Cellarmaker Brewing Company, a new craft brewery and tap room, has just opened this week in SOMA, and they’re doing things a little differently.

“We respect what other brewers are doing in this city. San Francisco doesn't really need another steam beer. It doesn't really need more bitters. Anchor and Magnolia respectively nail these styles to the point of perfection,” says Connor Casey, co-founder of Cellarmaker Brewing at 1150 Howard Street. “What we don't see as much are Citra single hopped Pale Ales, aggressive Nelson Sauvin and Galaxy hopped Rye IPAs, wine barrel aged Saisons showcasing different strains of brettanomyces, or big chewy bourbon barrel aged stouts.”

In addition to tasting, half pint and pint sized portions, Casey and his co-founder, Tim Sciascia, plan to offer growler fills of “…damn near all of this stuff, which we believe is the best way to drink beer: fresh from the source. We look forward to bringing exciting new options to the people of this city.”

The ten-barrel brewery and 12-tap tasting room has a grand opening scheduled for Saturday, October 12, but you can pop in this week for an earlier sample.

As the 17th member of the San Francisco Brewers Guild, Cellarmaker Brewing would seem to have a hard time carving out their own niche. But Casey and Sciascia are up to the challenge. Casey notes, “We are actually scratching the entire concept of having a standard line-up of ‘flagship’ beers. We find that constantly making new flavors is more exciting for us, and hopefully people will respond well to that.”

Cellarmaker is trying to push the envelope by brewing with new hop varieties from New Zealand and Australia that few other breweries are using. For example, “We have a 100% Mosaic wet hopped beer we will be pouring until it's gone,” says Casey. “Plus we'll be doing all kinds of fun barrel aging and other single hop beers so people can really taste the flavors from a single hop variety.”

The following beers are on tap now: Petite Sour (an American sour ale), Peach Nighmare (the Petite Sour with peaches added), Questionable Origins #1 (an American Pale Ale), Batch 1 Porter, and Shop Slangin’ IPA.

The dynamic nature of their brewing extends to their food philosophy as well. Rather than having their own kitchen, they plan to schedule visits from various food trucks. Visit their website or Facebook page for an up-to-date list of beers and food trucks on tap.

Cellarmaker's hours are Tues-Wed, 3 – 11 pm.; Thurs-Fri, 3pm - 12 am; Sat, 12pm – 12am; Sun 12 – 6 pm; Closed Mondays.