On a perfectly crisp-like-a-lager spring afternoon, I ambled up to a grizzled, grey-bearded man, a stalwart behind the bar at Wondrous Brewing in the East Bay. I asked for Wondrous Founder, Wynn Wisenhunt. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s in back,\u201d said Brad Griebenow, Wondrous\u2019 four-year bartender, pointing me to a door I\u2019d never seen before. <\/p>\n
Stepping inside, the teal floors led me like a yellow brick road to the Wizard on Wondrous. <\/p>\n
A man in a black Harley-Davidson t-shirt popped up from behind gleaming steel tanks. His brown curls flowed out from under a navy Schenker hat. Colorful tattoos scaled both his arms, constantly moving up, down, and around while we talked. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have ADHD,\u201d Wisenhunt admitted to me, hurriedly stepping away to turn a dial and mess with a valve. <\/p>\n
At Wondrous, Wisenhunt\u2019s crazy pinballing mind seems like a boon, churning out hit after spontaneous hit that constantly caught our attention. You\u2019ll find his beers highlighted on some of our top lists from \u201cThe Top 12 Beers We Drank in February 2024,\u201d<\/a> to \u201cThe 29 Most Iconic Beers to Drink in Summer,\u201d<\/a> to \u201cThe Top 31 Oktoberfests.\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n Wondrous first came onto our radar four years ago when we named them one of the \u201c12 Best New Breweries of 2021.\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n For S&Gs, here\u2019s what we wrote:<\/p>\n When we first heard the name \u201cWondrous Brewing Company,\u201d we wondered how it hadn\u2019t been taken. It\u2019s such a good name for a brewery that we\u2019re surprised someone didn\u2019t pick it up years ago. <\/em><\/p>\n But no! Although Wondrous applied for permitting in 2019, it only opened this year. Launching with a focus on lagered, barrel-aged, and hoppy beers, Wondrous Founder and Head Brewery Wynn Whisenhunt has done justice to his brewery\u2019s name. <\/p>\n An East Bay native, Whisenhunt studied Brewing Technology in Chicago<\/a> and Munich<\/a> and then worked at Lagunitas and Sante Adairius before setting off on his own. The past few months have seen Wondrous put out some incredible canned lagers, like the crispy Wondrous Hell Lagerbier and Wondrous Pils. <\/p>\n On a past visit, Hop Culture Managing Editor Grace Weitz was impressed that Wisenhunt devoted a majority of the taps to lagers. On draft: a Czech-style pilsner, a couple of dark lagers, a German-style bock, a helles, and a pilsner. Plus, a bevy of IPAs, too. But it was a porter that ended up grabbing Weitz\u2019s attention, landing on one of the twelve best beers we drank last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since moving to Northern California on March 1st, 2020 (so yes, literally two days before the entire city shutdown), Wondrous has become one of my absolute favorite breweries in the Bay Area<\/a>. <\/p>\n But despite visiting numerous times and chatting with Wondrous Co-Founder Wynn Wishenhunt over email, I had yet to meet the man behind the curtain.<\/p>\n Stepping inside the aquamarine brewery, that was all about to change. <\/p>\n Photography courtesy of Magic Muncie, Social Media Manager, Hop Culture<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Wisenhunt grew up in the East Bay. <\/p>\n Around 2005, his mom worked as a bartender at the now-closed Concord location of E.J. Phair, a well-known local watering hole. <\/p>\n While some teenagers spent their weekends playing soccer and going to the movies, Wisenhunt rode bikes, skateboarded, and hung out at a brewpub. <\/p>\n \u201cI was Becky\u2019s son,\u201d he laughs. \u201cEveryone was so cool in the industry\u2014drinking beer and smoking weed. I connected with these people a lot.\u201d <\/p>\n Pretty soon, Wisenhunt\u2019s older friends introduced him to three little letters: I-P-A. <\/p>\n \u201cWe were drinking Eye of the Hawk and Red Tail Ale,\u201d says Wisenhunt. \u201cA bunch of old-school beers.\u201d <\/p>\n Wisenhunt got his first job bussing tables at E.J. Phair, and he brewed his first beer as a teenager, a Dortmund export lager. <\/p>\n Afterwards, he rushed home to try and draw out on graph paper everything he\u2019d seen, asking himself \u201cWhat the f**k just happened?\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was the coolest thing ever,\u201d he gushes. <\/p>\n When other high schoolers graduated and went off to college, Wisenhunt applied to the Siebel Institute. <\/p>\n \u201cI graduated from a continuation school of rejects,\u201d Wisenhunt jokes, admitting he rarely went to school and couldn\u2019t imagine living behind a desk.