Ale is the cure for two local restaurants

Piccolino’s, Tuscany get OK to brew their own beer

By KEVIN COURTNEY
Register Staff Writer

Downtown Napa is awash with wine tasting rooms, but now hand-crafted beer will be giving vino a run for its money.

Two restaurants — Piccolino’s and Tuscany — are setting up brewing operations, joining Downtown Joe’s as a downtown source of made-in-Napa beer.

Both restaurants have obtained Type 75 licenses from the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Those licenses allow restaurants to both brew beer and sell liquor.

A Type 75 license is a more economical way to obtain the right to sell mixed drinks than it would be to bid on the open market for a regular liquor license, Joe Salerno, Piccolino’s owner, said Friday.

Liquor licenses for restaurants have sold for as much as $275,000, while a brewery-liquor license is costing him $14,800, Salerno said.

He will have to buy a compact brewing system, but his total outlay will be much less than if he had bought a regular liquor license on the open market, Salerno said.

Having the right to sell mixed drinks and his own beer will make for happy customers and expand his profits, Salerno said.

With downtown getting new hotels, it’s important for his restaurant to offer more than wine and commercial beers if he wants to be competitive, Salerno said.

On Thursday night, the city of Napa Planning Commission approved use permits allowing Piccolino’s and Tuscany to add hard liquor and home brews to their operations.

The state license requires restaurants to brew no less than 100 barrels, or 3,100 gallons, a year, and no more than 5,000 barrels, or 155,000 gallons. The city permit limits sales to on-site consumption.

Salerno, who will train himself to be a brewmaster, said it was important that his brewing equipment would be hermetically sealed. “I don’t want the aroma of a brew pub. I want the aroma of my restaurant,” he said.

Joe Peatman, owner of Downtown Joe’s, where beer has been made since 1987, said he welcomed the competition. “Now we can be compared and appreciated for what we do well,” he said.

“Beer is fun. It makes people happy without going overboard,” Peatman said.

Until now, Napa County had three brew pubs: Downtown Joe’s, Silverado Brewing Company north of St. Helena and the Calistoga Inn, home of the Napa Brewing Co., Peatman said.

A pure brewery, Napa Smith, opened earlier this year at the juncture of Highway 12 and 29 near the airport.

Tourists by the millions come to the Napa Valley for wine, Salerno said. By the end of the day, a glass of beer — or a mixed drink — can be a welcomed alternative, he said.

Tuscany and Piccolino’s will use the Beadle Brewing System which touts compactness, a patented brewing system and the prospect of high profits. Ingredients in a pint of beer cost 30 cents, while the finished product might sell for $4.

There is a strong demand among Napa Valley restaurants to sell mixed drinks, but the number of liquor licenses is capped by the state. This is why a license sold by the state for $12,000 commands hundreds of thousands of dollars on the resale market.

Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, sponsored a recent bill that will give Napa County 15 more restaurant liquor licenses over the next three years. Five licenses will be awarded each year by lottery at a cost of $12,000 each.

Salerno said he didn’t want to rely on winning a license by lottery in order to sell liquor.

A representative for Tuscany was not immediately available for comment.

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