No joke — San Francisco’s Laughing Monk Brewing is merging with Faultline Brewing Company, which has locations in Scotts Valley and Sunnyvale. The Faultline name will be retired, and a new Laughing Monk Brewing and Gastropub will reopen at both Faultline locations starting at the end of this month.
Faultline Brewing opened in the Hangar development in Scotts Valley in October 2022. It was the second location for the Sunnyvale-based brewery, and the first brewery from outside the area to open a location in Santa Cruz County. The taproom featured pub-style food, cocktails and nine draft beers, plus beer to go.
Moving forward, the taproom and restaurant will operate much as it did before, with some changes to its menu. Beginning Monday, it will begin offering Laughing Monk beers and under the name Laughing Monk Brewing and Gastropub. Some popular Faultline beers like the Kolsch, Redwood Ale, Hefe Weizen and Black Dragon Stout will stay on the draft list, as will menu favorites like the Roasted Portobello Sandwich, the Bacon Turkey Sando and the Nashville Chicken Sandwich. New options include an ahi poke tower and a prime rib dip.
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Laughing Monk opened its San Francisco tasting room in 2016. Both Faultine and Laughing Monk are now owned by Bedrock Restaurant Group, which was established in 2019 and purchased Faultline later that year, according to Eater. It recently acquired Laughing Monk and plans to fold the two brands into each other.
Laughing Monk beer is already available at more than 500 locations across the Bay Area, including grocery stores, bottle shops and restaurants. It will also be available at Kaiser Permanente Arena through a new partnership with the Santa Cruz Warriors.
Bedrock Restaurant Group CEO Sam Ghadiri, who lives in Aptos, told Eater that he hopes the merger will reinvigorate the 25-year-old Faultline brand and its taprooms. “When you’re given the keys to historic restaurants and breweries, it comes with a lot of responsibility. It allows for even more growth for both,” he says.
In regard to the partnership with the Warriors, Ghadiri says, “We want to feed that market because we expect that demand to be high.”
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