Our Roots
Fogbelt Brewing Co. was founded in 2013 in Santa Rosa, CA. and is named after the area along the Northern California coast where the coast redwood trees grow; from Big Sur to the Oregon border. Fog from the coast fosters a unique ecosystem known as the 'fog belt'.
Paul Hawley and Remy Martin both grew up in Sonoma County where the redwoods meet the vineyards. They come from winemaking families- both their fathers were professional winemakers and they grew up working in the cellars. The old saying, "it takes a lot of beer to make wine" rings especially true for these long-time friends who have been brewing together since 2004, when they worked the grape harvest in New Zealand. Remy went on to study brewing at UC Davis and they started working on recipes and dreaming of making beer professionally. The first official batch was brewed in 2013 and the taproom opened in February of 2014.
2004
Paul and Remy start home brewing while working a grape harvest in New Zealand.
2006
Paul and Remy start developing recipes in their garage in Cotati.
2009
Remy completes the Master Brewers Program at UC Davis.
2013
Paul and Remy start boot strapping their brewery in Santa Rosa and brew their first commercial batch of beer.
2014
Fogbelt Taproom opens in Santa Rosa.
2017
Fogbelt starts canning beers and selling in stores locally.
2020
Production outgrows the Santa Rosa Taproom and moves to a warehouse.
2022
Fogbelt Station opens in Healdsburg.
Boot Strappin’
Paul and Remy built their original 7 barrel brewhouse from a few pieces of salvaged equipment and a lot of hard work. As the brewery has grown much of the glorified home-brewing equipment has been upgraded. A barrel aging and sour beer program has been established, calling on winemaking and cellar-work skills honed by years in the wine industry. We now have a custom-built brewhouse but continue to bootstrap and upgrade to keep up with the evolution of craft beer.
