Firestone Walker Acquires Trumer Pils, Berkeley Brewery to Close

Twenty-two years of Berkeley-brewed pilsner is coming to an end. Firestone Walker Brewing Company has acquired U.S. brand rights to Trumer Pils from Gambrinus, and with the deal comes the closure of the Berkeley production facility that gave the beer its American identity since 2004. Taproom operations are scheduled to wind down in late May 2026, with all U.S. production moving to Firestone Walker's Paso Robles facility.

The scale of what's changing is worth sitting with: Trumer's U.S. operation produces around 27,000 barrels annually, making it a significant acquisition for Firestone Walker and a meaningful loss for Bay Area brewing. The Berkeley brewery was established as a U.S. outpost of Austria's Trumer Privatbrauerei and spent two decades building a reputation as one of the more technically disciplined lager programs on the West Coast, racking up awards along the way.

Firestone Walker has committed to preserving both the recipe and the beer's standing, pledging to work directly with Trumer's brewmaster throughout the transition. Firestone Walker's CEO said consumers should expect "uninterrupted availability" as production migrates south, and test batches are planned at Paso Robles this summer ahead of full-scale production. The CEO also spoke to a personal connection with the brand and the responsibility of keeping the recipe's integrity intact.

The matchup has logic behind it. Firestone Walker's Pivo Pils, a Czech-style pilsner that has long anchored the Paso Robles brewery's lineup, gives the team genuine hands-on experience with the demands of lager brewing at scale, including the fermentation discipline and process controls that separate a well-made pilsner from the rest of the shelf.

The acquisition fits a pattern reshaping California brewing over the past 18 months. Rising real estate and operational costs in dense urban markets have made standalone city production sites increasingly difficult to sustain, pushing heritage brands toward larger regional partners with the capacity to absorb them. Berkeley's brewing community will feel the loss sharply.

The practical question for anyone who pours Trumer Pils regularly is what the beer will taste like once the address changes. Facility shifts introduce variables that don't appear on a spec sheet: water chemistry, fermentation temperatures, and process controls all shape how a finished lager behaves in a glass. Firestone Walker's decision to keep Trumer's brewmaster directly involved in the transition is the right call. The first Paso Robles-brewed batches hitting tap lines will be the real referendum.