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There’s a special thrill that comes with visiting Salt & Oak Brewing. You never actually step into the brewery from your car, as there’s usually a 2-4 hour wait, even when you get there for their 10 am opening. Once inside, it’s a miracle of customers and servers so beautiful, bearded, and glassy-eyed, you’d almost suspect that they were AI-generated. You’d be so wrong, of course.

Salt & Oak opened up officially this year after some soft-opening enthusiasm. OK, maybe that’s being too tame: there was soft-opening mania. Sure, you could use the term hype, but you’d be so wrong: Salt & Oak earned their instant fanaticism the old-fashioned way: churning out cat pee-flavored haze water, just like our grandparents enjoyed.

Cat Pissy IPA, Pissy the Elder, and Cat Box Delight DIPA reflect a timeless pursuit of quality and respect for tradition. At only $12 a pint, you’re in for a bargain. But you don’t simply come to Salt & Oak for the beer. You come for what us regulars call The Experience.

Some might say they indulge in gimmicks. Is selling bacon and coleslaw tacos a gimmick? Goat yoga? Of course not. And you will not find a brewery more child- and dog-friendly than Salt & Oak. Putting in a day care so you can day drink was a masterstroke, and there isn’t a dog I’ve seen the brewery turn away, regardless of size, breed, or rabies status. Just let dogs be dogs and let people drink what they want to drink, especially if it’s cat pee-forward.

I’m not afraid to say that I’ve sold my three-bedroom house to rent a cold-water efficiency apartment just to be within walking distance of Salt & Oak. People thought I was crazy, saying I’ve bought into the hype (that word again!) of a brewery that probably doesn’t even exist and was created by somebody from Hazeboiz, known for trolling the beer community. But who’s the crazy one now that I’ve been able to quit my job to get paid by fanatics to sit in line for them at 6 in the morning?

Just the other day I was sitting at one of the 20-foot-long community tables with 70 or 80 of my new best friends, taking in the gunmetal steel and beige industrial decor, sipping my Pissy the Younger and reflecting on how lucky I was to be alive at this time. The sounds of Giant Jenga falling to the ground followed by screams of unattended minors, the scent of sandlewood from all the beard preparation that surrounded me. And so. Many. Goats.

If you haven’t checked out Salt & Oak, just head on over to their Instagram page and you’ll get a sense of what I’m talking about. See you on line!

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