"We are all here because people gave us a second or third chance and shared us with their friends. We want to show how appreciative we all are"

DIXON, CA (MPG) - Large green plants dotted with thousands of tiny yellow flowers spill over the edges of a 50-foot walkway that seems to disappear into the horizon. It is just wide enough for two average adults to walk side by side like lovers who lean into each other. The path makes a sharp right at the simple sign emblazoned with the hand-painted letters 'B E E R'. A thick black arrow under the letters points visitors to the right.

Sawdust drifts in the air while a buzz from a circular saw momentarily drowns out the hard knocks of hammers, nail guns, and the comforting sound of Mariachi music from a small, portable radio. A couple of young women carrying clipboards suddenly appear and disappear in opposite directions. A tall man with salt and pepper eyebrows peeking from a knit cap walks with long strides into the half-made building. Looking fittingly Scandinavian, he's wearing some kind of unbranded shorts, a tight vest, thick wool socks and heavy work boots. He busily checks something with workers who are creating temporary doors with windows on the large kilns for customers to stay warm.

Jan Erik, known as "J.E." Paino views his business with the same curiosity and passion that his parents taught him by taking him and his younger brother on field trips to fascinating places–from NASA to sugar beet farms.

"There were almost no video games," he said with a smile.

"My management style is walking around, checking in, and being there," recounting his paradoxically hands-on and hands-off approach that allows him to keep his half-dozen construction crew on task and yet still autonomous enough to take personal stake in their projects. But that museum-style management also reflects his bigger picture aspirations.

"I get to see kids exploring, learning, and seeing nature," he says of the younger visitors to Ruhstaller Beer's working farm and yard on Sievers Road. The vertically-integrated beer operation has already become a big hit for young families in the local area as parents can unwind with a cold brew fresh from the source and a view as iconic as anything in Dixon while their children roam the mustard-lined dirt paths and peer up at the telephone pole-esque supports and training hops. If the plants and flowers don't capture the children's fascination sufficiently, the grazing sheep munching down the weeds will.

"They are our best 20 employees," Paino jokes, "We could mow, but sheep do it all and better and they're fun to watch." While the two kiln towers reach into the sky, the company has combined artisan beer-making with environmental sustainability not out of a sense of duty, but a sense of celebration.

"L.A. has concrete; San Francisco has the Bay; we have dirt. We have beautiful, agricultural soil in Dixon," he said nearly glowing with perhaps the satisfaction of finding it on his years-long endeavor to find the perfect soil for growing the perfect hops close to his Sacramento beginnings.

Located on some of the few remaining undeveloped areas of the renowned Dixon Ridge soil, the hops grown at the 50-acre Ruhstaller Farm and Yard have a uniquely fertile microenvironment.

"What makes Dixon special is the certain weather and the way the area is predicated to the wind," he explained noting the nearby Dixon Ridge that provides fresh water and also protects the area.

Beer only takes four ingredients to make: Water, yeast, hops, and grain. Paino was given a challenge when his uniquely crafted beer was called "Ruhstaller Sacramento" by one of his mentors in the grocery store industry.

"He called me out on it," said Paino of the famed food and wine expert Darrell Corti of Corti Brothers Groceries in Sacramento. The store was the first to sell Ruhstaller Beer.

"You don't deserve the names of Ruhstaller or Sacramento unless you use locally grown hops," said Corti, thus sending Paino off on an intense mission to find local farmers to provide him the elusive hops he needed.

Decades ago, before Prohibition, Sacramento was renowned for its local beer industry. The key to its flavors were the local ingredients grown here, but the ratification of the 18th Amendment killed off beer-making and along with it, any demand for hops cultivation. After the Great Experiment finally ended, micro brewing was nearly impossible with the still tightly-controlled alcohol market, which caused an incredible centralization of the beer industry to a couple dozen large brewers and a standardized taste that consumers came to expect.

Working for Rubicon Partners in 2009, a real estate development firm, Paino began researching downtown Sacramento to look for potential opportunities. The Ruhstaller building, built in 1898, became a focus for Paino and Rubicon, and the lost history of Sacramento beer-making became of interest.

With the backing of some partners at Rubicon and Paino as a minority owner still working there, a new venture was formed with the intention of creating a beer that celebrated Swiss immigrant Frank Ruhstaller, the namesake of the Ruhstaller building and the once-king of Sacramento beer. The original goal was to use only California ingredients, but Paino was dismayed to learn that his options were extremely limited.

After a decade of successes, setbacks, and experiments with contract growing, Ruhstaller Beer was finally equipped to grow its own hops and Paino was introduced to the Bagwells, owners of a large parcel off Sievers Road where they ran Wellco, a truck repair and fabrication shop, for decades. The Bagwell family was ready to give up on California like many industrial and manufacturing businesses, and suspected that Paino would make something incredible out of the property. In February of 2018, they sold the parcel to Ruhstaller Beer.

Since then, the property has been abuzz with workers, contractors, and craftsmen building it into a working brewery under the easy-going and friendly engineer-turned-brewmaster.

When the pandemic hit, Paino pulled his workers, who are as loyal as any employee could ever be, from the industrial park location in Dixon out to the farm where work on the yard and farm project quickly came together. Some who never picked up a shovel were helping with the planting and what had just been a vision, became a plan, he explained.

A proud day for Paino and the Ruhstaller team was when the tops of the twin kilns were completed, leading Paino to nickname them 'Hugo' and 'Harry' after his childhood friends. They were able to open mid December serving their beers and food, and now, they offer live music.

"We did not expect this response so we had to rethink everything," he said. "We asked, 'how are people being taking care of?' We are all here because people gave us a second or third chance and shared us with their friends. We want to show how appreciative we all are."

The grand opening was last Saturday. There were parents strolling babies, little ones playing corn hole, and many folks relaxing around several large fire pits. Mason jars filled with cold beer rested easily on armrests of patio chairs and freshly made tacos and tortas were delicious. Servers were more than attentive and friendly.

"I followed my love and this is where it got me," he said. "There's a peaceful simplicity to it. None of us make a lot of money but we are happy where we go every day." That is 6686 Sievers Road just around the corner from Pedrick Produce. For more information, see RuhstallerFarm.com or check out their Facebook site RuhstallerFarmAndYard. Or, call (530) 601-8240.