So I don’t bury the lede, let me start by saying if you’re reading this before June 30th, 2017 and you have any way to get to Petaluma Hills Brewing Company — right across the street from Lagunitas — go. If you’ve been putting it off, go. If reading this strikes your fancy and you wonder whether you shoul– just go.

If, on the other hand, you are reading this after June 30th, then I am so sorry: we lost a good one.

Let me also state that I never intended to fall in love with Petaluma Hills. I’d had a number of their beers in bombers and found them always enjoyable, but never counted them as a don’t-miss kinda place (Spoiler: don’t miss them). That was until the fateful “Petaluma Beer Crawl,” I did with Lisa and Jazz a few months back. The plan was simple — start at 101 North Brewing (more on them in a different post), walk to Petaluma Hills, and  finish at Lagunitas; they’re all within a couple blocks of each other. Did you see the order there?  Petaluma Hills was the middle child, the Jan Brady of the bunch, a buffer between the precocious 101 North and the mature Lagunitas.

…Until we got there. 101 North is precocious, make no mistake. And Lagunitas is mature to a fault. But stepping into Petaluma Hills felt like stepping into your favorite buddy’s party barn – comfy couch, dart board, board games, great bar… But your buddy doesn’t likely have this many beers on tap. And they DEFINITELY don’t have this many on nitro.

First, let’s talk about what that means. Most beers (read: almost all) use carbon dioxide to make their beer fizzy. “Nitro” refers to nitrogen which replaces the carbon dioxide as the fizzy-ing gas. What’s the big deal? There’s a much better description of the science involved here but suffice it to say beers with nitrogen carbonation have a more creamy mouth feel. It’s most commonly associated with Guinness stout, so when you can try it with, say, an IPA… it’s a fantastic experience. Especially when you can try both side by side — which you can at Petaluma Hills.

Now you’re starting to see that Jan is really the hawt one. And you’re right.

On my most recent visit with Jazz and Lisa, I started with my favorite IPA of theirs, Dated 1858, on standard CO2 carbonation. Then, later, I had that exact same beer on nitro. The difference was spectacular — that creamy mouth feel I mentioned was at the forefront but it mellowed out the sharpness associated with a California hop-forward IPA. And that may not be for everyone, but it’s absolutely worth trying and I wouldn’t have had that opportunity outside of visiting their taproom.

But Petaluma Hills is closing June 30th.

If you’re wondering why such a fantastic place with so many great offerings is closing even while new breweries are opening or expanding in the area, it comes down to money, or poorly-spent/not-enough capital. This article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat  lays it all out pretty clearly. If you read between the lines, there’s a strong suggestion that not all these breweries that have popped up over the last few years will be here in 3 or 5 years. We’re absolutely living in a golden era of craft brews, and if there’s a takeaway from Petaluma Hills Brewing Company it’s that we should visit them before they’re gone because many do bring something new or something special. Enjoy them while we can! Carpe Diem!

Obviously this philosophy extends beyond brewpubs (please go hug those you love, you know, just in case), but that’s the topic here. And, if I haven’t mentioned it before, Petaluma Hills Brewing Company closes at the end of June, so you should go. Now.