The Excelsior brewpub, the new project from Magnolia Brewing founder Dave McLean, is targeting a November opening at 1132 4th St. in San Rafael, Calif., in the former State Room Brewery space. What Now San Francisco reported the timing on Oct. 9, citing the San Francisco Chronicle’s roundup of anticipated Bay Area openings, which lists the projected opening as November. No opening date has been announced.
Marin County, the Bureau notes, is in line to receive a pub from the human who started Magnolia. Sensors are set to English-ale mode.
Excelsior brewpub: what’s planned
The Chronicle’s listing lays out the concept:
- Style: a neighborhood brewpub with what McLean calls “global beer cuisine” rooted in the English gastropub tradition.
- Beer: McLean’s new Hidden Splendor brand, some of it brewed on site.
- Also pouring: a full bar and wine.
- Seating: about 80 seats inside and 25 more on a semi-enclosed outdoor patio.
McLean wants the Excelsior brewpub to have a neighborhood feel similar to the original Magnolia in the Haight, the Chronicle reports, and he moved to the area a few years ago. The Hidden Splendor website currently says only that Excelsior Pub is “coming soon to San Rafael” and invites visitors to subscribe to its newsletter for news.
Hidden Splendor and the Magnolia connection
McLean launched Magnolia Brewing Co. in Haight-Ashbury in 1997, according to the Chronicle, and later gave up ownership after a bankruptcy filing. SFist notes that Magnolia has since passed through a buyout by New Belgium Brewing and is now under new local ownership.
Hidden Splendor is his newer beer brand; its site bills the company as makers of fine beer and hospitality since 2025. In August, SFist’s Jay C. Barmann tasted one of its beers, an English-style extra pale ale, and wrote that it recalled the easy-drinking, mildly hopped English ales that were once Magnolia’s bread and butter. SFist said those kinds of beers would be the Excelsior brewpub’s focus.
McLean has also been busy with malt. He co-founded Alameda’s Admiral Maltings, which the Bureau recently reported has stopped malting and is closing its pub, The Rake.
The timeline so far
- January: State Room Brewery closes at 1132 4th St., per SFist’s August report.
- Aug. 14, 2026: SFist reports renovations underway and McLean hoping to open “sometime this fall.”
- Oct. 9, 2026: What Now, citing the Chronicle, reports a projected November opening.
So: targeting November, no confirmed date, no beer list published. Restaurant timelines on Earth are famously elastic; the Bureau will log a date once Excelsior confirms one.
Hours, the opening beer lineup and prices for the Excelsior brewpub haven’t been announced. Hidden Splendor’s Instagram, @hidden.splendor.beer, listed by the Chronicle, is the likeliest place for the first signal.
BEERALIEN.COM | Reporting on Earth’s finest craft beers from a galaxy far, far away.
BeerAlien
