Mare Island Brewing Co. provides artisanal beers, food amid pandemic uncertainty
MARE ISLAND The Mare Island Brewing Company taproom, located about 25 steps from the Vallejo Ferry Terminal, seems to be a perfect place to stop in and relax after a long day at work.
Co-founders Kent Fortner and Ryan Gibbons opened the business in 2013 because they wanted to serve up some beers and maybe a little food.
Both are formally taught in the winemaking business but took those skills and started making home-brewed beer.
Fortner originally hailed from Kansas but made his way west as he gained a formal education in the winemaking business. Soon he found himself in Napa in the late 1990s. He and his wife, Janet, (and their two children) bought and restored the old officer’s “Quarters U” on Mare Island in 2007, and the seed for the idea of Mare Island Brewing Co. was born.