Steve Altimari and his wife Barri — former chef, current “chief flavor officer,” patron saint of flavor collisions and dessert-fueled bad ideas that somehow become brilliant — first dipped their toes into the beer swamp back in the mid-’90s with Valley Brewing in Stockton, California, a brewpub born during that glorious era when everyone still thought flannel counted as formalwear and West Coast beer culture was just beginning to mutate into the beautiful hop-scented beast we now take for granted.
Then came High Water Brewing Co., which started small, restless, and slightly feral, contract-brewing with Drake’s Brewing out of San Leandro, because this is how modern beer mythology often works now: no giant castle brewery at first, just hustle, recipes, licensing agreements, caffeine, stubbornness, and a refrigerator full of “experimental” liquids nobody fully trusts yet. The thing grew fast. Too fast. Within two years High Water had already outgrown its Drake’s nest and shifted production south to Hermitage Brewing in San Jose, still the brewery’s primary fermentation cathedral today, while additional brewing alliances spread outward like delicious spores — EJ Phair in Pittsburg, Uncommon Brewers in Santa Cruz, Morgan Territory in Tracy — a wandering Northern California beer caravan stitched together with malt dust and ambition.
And then Barri had one of those ideas.
You know the kind. The kind reasonable adults should probably ignore.
“What if beer tasted like s’mores?”
Somewhere, distant angels groaned.
Steve built the recipe anyway, wrapping roasted malt, chocolate, smoke, sweetness, campfire nostalgia, and the ghost of childhood sugar mania into one dark liquid hallucination. Campfire Stout arrived in 2012 and promptly exploded into High Water’s best-selling beer — because of course it did. Humanity, it turns out, has absolutely no defense against the flavor memory of melted marshmallows and firewood smoke delivered via pint glass.
What began as self-distribution and hopeful hustle now stretches across 35 distributors, 16 states, and more than 20 countries, including Tacoma, Washington, where Peaks & Pints — forever willing to encourage beautiful questionable decisions involving sugar and alcohol — now pairs five High Water beers with five doughnuts from neighboring Top Pot Doughnuts for what can only be described as Craft Beer Crosscut 5.12.18: A Flight of High Water Brewing and Doughnuts, a glorious collision of pastry, stout, hops, glaze, malt, and mild existential surrender.
High Water Central Valley Breakfast Sour
6.2% ABV
Steve Altimari fixed his focus on the barrels themselves when launching his newest string of wild ales, the Calambic Series, featuring the same base beer — a golden ale with additional malt nutrients such as wheat, corn and oats to provide a nice, healthy food source for long-term barrel aging. The base beer is 100 percent fermented with High Water house Brettanomyces strain in stainless steel fermenters. Once the beer in the barrels has aged for approximately one year, Altimari introduces the chosen fruit and continues to age for four to six months, depending on the fruit and barrel fermentation timing. The Central Valley Breakfast Sour is aged with grapefruit, pear and lychee. As the name suggests, it could be enjoyed before noon, drinking somewhat like a carbonated grapefruit juice. DOUGHNUT PAIRING: Valley Girl Lemon — Pair lemon filled desserts with the citrusy sourness and you really can’t go wrong. Low malt character and little hop presence let the delicate dough shine through.
High Water Ramble On Rose
6% ABV
Part of the Calambic series, Ramble on Rose was aged in used wine barrels for 12 months with California grown blueberries, rose buds, rosehips and pink peppercorns. It hits the nose with fruit, some floral, rose notes and pepper. On the tongue, it’s refreshingly tart and crisp with flavors of berries, moderate sourness, cherries and lemon notes. DOUGHNUT PAIRING: Old-Fashioned — The simplicity of a glazed donut with this beer is beautiful. Nothing compares to the peaceful, simple moment of enjoying a hot glazed donut with a sip of a moderate fruity sour.
High Water Campfire Stout
6.5% ABV, 38 IBU
This pitch-black stout is impenetrably dark and tastes of liquid s’mores. That may sound ridiculous, but High Water didn’t overdo the flavor of graham cracker, and the marshmallow is mostly in the nose. As for chocolate? Well, we’d be lying if we said there was no room for chocolate notes in beer. “Flavored” beers should be met with caution, and often they have a polarizing effect on their audience. But there’s definite charm in a beer that has you reliving childhood memories of eating marshmallows until your fingers were forever glued together and unrolling that worn flannel sleeping bag so you could fall asleep under the stars. DOUGHNUT PAIRING: Feather Boa — Top Pot’s signature doughnut topped with chocolate icing and coconut shavings is a no-brainer paired with its liquid version.
High Water The Whiskey Thief
9.2% ABV
Inspired by their second favorite beverage, whiskey, the motley crew Bay Area gypsy brewers — High Water Brewing, Bison Brewing, Pine Street Brewery and Uncommon Brewery (host brewery) — teamed up for the third year in a row to brew a special collaboration beer for San Francisco Beer Week — a super boozy and viscously smoky strong Scotch ale. Aptly named the Whiskey Thief, the beer was brewed with a blend of specialty malts, beechwood and peat-smoked malts, housemade candy sugar and dry-hopped with heather. Whiskey Thief fills the nose with soft hints of smoke, toffee, roasted nuts and dried flowers. Rich flavors of caramel and toffee bombard the tongue slowly breaking away to reveal a deep layer of smoky, peaty goodness. DOUGHNUT PAIRING: Apple Fritter — If that doesn’t sound like a pair made in fritter heaven, we don’t know what does.
High Water Obscurus IPA
6.66% ABV
This hazy peach mango IPA is brewed with ripe, sweet peach puree and Barbarian yeast that lends a delicate stone fruit nose. The addition of Vic Secret hops and mango contribute to its tropical lusciousness. It’s an easy drinking, light and flavorful IPA. DOUGHNUT PAIRING: Cinnamon Dusted Doughnut — The sweet, tropical IPA pairs nicely with cinnamon-sugar heaven in donut form.
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
