wife “appreciated” my little hobby. The mess, the smell, the constant visitors for our twice a month “Testosterone Fests” (my wife’s creative name for our gatherings). I think what finally broke her patience was the day she discovered that I left a fermenting carboy in the pantry… inside the house. She called me at work to tell me (alright, let’s be honest- to cuss me out/chew my butt) about the mess she was left to deal with.
Needless to say, we were banned from having anymore brew fests in the garage. It was time to find a new place.
Fortunately, I had just the place for us to continue our brewing; a 12,000 square foot empty building that sat on my business property, Steel Structures. Over a short time, the demand for my home brew grew; friends of friends were asking where they could pick it up.
What to do, what to do? Why build a bigger brewing operation, of course! With welder in hand, I built what is now the 20 barrel brewery. With that, Riley’s Brewing Co. was born and we were off; several thousand cases down, only several billion more to go…
Daniel Riley
President, Riley’s Brewing Company
The Brew House
Our brew house (the system for the actual brewing of the beer) is a scaled up homebrew system comprised of a hot water tank, mash tun, and boil kettle.
The system is capable of doing up to 20 barrels of beer (620gallons) per batch. We double batch most of our beers, brewing twice into the same fermenter to give a more consistent product.
Our Packaging
Our bottling line was purchased used, basically as scrap, and then fully rebuilt in house. Now fully functional, it can bottle approximately 24 bottles per minute, for both 22oz and 12oz bottles.
Our keg washing and filling system was designed and built in house, and can process approximately 20 kegs per hour.
Our Products
Vixen - Dark Wheat
A complex rich and malty ale, with a hint of roasted mocha. Specialty grainsmake this a
pleasant and easy drinking out of the ordinary beer. (6.0% ABV - 20 IBU)
Wildcat - Red India Pale Ale
A West Coast style Red IPA brewed with several varietys of grain and hops.
All of these are blended to give you a full bodied balanced bitter like no other. (7.1% ABV - 65 IBU)
Sancha Honey Blonde Ale
A light bodied ale. A smooth refreshing blonde, flavored with realCalifornia honey
to enhance your drinking pleasure. (5.5% ABV - 15 IBU)
Cougar Pale Ale
Blended barley from around the country gives this brew a full rich body.
Hops are used for sophistication, then cold settled and filtered to perfection. (5.0% ABV - 30 IBU)
Riley's India Pale Ale
A West Coast style IPA made bold and bitter, layered with hops that are added through out the brewing process. (7.5% ABV - 60 IBU)