San Francisco Brewing Co. opens massive Mission Bay brewery and restaurant

San Francisco Brewing Co. opened its largest project to date in Mission Bay, turning 100 Hooper Street into an 18,680-square-foot brewery, restaurant and distilling operation. The Friday, June 26 opening gave the family-owned company a much bigger stage than its Ghirardelli Square home, and it placed the brand in one of San Francisco’s most aggressively redeveloped neighborhoods.

The new site was built to work as more than a taproom. Inside and out, the space includes full-service dining, a mezzanine event room, a courtyard and a 26-seat bar, while the company secured a 2 a.m. liquor license seven nights a week. Weekend DJs and live music were part of the plan from the start, putting the room in nightlife territory as much as beer-hall territory.

The production side is just as ambitious. Nearly 7,000 square feet is set aside for brewing, a major step up that should give brewmaster Justin Boehle more room for the company’s core lineup and more frequent seasonals. Boehle joined San Francisco Brewing Co. in 2018 after about two decades at Gordon Biersch, and now oversees a buildout that supports Alcatraz Amber Ale, Presidio Pilsner, Fog City Hazy IPA and Marina Blonde while leaving space for new releases.

One of the most striking features on the floor is a 750-gallon copper pot still imported from Scotland, which the company says is the largest in California. That still, plus the brewery’s expanded footprint, shows how far San Francisco Brewing Co. has pushed beyond the scaled-down brewpub model. Founded in 2012 by Josh Leavy, the company first made its name with the 12,000-square-foot Ghirardelli Square operation; Mission Bay is a clear escalation.

The location matters as much as the buildout. Mission Bay has evolved from former industrial land into a 303-acre mixed-use district anchored by Chase Center and UCSF Mission Bay, with city redevelopment materials crediting the area with more than 6,000 housing units, including more than 1,500 affordable units, more than 5.1 million square feet of office and lab space, and more than $700 million in public improvements. The Hooper Street space had been vacant since Seven Stills Brewery and Distillery closed in 2022 after financial pressure, making San Francisco Brewing Co.’s arrival part of the neighborhood’s broader reset.

Laura Tinetti of JLL represented San Francisco Brewing Co. in the lease. With arena crowds, office workers and nearby residents all moving through Mission Bay, the new beer hall gives the company a high-traffic foothold in the city’s fastest-changing beer and dining corridor.