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Politics & Government

Elevation 66 Pub To Open Sept. 1 (Maybe)

If all goes well and Elevation 66 passes its last round of county and city inspections, the brewery will swing its doors open for business on Sept. 1.

After six months of , the owners of the long-awaited pub on San Pablo Avenue have an officially announced debut — Sept. 1.

In annoucements at the end of Monday's City Council meeting, Mayor Ann Cheng reported the news of "Elevation 66 intending to open Sept. 1. So we're all really excited about that."

The pub declared on its Facebook page Tuesday:

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Hey everybody
We will be open for business on September 1st. We will be open all day. Please come by. We look forward to seeing you all. Thank you for your patience.
Cheers.

The reports, however, may be backed by good will more than by certainty.

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On Wednesday, brewer David Goodstal, one of three partners behind the pub at 10082 San Pablo Ave., sounded more cautious in an interview with Patch: “By all accounts we should be open. It’s not for sure.”

The business has two more city and county inspections to go through, and pass, before it receives its occupancy permit — the final stamp of approval it needs to open its doors to a public that, judging the from the pub's Facebook page and reader comments on Patch, is restless and eager for what will be the city's only brew pub.

Goodstal said the county health inspection is scheduled for today, Friday. A city inspector will visit the pub early next week.

“I believe we’ll be open on Sept. 1,” he said. His confidence stems from the three partners having checked off all the pending items the city and county pointed out during the previous round of inspections in late July. Employee lockers have been installed, they have running hot water, they’ve stocked up on soap and paper, and they’ve fixed the drainage problem in the dish room area. On Wednesday, a worker was installing the final touch — a system monitor that detects fumes in the event of a kitchen fire and is programmed to immediately alert the .

Goodstal said city officials and residents have been very supportive. “People come by every day, look inside and ask when are we going to finally be open.”

The main delay, he said, was getting the business in shape to apply for a license to brew beer. As first time entrepreneurs unsure of where to begin, Goodstal and his partners had approached the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, the agency that gives out liquor licenses, well before they started working with a contractor to design the layout of the pub. ABC told them the business had to be 80 percent complete in order to apply for a liquor license. Goodstal said they were handed their federal permit to manufacture beer on Jul. 25, about six months after they had sent in their application.

Since they got their license to brew less than a month ago, Goodstal said they’ll only have one or two of their house brews on tap in the first month of business, but will offer guest beers in the meantime. Once they're in full operation, they'll have a grand opening, expected to be in October.

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