Spirits Alley Lost Its Malt House. Its Winter Now Runs on the Event Calendar

For eight years, Alameda Point had one tour you couldn't take anywhere else in California. Every Sunday at 3 p.m., Admiral Maltings opened its production floor at 651 West Tower Avenue and showed visitors how barley becomes malt, a slow, hands-on process that people could also watch through the building's glass windows. That tour is gone. Admiral Maltings stopped malting on October 2, and The Rake, its pub, closed on October 18.

Next door, the November schedule at Faction Brewing included a game night, a zine release party and a toy-themed music afternoon in its first week alone. This winter, a trip to Spirits Alley is more likely to be planned around a dated event than around watching something being made.

What the Malt House Supplied

Admiral Maltings was a supplier more than a bar. Ron Silberstein and Dave McLean founded it in 2017, and The Beer Post describes it as California's first new malt facility since Prohibition. A 2020 company release cited in the same article said it supplied almost 300 breweries and more than 30 distilleries. Even at that scale, most of its local impact landed within a few miles of West Tower Avenue.

The Alameda Post reported that Admiral's grain was central to the beers brewed by Almanac, its next-door neighbor. Across the island on the East End, Alameda Brewing told the paper that one of its core beers depended entirely on that malt. "One of our core beers, Let It Lager, relies 100% on Admiral Maltings," General Manager Vincent Phua said. "We'll need to reassess the recipe and determine how to carry the beer forward without a hyperlocal malt option."

One more Admiral product is still on the way. In the same Alameda Post piece, St. George Spirits Head Distiller Dave Smith described a whiskey made from some of the first barley Admiral malted in 2017. It was "Malted at Admiral, brewed at Faction, and distilled and barreled here at St. George Spirits," and he said the distillery plans to release it sometime in early 2027. It is a bottle made entirely on the Point, and it will reach shelves after the malt house that started it has closed.

Why the City Points to Events

The closure announcement put the cause plainly: Admiral "couldn't make and sell malt economically," according to the post quoted by the Mercury News. The city's explanation went beyond one business. Abby Thorne-Lyman, Alameda's Director of Base Reuse and Economic Development, told the Alameda Post:

"The beer industry in general is definitely undergoing a transition as people are drinking less, and businesses have had to find creative ways to stay relevant, and we've seen our other Alameda Point breweries (Faction, Humble Sea, and Almanac) pivot with a wide range of events and activities, and more nonalcoholic options for visitors."

Faction's recent history shows that shift in numbers. At a September 1 meeting, the City Council took up a third lease amendment for Faction's space in Building 22 at 2501 Monarch Street. As of the staff report, Faction owed $222,036 in deferred and unpaid rent and late fees. The Alameda Post described a brewery that had struggled with slow post-pandemic tasting-room sales and events, made worse by severe weather and by road closures at the Point for infrastructure work.

The council report in the Alameda Post also covered what changed. Faction resumed paying full monthly rent in February, changed its business model, increased distribution, expanded marketing and hosted more events. The council voted unanimously for a three-year extension with a repayment schedule. With the renewal option, the amended term would bring in about $1.8 million in rent.

Where to Pour Now, by Posted Hours

With The Rake closed, these are the Alley's taprooms, wineries and kitchens, with hours as listed on their own websites or the Spirits Alley directory in early November. Winter schedules change, so check before you go.

The table shows a split. Almanac and Humble Sea keep the longest hours, every day of the week. The wineries and St. George mostly open in the afternoons, Wednesday or Friday through Sunday. For food, Almanac says Scolari's and Marley G's Pizza serve there seven days a week, from open to close. Dashe accepts walk-ins when there is space. St. George accepts walk-ins depending on capacity and staffing. Urban Legend Cellars also pours on Monarch Street at 1951 Monarch St. #300. Its website lists a picnic-and-food-truck schedule for November, including a Cousins Maine Lobster day on November 15.

The Calendar Through the Antiques Faire

Faction's posted events continue past mid-November. Three dates fall on the Point between now and the first weekend of December:

1. Sunday, November 15, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. The Alameda Record Swap at Faction Brewing.
2. Saturday, December 5, 10 a.m.–6 p.m. A Rock and Roll Flea Market at Faction.
3. Sunday, December 6, 6 a.m.–3 p.m. The Alameda Point Antiques Faire, according to the Faire's site.

The Faction flea market and the Antiques Faire fall on back-to-back days, which makes for a full weekend on the Point. The same Saturday, December 5, is also downtown Alameda's Winter Market and Hot Cocoa Stroll near Park Street. Through December 31, receipts from participating Alameda businesses count toward the city's Alameda All Wrapped Up campaign, which the city runs with the Downtown Alameda and West Alameda business associations.

The Former Winery Hangar Has Seven Suitors

Admiral is the latest in a series of beverage businesses leaving the Alley. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Hangar 1's Alameda tasting room closed in December 2022, with vodka production moving to a partner distillery elsewhere in the Bay Area. The Alameda Post reported that Building 43 Winery announced its closure on June 10, 2025.

The clearest sign of where the Point's empty space is headed is Building 24 at 2301 Monarch Street, the former Rock Wall Wine Co. building. The Alameda Post reported in November 2025 that the city had spent $2 million on a new roof and other upgrades to the 63,000-square-foot building. St. George had wanted it for barrel storage, but the city told the distillery it would "go another direction with the building."

A September 1 City Council staff report says one of the building's three hangar bays is leased and the other two are vacant. The city received seven letters of interest, from American Rail, Apollo Atomics, Bulwark Dynamics, Giga Energy, Marque Ventures Management, MRP Menlo Equities and Paceline Investors. Four offered to lease and three offered to buy. That item named the city's negotiators, and staff said they are still marketing the property to tenants and buyers.

While Building 24's two empty bays wait for a lease or sale, the breweries and wineries still on the Alley are open on the hours in the table above, with Faction's flea market on December 5 as the next dated event among them.

Erin Chan-Adams has represented Alameda buyers and sellers for more than a decade, and she follows changes like these at Alameda Point as closely as the listings. If you'd like to talk about the West End or the Point, Erin Chan-Adams is glad to share what she's seeing. Let's Connect.