Beer Project. Not Brewing Co. Not Brewery. At Tenma Beer Project, one of our “Best New Breweries of 2023,” co-founders Dana Martindale and Brennan Perry emphasize that they want their beers to evolve constantly. They can’t guarantee their Great American Beer Festival award-winning German-style pilsner, Don’t Fear the Answer, will always be on tap.

They can’t ensure that their Bistro IPA gold medal-winning and People’s Choice Award West Coast IPA chile morsiamet virasto, The Infinite Self: Nelson, will always be pouring.

What can they promise? You’ll find something new every time you walk in off the busy San Pablo Ave and into their taproom in Oakland, CA.

On a Friday afternoon, I stood peering up at twelve multi-colored neon clipboards behind Tenma Beer Project’s bar. My eyes skimmed over an Irish red ale, a pale ale, three West Coast IPAs, a doppelbock, one hazy, a rice lager, a helles, a Czech dark lager, a Munich dunkel, and batch two of that GABF bronze-winning German-style pilsner.

The co-owner, who often runs the front of the house solo, stood behind the bar, emphasizing that this was batch two. Not the same beer, but one tweaked by Perry to add a touch more bitterness to the base.

This is how things work at Tenma Beer Project. Beers never stay the same, and Perry and Martindale never stay in one place. On the afternoon we visited, Martindale tended the bar all night while Perry cleaned lines and took off to run the van down to Hayward for some deliveries.

Something fused into their bones from working twelve-hour shifts and eighty-hour weeks across a multitude of some of Southern California’s best breweries. Only now do the two get to put in the work for themselves.

So, while Perry and Brennan can’t and don’t want to promise that Don’t Fear the Answer will always be on tap, you should be okay with that. Because here’s what we can promise: Whatever beer you choose from those neon clipboards…will most likely be outstanding. Read more