Admiral Maltings, the Alameda floor-malting house that opened in 2017, has stopped making malt, and its pub, The Rake, pours its last pints on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. The final batch came out of the kiln on Friday, Oct. 2, the company said in its closing announcement, as reported by Eater SF.
“Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t make and sell malt economically,” the announcement reads, per Eater.
The company’s website now shows a single line: “Thank you for 9 great years!”
What Admiral Maltings was
Ron Silberstein, Dave McLean and Curtis Davenport opened Admiral in the summer of 2017 inside a former naval warehouse at Alameda Point, as California’s first floor-malting operation since Prohibition, All About Beer reported. Silberstein, who spent two decades running San Francisco’s ThirstyBear Organic Brewery, called the redwood ceiling “a redwood cathedral.”
The Rake let drinkers watch the malting floor through its windows while drinking beer and spirits made from that same malt, per All About Beer. The Alameda Post says Admiral also ran a weekly production tour on Sunday afternoons that showed visitors the labor-intensive process.
BeerAlien covered the company back in 2020, when it was trailblazing California-style single malt whiskeys and beers.
Why the math stopped working
Days after announcing the closure, Silberstein told the San Francisco Chronicle that Admiral had its best financial year in 2023, when distillers accounted for about 40% of its malt sales, All About Beer reported. Last year, that figure fell to less than 1%. Sales to breweries were falling too, and Bay Area rent was a huge burden, according to the same report.
The company said it had spent recent years seeking partners to carry the business forward before running out of resources, per Eater and All About Beer.
Silberstein’s summary of the mission, in an email to All About Beer: “beer is agriculture—no malt, no beer.”
Who loses their malt
The customer list ran from neighbors to national names. Almanac sits next door, and St. George Spirits and Faction Brewing are within walking distance. The Alameda Post published a partial client list that includes Faction, Fieldwork, Humble Sea, Russian River, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium, among many others.
- Alameda Brewing: General Manager Vincent Phua told the Alameda Post that core beer Let It Lager “relies 100% on Admiral Maltings,” adding, “We’ll need to reassess the recipe.”
- Almanac Beer Co.: founder and CEO Damian Fagan told the Alameda Post, “Today is a sad day,” and was quoted by All About Beer calling the malt’s quality and consistency “second to none.”
- St. George Spirits: master distiller Lance Winters said in a statement quoted by All About Beer that the closure “should be alarming to all Californians.”
Earthlings like to say they drink local. The ledger suggests fewer of them pay local.
One last Admiral Maltings artifact
Some of Admiral’s very first malt is still aging. St. George head distiller Dave Smith told the Alameda Post that it was malted at Admiral, brewed at Faction, and distilled and barreled at St. George. The Post quotes him planning a release “sometime in early 2027”; All About Beer phrases it as sometime next year. Same window, two wordings.
Until then, The Rake is at 651A West Tower Ave. in Alameda, per Eater SF, through Oct. 18. The Bureau suggests arriving before the final shift and ordering something made with the malt from behind the glass, while there’s still any of it to point at.
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