Speakeasy Ales & Lagers

Specialties

Speakeasy Ales & Lagers is microbrewery that sells widely recognized craft beers in U.S. urban markets, from California to New York, with some international sales. Flagship beers include Big Daddy IPA and Prohibition Ale, which recently won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival. Speakeasy also produces a wide variety of limited and seasonal beers, including Scarface Imperial Stout and the Syndicate Series, which features unique blends of strong beers that have been aged in American spirits barrels for no less than twelve months.

History

Established in 1997.

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,

Meet the Business Owner

Forest G.

Business Owner

Forest Gray is the founder, president, and CEO of Speakeasy Ales & Lagers. Forest has guided the brewery from its humble garage-​made origins, to a well established, rapidly growing company. He’s been instrumental in recipe development, product packaging, marketing, and recently expanded the brewhouse capacity.