Double Springs Brewery—The Joy of Beer

By Antoinette May Herndon

Doesn’t it strike you as some kind of wonderful that a town of less than 800 has a beer garden?

On second thought, why not! Folks have been bellying up to the bar in Mokelumne Hill for more than 150 years.

Consider the words of one disgruntled miner, Hinton Helper:

“I will say, that I have seen purer liquors, better segars, finer tobacco, truer guns and pistols, larger dirks and bowie knives, and prettier courtesans here, than in any other place that I have ever visited.”

Before Helper hung up his pick and penned his cautionary tale to warn off other wannabe Argonauts, he bought some of those segars and knives at Levinson & Bros. Store—sight of today’s Mokelumne Hill Exchange and Reading Room. And, undoubtedly, he drank his fancy liquor and chatted up those pretty courtesans at the adjoining Union House, corner of Main and Center—now the Double Springs Brewery. Today people gather there for pizza, burgers and a beer smorgasbord.

Out front, where miners parked their horses and wagons, is Sharon and Jim Tesch’s lush, vine-covered beer garden.

The Levinson brothers, like better known gold barons, figured out early that the real money lay in supplying miners rather than mining itself. Their store, fashioned along Greek Revival lines with a pediment roof, was de rigueur in 1854. If only those wonderful old rhyolite stones could talk. Think of the fortunes chiseled out of the earth only to be lost at faro or fandango. Imagine the grub staking, the gold dust traded for the picks and pans or maybe a suit to go a-courting. A storekeeper would have seen and heard it all.

Jim Tesch hears lots of stories too. What bar tender doesn’t? Tesch is a beer maven. A veteran brewer for 20 years, he knows a good beer when he pours it. Jim has three flavors on tap: Laganitas IPA, Belgian Stella Artois and Alaskan Amber. “I’m my biggest critic, “ he says. “If I don’t like it, I don’t serve it.”

Large, cold glasses of beer are $3.50 at Double Springs Brewery. That’s $3.50 cash. Be warned, they go up to $4 if you use a credit card.

Sharon Tesch tends the grill, consistently turning out the kind of hamburgers you long for but rarely get. Sharon’s success secret is the top grade meat ground fresh every day. She also

cooks to order—I like mine rare. I’m fussy too, but have never been disappointed at the Brewery. Hamburgers are $6 with all the trimmings and a side of chips.

Another specialty at the beer garden is pizza. Have you ever had pineapple on a pizza? Think pork and applesauce and try it. Five-topping pizzas are $16 and $18 depending on the size. There’s also salami and cheese for $10 and $12.

A leafy, rose-covered beer garden is a magical place on warm summer evenings. Kids romp and crow, dogs snooze contentedly. On many Friday nights Jeff Tuttle and Phil McCartney play the guitar and sing. Be assured: history is still being made in Mokelumne Hill.

VITALS: Double Spring Brewery. Corner of Main and Center. Phone: 2860506. Wednesday-Saturday 12 noon to 8 p.m. (Way longer if Phil and Jeff are playing) Credit cards accepted.

amherndon@sierralodestar.com

PICTURES

A pizzeria rose from the ashes of the historic Union House, destroyed by fire in 1864.

At the celebrated corner of Main and Center stones from the old Union House may be found in the beer garden.

Jim Tesch knows a good beer when he pours it.