American River Brewing

Pretty solid selection here folks but for me the stand out was the Capitol Copper Ale.
When we were there they had a 15 piece swing band playing, an official corn hole tournament, and a really good food truck. Definitely a good place to check out. Not overly hoppy so if you are light on the hops then this could be a great choice for you.
Cheers.

This place is just what we needed in the Folsom/​Rancho region. The beer was excellent, as was the service.
Can’t wait for the new taproom.

Great place with very friendly staff. I had really good service from Drew in particular. You get six 5oz tasters for $ 10.85. Here is what I thought:
Liked:
1. Capitol Copper Ale
2. Lawn Jockey IPA
3. Fire Break Red
4. Coloma Brown
5. Riverbend Hefe — favorite
6. Hop Canyon
Would definitely come back.

Awesome place to grab top notch brews. Can’t believe they were here since 2012 and haven’t stopped by! Staff are super friendly and you get free pretzels. However I recommend you stop and get a burrito before you come in

American River BrewIng Company puts out some good beers. I like all their IPAs and my wife is in love with their seasonal pumpkin ale. They have a small TAP room with a few tables and big screen TV, as well as a seating area between the Brewry and warehouse. They happily provide you with a bowl of pretzels. They only refill their own growlers, which is a negative for out of town folks and home brewers who may have brought their own.

1^st time here with my husband it’s very nice and great beers and very open to everyone that walks In the door and to try there beers if you haven’t tried them all ready

It may not look like much from the outside, but American River Brewing does a downright amazing job brewing beer. I was extremely impressed by every single beer on tap; I especially enjoyed the double-​IPA and the red ale. American River Brewing brews some of the most flavorful craft beer in the area, so be sure to stop by for a taster flight or a pint.

I give them four stars. Would like the beer poured in real glass drinking out of a clear plastic cup reminds me of my Chico State days. Get some food trucks and some sort of cooling for the super hot days. Maybe a swamp cooler? Anything would help. Beer is good but could be colder.

Got the sampler board which showed they had a beer for every taste. I liked the Coloma Brown. Industrial space with lots of chairs and tables, magazines, and cards inside the warehouse where they brew.

Excellent beer. We tried most of the beers on tap. We are IPA drinkers and enjoyed theirs. We were also surprised by the very tasty Golden Ale. The tap house is nothing fancy, that’s not what it’s about, it’s about the beer!

American River is all about the beer but they definitely do not skip over the details. It’s not a particularly stylish tasting room with plastic tables and cups, but the beer is delicious, the prices are more than reasonable, they offer free peanuts and pretzels which was just a nice touch, and the service was fantastic. Really, the gentleman behind the bar was very helpful and accommodating. Bring some dominoes and try the sampler. We will be back again and again I’m sure.

Love these small brewery tasting rooms where you can take food in and play board games while drinking good beer for super cheap. Take some friends and a game with you but make sure you get there early because they close super early and check up to make sure they’re open before you head out because it’s not an official bar so they keep kind of funky hours.

I went with my colleagues, got the sampler first, and decided to go with the hoppier ‘Coloma red’. I liked it but not all in the group. The price is cheap — like $ 3 you get a 300 ml, which really is nice to get in and burp after a long day’s work. Not a place for a youngster looking for ambience or to hangout.

Americans are drinking less beer and the beer sales are declining year to year. At the same time the ONLY category with continued growth in the brewing industry is craft beer. You might ask what this has to do with Unilocal review for American River Brewing company. Well, let me help you out. The growth of craft beer has come so far that today there are so many small craft breweries out there putting out the product, almost so the market is becoming close to saturated. In Sacramento though, the craft beer scene is still growing due to the late start and American River Brewing in Rancho Cordova is one of the many reaping the benefits.
In the past two years, I remember having some of ARB products in bottles and on tap at beer festivals. Except their award winning Coloma Brown, I wasn’t very impressed with any. As I don’t usually venture out to Rancho Cordova, a Unilocal event held there was a good excuse to come early and check out American River Brewing.
Unfortunately the first smell that hit us when walking through the door of an industrial warehouse location was not of warm wort but of bleach. Ouch, not a way to make first impression. A Unilocal Elite friend and myself next ventured to the bar and ordered a flight that consisted of everything they had on tap that day. It was six 5oz pours in plastic cups. Not the best presentation, but if the beer was great I probably woiuldn’t remember this detail. Out of the six beers we tried, the conclusion was the same as before the visit. American River beers are pretty average tasting, except for Coloma Brown which is probably up there with the best in the style. Out of the other five, their golden ale was good (though not my favorite style), and IPA, English IPA, and Irish Red were just OK. The Irish Stout was totally off and I did not enjoy it at all as it didn’t have any flavors I would expect to find in this style of beer.
The service was good and the guy that poured our flights took his time and explained about each beer. There is enough seating in the taproom and also additional tables in the back, in the same room with the brewing operation. There was no food but they did bring us pretzels, which was cool as anything to munch on while drinking beer is better than nothing. I assume that on the weekends they might have some food trucks so you might be in better luck for food if you go Sat/​Sun, instead of Wednesday.
For conclusion I am going back to the beginning of the review. If American River Brewing was in one of the more «established» markets I am unsure if they would be very successful with the lineup they currently have. Being in a young craft beer area such as Sacramento surely helps their cause and I have no doubts they will keep on improving as the scene moves along. However, for non-​locals such as myself there are better and closer options to get my hop fix. Maybe I will give ARB another chance when I stop by for a pint of Coloma Brown few months down the road to see how the things are moving along. But only if I end up in the area again.
For now it is 3 stars.

