For 41 years, from 1900 to 1941, the site where Mulberry Station Brewing Company sits was one of the last stops for Sacramento Northern Railway’s electric railway service that connected Chico with Oakland via Sacramento. In 1962, a 20-lane bowling alley was built on the site, and some years later, the 6,000-square-foot building underwent its first transformation when it was converted to an auto parts store. In 2019, Roland Allen and Allen Gross “stumbled” on the old building, which was just six blocks from Allen’s home on Mulberry Street.
The building provided the perfect location and inspiration for a name for the brewery the two men wanted to open. “We hadn’t come up with a name, but had talked about how the location might dictate it and it did,” said Allen. “We pay homage to the rail history of the location with photos and paintings of old electric trollies and railroad spikes for tap handles.
” Roland Allen, Mulberry Station Brewing Company co-owner and brewmaster, stirs the mash, a mix of water and grains, for a batch of his craft beer on Wednesday, August 7, 2024 in Chico, California. (Nicole Crabtree/Contributed) Mike Cain, executive chef, tosses the dough for a specialty pizza in the kitchen of Mulberry Station Brewing Company on Saturday, July 27, 2024 in Chico, California. (Nicole Crabtree/Contributed) Roland Allen, Mulberry Station Brewing Company co-owner and brewmaster, stirs the mash, a mix of water and grains, for a batch of his craft beer on Wednesday, August 7, 2024 in Chico, California.
(Nicole Crabtree/Contributed) But before Allen and Gross hung the art and installed the tap handles, they spent about nine months “doing some serious work” including, among other construction and remodeling, gutting parts of the building, pouring new concrete, installing new plumbing and sewage systems and building bathrooms. They also built the bar, dining area, a full kitchen with an Italian wood-burning pizza oven and, of course, the brewery itself with its “brewing system and all of its accouterments.” Said Allen, “We were ready and we scheduled our opening.
Turned out that our opening in March of 2020 coincided with the first COVID lockdown. We had a beautiful room that could seat 172 people, but all they could do was look at it.” Determined to give customers more than just a nice room to look at, Allen and Gross donned facemasks, took orders and delivered pizza and 32-ounce crowler cans filled directly from the tap to customers in the brewery’s parking lot.
The following 18 months of business were a wild ride for the business owners as the COVID rules kept changing from limited capacity seating to full in-dining closure and back to limited capacity seating. “That first year and half was just crazy,” said Allen. “Yeah, it was tough, but we believed in our project a lot.
There was never a time when we said ‘forget it.’ we knew we had great beer and great pizza, a nice venue and parking. We knew we had something and would get through COVID.
” The partners persevered and the business has been steadily growing since welcoming customers into the dining room and bar for crafted brews and pizza, trivia competitions and live music. Allen, who plays piano, started as a home brewer in 1983 when he moved to Chico to be the “musical component of a comedy act.” In 1986, he went to work as an assistant brewmaster at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, where he stayed until 1995 before opening his own brewery, Butte Creek Brewing Company.
There he created Roland’s Red, an ale that is still a signature offering at Mulberry. In 2007, Allen closed Butte Creek and “got out of the industry for a couple of years.” He was drawn back in 2010 when Feather Falls Casino offered him the brewmaster position to start the Feather Falls Brewing Company.
It was during his tenure at Feather Falls that Allen was introduced by a mutual friend to Gross. The two men quickly discovered they shared a common passion — good handcrafted beer– and a dream to open their own brewery. A former Marine and businessman, Gross had no experience in brewing, but he enjoyed drinking craft brews, so a partnership was born.
These days, Gross, who lives in Oklahoma, is “the quiet partner” visiting the business very six weeks or so handling the bookkeeping and other behind the scenes chores — and, of course, enjoying some artisan beer, pizza and fun at Mulberry Station Brewing. Allen can be found at Mulberry most days it’s open “running the floor” and hosting trivia, open mic and live music nights. He also spends considerable time in the brewery doing what he loves — creating his handcrafted beers, including Electric Rail Pale Ale, Light Rail Wheat Ale, Golden Spike Session IPA, Roland’s Redder Ale and Dopple Dare You Lager, an 8.
8% ABV beer that “people can’t believe is a lager because it drinks so smooth.” “My brewing philosophy is there should be a balance of malt and hops for every style of beer,” said Allen. “So many are hops forward that’s all you taste.
I embrace more malt character in many styles. I’m not a fan of ‘bitter beer face’ but I do like hops as much as the next guy so there’s room for both hops and malt as long as there is a sense of balance.” While a lot of care goes into the brewing, an equal amount of commitment to excellence goes into Mulberry’s 12 different wood-fired pizzas.
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| It’s Your Business From the Pizza Margherita (featuring fresh mozzarella cheese and organic basil) to the Diavola (with salami and fire-roasted red bell peppers) and the Salty Dog (“an anchovy delight”) to The Stache (with white garlic sauce, pistachios, red onions and fresh rosemary), all the pies are handmade to order. All the ingredients are fresh and as much as possible sourced locally, including the sausage on the Sausage Classic, which comes from Chico Meat Locker, and produce from S&S Organic Produce and Natural Foods. “We are very proud of our pizzas.
We worked long and hard the pizza recipes, developing our own dough and sauces,” said Allen. “We work to make the best beer possible and we do the same with the pizzas. It’s who we are.
” For more information about Mulberry Station Brewing’s beer and pizza menu, and events including live music and trivia nights, visit mulberrystationbrewery.com . Reach Kyra Gottesman at kgottesman@chicoer.
com ..