<\/p>\n Wisenhunt may not have paid attention in biology or chemistry, but he had something else\u2014real-life experience. <\/p>\n \u201cI was one of the youngest in my class,\u201d he shares, \u201cbut I was probably one of the top three experienced beer people.\u201d <\/p>\n At Siebel, Wisenhunt shared a classroom with homebrewers and biochemists who had never brewed. They knew plenty about the science behind beer, but much less about the commercial practicality. <\/p>\n \u201cI knew how to use valves,\u201d laughs Wisenhunt. \u201c[They knew] what was going in and out of the cell wall and the mitochondria.\u201d <\/p>\n After studying in Chicago and Munich, Wisenhunt graduated in 2014, stoked and ready to go. <\/p>\n He quickly built up a pedigree, bouncing from Lagunitas to Bartlett Hall (where he won his first awards) to his favorite brewery of all time and dream job, Sante Adairius. <\/p>\n But eventually, another dream came calling. <\/p>\n Photography courtesy of Magic Muncie, Social Media Manager, Hop Culture<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As a teen, Wisenhunt would wander around his neighborhood in the East Bay, looking for buildings he thought would make cool breweries. <\/p>\n When an investment opportunity came up to open his own place, he wasn\u2019t sure if he should. <\/p>\n After all, he was brewing at the Capitola-based Sante Adairius, his favorite brewery of all time. He\u2019d reached the pinnacle of his career. And he loved it there. <\/p>\n \u201cBut obviously, as a brewer, your dream is to open up your own thing one day,\u201d says Wisenhunt, who says he couldn\u2019t pass up the chance to start his own spot. <\/p>\n \u201cOh, man, this is happening,\u201d he remembers thinking. \u201cIf I don\u2019t do this right now, I\u2019ll probably regret it.\u201d <\/p>\n Sticking with his roots, Wisenhunt knew he wanted to open a brewery in the East Bay. <\/p>\n But Emeryville surprised him. <\/p>\n The conversation lulls as Wisenhunt steps away to tend to the current batch of Creek Park, a West Coast IPA with Nelson, Citra, and Centennial, he\u2019s brewing. In the quiet, Wisenhunt starts humming to himself, interjecting phrases like \u201csweet\u201d and \u201cperfect\u201d as he weighs out his yeast to pitch. <\/p>\n He seems uncomfortable with the silence, filling it by telling us the history of this Oakland neighborhood and the old bolt factory building we\u2019re in currently. <\/p>\n Nicknamed Rotten City, Emeryville in the 1930s had the most brothels, casinos, and speakeasies per capita. Not to mention the slaughterhouses and butcheries. <\/p>\n During construction, which Wisenhunt thought would be a \u201cchill little build out,\u201d he says they found pig bones and more. \u201cOh, s**t, that\u2019s a full-on tooth,\u201d he recalls. <\/p>\n For two years, Wisenhunt took the building through a complete tear-down. \u201cWe ripped the whole building apart\u2014the sidewalk, front beer garden, street\u2014all of it we tore up!\u201d he shook his head, remembering. <\/p>\n It turned out for the best, considering that in March 2020, a pandemic shut down everything anyway. <\/p>\n Over two years after signing the original lease, Wondrous opened in May 2021. <\/p>\n At the time, Wondrous was the first brewery to open in Emeryville in almost twenty-five years. <\/p>\n With a roster of hoppy West Coast IPAs and European-style lagers, Wondrous truly reflected Wisenhunt\u2019s journey. <\/p>\n Photography courtesy of Magic Muncie, Social Media Manager, Hop Culture<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cWho are we?\u201d Wisenhunt repeats my question as he uncharacteristically stops talking for a second. \u201cI\u2019d say we do a lot of light German- and European-style lagers and West Coast-style hoppy beer.\u201d <\/p>\n Brewing at Wondrous isn\u2019t an exercise in structure and rigidity. Perhaps what makes this brewery flow so freely is its freedom. <\/p>\n Admitting he doesn\u2019t love computers, Wisenhunt runs Wondrous brew schedule from his head. \u201cThere\u2019s never been a spreadsheet here,\u201d he says, noting he doesn\u2019t have a set brew schedule. \u201cI just brew how I feel or based on what hops we have.