After coming on as assistant brewer in 2019, Natalie Mika has taken over as head brewer at Peter B’s Brewpub in Monterey. Peter B’s is known for some of its classics, but Mika has a few new ideas up her sleeve for the menu. She spoke to the Weekly about what’s in store.
Weekly: Your degree is in winemaking and you spent years on vineyards before arriving at Peter B’s. Was a migration over to beer the plan?
Mika: It was not the plan. After working on a vineyard harvest here in California I just really needed a job. Portola Hotel had an assistant brew position open. I thought, this is still fermentation. The job ended up being super fun and the people were great.
How does brewing beer compare to making wine?
Brewing beer is more like baking. You have the ingredients and you get to decide how to incorporate those for the finished product. Wine is more like an agricultural process. You’re growing grapes and doing your best not to screw them up. In the beer industry, everyone can buy the same ingredients but not everyone can brew the same beer.
Peter B’s is an institution. How do you come in and make it your own while upholding what people expect?
I think it’s going to be easy. We have our flagship beers, like Legend of Laguna. We’re going to keep those. But we have 15 taps. If only three of them have to be consistent, I’ll have a lot of room to play around. I want to do grape-influenced beers and I think I’ve found a Riesling grape I want to use.
Peter B’s is located at Portola Hotel, Monterey. 649-2699, portolahotel.com/peter-bs-brewpub