Born & brewed in San Francisco since 1997, we've been bringing our beer from the underground to lovers of great beer everywhere.
In a typically foggy San Francisco summer in 1997, Forest Gray and his cadre of bootleggers were inspired to bring their unique and exceptional beers from the underground to the masses.
Defiantly producing small batches of beer in a secret warehouse in San Francisco’s long forgotten Butchertown District, Speakeasy quickly gained a loyal following with bold, complex beers and striking 1920s imagery.
From the brewery’s humble beginnings delivering hand-filled kegs out of the back of a van, the company now boasts more than 30 distributors across the West Coast and major metropolitan markets across the country.

Starting with a single, iconic beer that immortalized the spirit of those who persevered when America’s taps ran dry – a bold, hoppy amber ale known as Prohibition Ale – Speakeasy now brews a wide array of acclaimed beers from sessionable pale ales to bourbon barrel-aged imperial stouts.

Big Daddy IPA, which would become Speakeasy’s kingpin and San Francisco’s best-selling IPA, fully realized the brewery’s passion for intense, in-your-face flavors that were still balanced and approachable.
2011 ushered in a new era in the brewery’s history–with the launch of many exciting new beers, the opening of The Speakeasy Tap Room, a stunning package redesign and a major facilities expansion, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers is poised to elevat