Rancho Cordova ain’t exactly my neck of the woods. But when a fellow beer nerd friend who is now also Unilocal Elite wanted to attend a nearby YEE, I came along. & since we were in the neighborhood anyway, why not check out a microbrewery we hadn’t been to before.
American River Brewing, like so many other microbreweries, is tucked into an industrial building. Walking into the tasting room, the 1^st thing we smelled was cleaner. Was that bleach? It’s good to keep it clean in a brewery, but that’s not really what you want to smell.
The tiny & sparsely decorated tasting room was full but there was overflow seating next to the brewery area. We both went with tasting flights. It was 6 5oz. pours for $ 9, not bad. In the flight was: AU Golden Ale, Fire Break Irish Red Ale, Coloma Brown, Sunrise English IPA, SSB IPA & Deep 6 Stout.
In descending order of preference:
+ Coloma Brown — the 1 star of the tasting, fantastic, I’d take this over just about any Brown I’ve ever had.
+ Sunrise English IPA — interesting & different, but not in a bad way, reminded me of a Saison a little.
+ AU Golden Ale — good for the style, not great, not bad.
+ Fire Break Irish Red Ale — thin in both flavor & body for a Red, like the lite beer version of a Red.
+ SSB IPA — thoroughly unimpressive for an IPA, why bother with this at all when there are so many great IPA’s in CA?
+ Deep 6 Stout — just not feeling it, did not like it, did not finish the 5oz. taster, maybe a bad batch?
Out of the 6 tasters, I feel like there was 1 hit, 2 OK’s, 2 not OK’s & 1 miss for an overall average of 3 stars. For me, the Coloma Brown is the only beer I tried from American River Brewing that I would seek out or snatch up if I saw it. Everything else, with the exception of the Sunrise English IPA, doesn’t stand out from other craft beers.

A nice place to go toss a pint or two. Not the best beer in the world, but it’s really good beer, I’ve never had any skunky beer, and they are really close to my house. They did a great job recently on their Porter. I just got some of the Stout. It’s pretty good, not great — I keep hoping for a truly good syrup style Imperial Stout (hint hint hint!). They do have variety, you can buy by the glass or get a sample tray. You can also get growlers to go, and I think I even saw it in bottles to go. Very low key and casual. «You want beer? We got beer! Have some beer! I’ve been by now more than once on a Saturday afternoon, they had a band playing for tips this weekend, and they sometimes have a food truck out there. I don’t like the fact that they allow kids in there since a few were running around screaming while the band was playing (rude!).
Easy going and friendly staff, they seem to like what they do. It ain’t fancy by any means. It’s a loading dock with folding chairs, but hey — it’s a couple bucks for a glass of beer, what do you expect!!!
What else can I say, good beer, friendly folks — great combination for a brewery! Now if they’d just make that Imperial Stout and finally earn that last star… :)

I have been here several times. Went today for an art show and tried the stout which was very good. Their other beers are also pretty good. I recommend going here.

My friends & I love this place! The beer is obviously nice & fresh & they have a variety to satisfy. The owner is very friendly & personable. A favorite!

I’ve been anxiously awaiting the opening of this brewery, and it does not disappoint!
The location is a little funky (behind the home depot in an industrial area), but that seems to be the best place for these brewing operations. We came here for a mobile food truck meetup on a random Tuesday night, and I was excited to mix fun food truck creations and local craft beers. I tried the Red ale and the golden ale — both of which are fantastic. The price is reasonable too — $ 3.25 for a pint.
This brewery is just getting started, but it would be nice to see a finished out tasting room with a bar and maybe a TV to watch a game. Great beers, friendly people, and I’ll be back!
PS — If you can’t make it to their tasting room, their beer is served at several local eateries. One of which (off the top of my head) is Firestone.

Apparently breweries in industrial centers is the hot new thing… first Track 7, now American River Brewing! I tried 3 of their brews; the Coloma Brown was 3 stars (too bitter of an aftertaste for such a dark malty beer) and the Fire Break Red and AU Golden Ale were both 5 stars. I liked the small comfy tasting room with a view of the brewing room, and the bowls of pita chips and the highpowered floor fans were a nice touch. If you like their beers and intend on responsibly drinking many future glasses, check out the prepaid ARB cards for discounted beers. You can get 12 beers for $ 30 or 25 beers for $ 60.
3 things American River Brewing could add that would make the tasting room that much more enjoyable: extended hours, more seats and a beer sampler on the menu. I wanna try all your brewed goodies at once!