\u201d <\/p>\n Sometimes, Wisenhunt won\u2019t even know exactly what he\u2019s making until he\u2019s literally boiling wort in the kettle. \u201cI\u2019m like, all right, what hops do we have in here?\u201d he laughs. <\/p>\n For instance, a recent addition called Everdeane<\/a>, a hoppy red lager named after Cameron Diaz\u2019s red-haired character in the epic movie Gangs of New York. With an opening in the schedule, Wisenhunt didn\u2019t know what to brew. So he asked his wife. \u201cYou know what sounds hella good?\u201d she told him. \u201cAn old-school hoppy red.\u201d <\/p>\n So Wisenhunt brewed one. <\/p>\n Or Hot Bocks<\/a>, a West Coast-style pale bock Wisenhunt brewed after bullshitting around about 420 beers with Wondrous\u2019 bartenders, Brian and Brad. <\/p>\n That\u2019s just how it goes at Wondrous. <\/p>\n Preferring to call the brewhouse more like an art studio, Wisenhunt says it may sound crazy, but that\u2019s just his \u201ccreative, locked-in mind\u201d at work. <\/p>\n Somehow, it works. It reminds me of going to a play and hearing the orchestra warm up before the show starts. What sounds like a jumble of discordant notes somehow all comes together when the person at the front raises their baton. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m the conductor throwing my arms around like crazy,\u201d Wisenhunt says. \u201cBut being a brewer, that\u2019s my life.\u201d <\/p>\n Consider Wondrous all the sides of Wisenhunt\u2014a clash of his childhood in the East Bay and a transformative time in Munich. All with a splash of spontaneity. <\/p>\n \u201cI would definitely choose the more lager life,\u201d he admits, \u201cBut I also grew up drinking hoppy beers.\u201d <\/p>\n You\u2019ll see both split almost fifty-fifty at any given time on Wondrous\u2019 taplist. But while Wisenhunt constantly switches up those sixteen taps, one thing you know will always be on the draft board\u2014Wondrous Hell. <\/p>\n Photography courtesy of Magic Muncie, Social Media Manager, Hop Culture<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPretty much the best beer in the world, in my humble opinion, is Augustiner Hell,\u201d exclaims Wisenhunt. \u201cIn Munich, it\u2019s the people\u2019s beer.\u201d <\/p>\n Having enjoyed copious amounts of this light German lager while in the Bavarian capital for brewing school, Wisenhunt almost doesn\u2019t know how to describe it. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s juicy water,\u201d he laughs, throwing out more descriptors. \u201cIt\u2019s super light and refreshing, but has this velvety, almost jelly-like body where it\u2019s not grainy, it\u2019s not sweet, but it has this fullness to it, but it\u2019s still dry and crisp.\u201d<\/p>\n He adds, \u201cIt\u2019s one of the wildest beers I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d <\/p>\n With the ultimate goal of making a beer like Augustiner Hell, Wisenhunt set out to create something he couldn\u2019t find in California\u2014his flagship helles. <\/p>\n For Wisenhunt, making the perfect helles became his quest for the holy grail. <\/p>\n While everything else changes spontaneously at Wondrous, Hell will always be present. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the rock of my brewery,\u201d notes Wisenhunt, who you could cheekily say is always living in Hell<\/em>. <\/p>\n Whenever a tank frees up, he fills it with Hell. Everything revolves around the flagship. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is where I draw the line,\u201d says Wisenhunt, \u201cDon\u2019t f**k with our Hell.\u201d <\/p>\n Starting with a base of German Weyermann light pilsner malt, Hell has a super simple mash schedule and a sixty-minute hop addition of Simcoe. After running Hell through a plate-and-frame filter for the first time, he took a sample. \u201cHoly f**king shit,\u201d Wisenhunt thought. \u201cIt was just so beautiful and perfect.\u201d <\/p>\n After the filtration, to add some hop character back into Hell, Wisenhunt included a five-minute addition of Hallertau Mittelfr\u00fch.<\/p>\nBleeding East Bay IPA All Day<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nLeaving a Dream to Start a Dream<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nThe Wizard of Wondrous<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nWisenhunt Heaven, Wondrous Hell<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n
Initially serving Hell super traditionally and unfiltered, Wisenhunt one day thought he would just filter it to see what would happen. <\/p>\n
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