by Ry Beville

Heretic Brewing Company. It may seem like an ironic name for a brewery whose founder and brewmaster has written at least one book about beer that has become orthodox reading. And through the Jamil Show, the world’s first radio program about brewing classic styles of beer, Jamil Zainasheff has educated thousands. Where did he wander off the path of the straight and true?

Jamil’s life used to follow a completely different direction. Beer, it seems, was the crooked way leading off from a normal life in the software industry with all its riches and stress. Really, who knows? He might have continued his important role at Adobe had a neighbor not reached over the fence one day in the late 1990s and shared his homebrew.

That first reaction (“I was blown away”) quickly turned into an obsession. Jamil admits starting with a cheap homebrew kit and failing at first. He then turned to reading everything he could, studying technique and asking around for help in America’s robust homebrew community. Ten years later his passion and devotion to improvement had made him a famous home brewer, author and podcaster… but still in the software industry.

For centuries mankind has dreamed grand designs and spoken with great abandon over mugs of beer. And so it was, several years ago in Colorado, that a friend challenged Jamil, “Hey man, why don’t you open your brewery?” Deflecting the answer, Jamil said that if he ever did, he’d hire the guy.

A few months later in 2011, he started brewing with a few extra tanks at a brewery near him. Unlike many contract brewers, he was adamant that he brew all his own beer himself, simply using the equipment. Success came quickly because of both the quality of his brews and the fan base he had already acquired over the years. In April of 2013, a mere two years after starting, Jamil needed to expand and moved Heretic into its own facility in Fairfield, CA, just north of San Francisco. And that friend he promised to hire? Jamil kept his word. Chris Kennedy is now their head brewer, while Jamil is the brewmaster, taking a very active role in formulating recipes and brewing.

Already, Heretic is expanding, taking over adjacent space in the office complex it occupies, as demand for its beer ramps up. It’s easy to understand why. These are brews of some of the highest quality. They are also bold and inventive, challenging notions of traditional style—hence the “heretic” name.

The brewery’s Shallow Grave Porter is sublime, with robust chocolate and coffee notes, and is praised by brewers all over the S.F. Bay Area. Our favorite, though, is perhaps the Gramarye (GRAM-uh-ree), a session pale ale with an almost spicy finish from the rye malt. When I visited in late 2013, having been kindly driven up from S.F. by their salesman Noah, they had several of the regular beers served from firkins. Comparing the difference was a particular pleasure. “Firkin Fridays” are now a regular part of Heretic’s taproom culture.

Heretic’s barrel-aging program is one of the most exciting aspects of the brewery. Jamil pulls out a rust-free nail from one of the beat-up bourbon barrels in the back and allows the liquid to trickle into a glass. He lets me peer inside where he has stuffed the barrel with 40 lbs of blackberries, now laced with white from the brettanomyces that will sour the beer. The liquid tastes wonderful, but Jamil assures me it’s not ready. “When will it be ready? I don’t know. Distributors always want to know that. The beer is ready when it tells you it is ready.”

Let’s hope some of these sour beers make it to Japan! How did Heretic make it to Japan anyway? Albert of AQ Bevolution, Jamil relates, pressed him politely for some time and he finally relented. Jamil now considers Japan a significant market. Jamil’s connection to Japan, however, goes deeper. His mom was Tartar and their family fled communist Russia into China and eventually Japan. She spent most of her youth in Japan, while the rest of his family made it to the U.S. West Coast. Their path was perhaps as unexpected as Jamil’s own. But sometimes the best things happen that way.

This article was published in Japan Beer Times # () and is among the limited content available online. Order your copy through our online shop or download the digital version from the iTunes store to access the full contents of this issue.