By admin 
When Device Brewing Company closed abruptly last year, it sent shockwaves through the local beer scene. Now, five former Device employees and their spouses are launching a new brewery in its stead.
Read more Emergency Hi-Lo warning sound to roll out for new Sacramento police cars
Balance Beerworks will open this weekend with a free two-day celebration at the original Device location at 8166 14th Ave. in Belvedere. The family-friendly event will feature Balance’s freshly brewed beers, food trucks and the opportunity to meet the team behind the brews.
While they all come from Device, the team hopes to use their combined experience to craft beer to their tastes.
“We now have the freedom to brew exactly how we want to brew. We are lager lovers, lighter ABV beers. We will be coming out of the gate with eight beers, and a couple seltzers. We never did anything with that Device, so that’s something we’re excited about,” said partner Bryce McEfee.
“We’ll also have a nitro cream ale. That is a beer from Bruce (MacPhee), one of the partners and brewers. His original beer, he brewed it at Deschutes long ago, and so we’re trying to bring back a new version of that.”
The enterprise is an all-hands-on-deck operation for the family team. Bruce MacPhee and Ian Marriott are the brewers, bringing the beers to life. Bryce McEfee and Paul Bonilla-Rios handle the marketing. Tom “Pops” McEfee consults on the business, and all the spouses keep the ship afloat, handling everything from accounting to running the taproom.
When we visited on Monday, the brewers were canning their rice lager. The canning machine is a massive Rube Goldberg-esque device. Empty cans travel down a track to a filling station, then past a purger that helps flush out the empty space at the top of the cans. From there the cans are sealed and run through a labeler and ultimately to a packing station where they are capped in four-packs.
Read more Women-owned jewelry showroom opens, replacing longtime Old Sacramento jeweler
At least that’s how it’s supposed to happen. The canning machine had lain dormant for over a year, and it was being temperamental on its reawakening. MacPhee made continual adjustments at various points along the process, and spot-checked cans by weight to ensure consistency.
For the inaugural launch, Balance will be offering eight beers: The rice lager, a pilsner, a West Coast IPA, a hazy IPA, a double IPA, a farmhouse pale ale, a dark lager, and a nitro cream ale, which will be available only on draft. They’re also dabbling in hard seltzers.
“One’s going to be like a gin and tonic-inspired seltzer, because we ourselves like cocktails, and then think the other one will be more of a standard satsuma mandarin type seltzer,” McEfee said.
With all the news on declining alcohol consumption and the constriction of craft beer, McEfee is optimistic Balance will have its place.
“Yes, there has been kind of a down-tip of people drinking, but I think it’s harder to be a giant production brewery. We’re trying to stay small, nimble, community-focused, try not to go outside of our realm right now, start small, grow from there, try to be organic,” he said.
Balance Beerworks will host its opening June 13 and 14 from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Families and dogs are welcome.
Read more Two dead in Modesto after car crashes into house, fire ensues. CHP on scene now