Porchlight Brewing Company — Restaurant in Sacramento

Porchlight Brewing Company Review

First visit to Porchlight Brewing Company. Guests, diners and drinkers, appeared to be a well educated, upscale 25 to 54 age group.

Location: Porchlight Brewery is directly across the street from Antique Row on 57th Street in East Sacramento. It's not huge. It's more on the 'boutique' side than a giant brew pub. This may be the source of it's unique charm and neighborhood feel.

Before I get carried away, I need to give a shout out to the Porchlight Brewery Co. webmaster. My first introduction to Porchlight was on their website. The website creates a  sense, a feeling, that Porchlight knows their customers, their likes and dislikes and that they offer the menu and environment their guests are looking for. Well done.

I milled about the twenty-five, or so, customers who were seated outside under the Covid created, covered seating area, enjoying their beers and Side Hustle pizzas. Customers order directly from the Pizza maker without having to go inside, stand in line and wait for a cashier to pay. Ordering is really streamlined.

The Side Hustle Pizza limited menu helps.

#1 Margherita w/ arugula

#2 Pepperoni w/ serrano + pineapple

#3 Mushroom- white pie w/ arugula + herbs

#4 Portuguese Sausage with onion

#5 Vegan- white pie w/ almond milk cheese, roasted pepper, kalamata olive, herbs

#6 BBQ Chicken w/ cilantro + onion

Full $17 Half $12

It's no secret why Side Hustle Pizza has been brought back so many times. As I moved around, the guests were talking pizza, their favorite pizzas. There are enough pizzas on the Side Hustle Pizza limited menu to keep them hooked on returning again and again.

Watching Andrew, the pizza maker, working with fresh ingredients and dough he shops for and prepares, is like watching a dance recital. No wasted moves. The pizzas looked great. I'll return later to try several and review them here.

While I was there, about 45 minutes, I didn't have an opportunity to go inside and chat with the people behind the counter. I could tell by the way they engaged their guests that they knew their beer.

Porchlight Brewery is not a big flea market warehouse vibe drinking establishment, so if you're looking for a Cow Palace shoulder to shoulder brewery experience, you won't find it there. The closest ambiance to the Porchlight Brewery sit down, enjoy a beer and order something off a food truck, or a Side Hustle Pizza, is the old outdoor seating arrangement the Tower Cafe had before they almost doubled up on their outdoor tables. You can still have an intimate conversation at Porchlight Brewery and not have to raise your voice to be heard.

One final observation. While I haven't been there on a Food Truck night, it's apparent that the decision to bring in outside food vendors and creators works, and shows a lot of care by Porchlight's management. Andrew, the Side Hustle pizza guy, fit right in. The guests seemed to know him and like him. The Side Hustle Pizza mobile concept fits in beautifully with the upscale Porchlight Brewery experience.

Final takeaways? The guests at Porchlight Brewery appeared to be professional people, upscale. The atmosphere was positive. No stress. Porchlight Brewery and Side Hustle Pizza play well together in East Sac. I'll review the food and the beer selection on my next visit with some friends that...

First I'll start by pointing out that many of the reviews for this business are for the brewery that occupied this space before Porchlight, particularly the negative ones mentioning politics. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with anyone, I'm just pointing out that Porchlight is different than 12 Rounds and it's unfortunate that reviews for both are lumped together.

This place is great! It's a wonderful space with some delicious beers and the employees I have had the pleasure of meeting are great people. The patio is so nice especially in the evenings when the breeze picks up to bring down the hot temps of the day.

Sacramento has plenty of breweries with every possible variation of West Coast IPA and though I do love that style it is so refreshing to find a place that prefers to play around with other styles. When I was there last they had two NEIPAs, a Belgian ale, a lager, a sour, a stout, a porter, and because it's Sacramento a double IPA. I got a flight and enjoyed all of them so much I found it difficult to choose a favorite.

The location is excellent, as it is so close to the American River that it can easily be a pit stop for a bike ride along the trail. The parking lot is small and the street parking can get crowded during the busiest times, but overall I still think the location is great. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite breweries...

I stopped by to check out this brewery while I was in the area, I chose this place over other based on their logo, I just wish they had more shirts or hats with it showcased. Sadly I didn't purchase one.

Beer time! I got a flight to check out a few and see which I wanted a larger of. I didn't take notes and didn't take long but the ones that stood out. The Porch Lite was oxidized so that one was out. There was a dark lager that had a wonderful Black patent bandaid smokey taste, so that was out. Sorry for the names, just can't recall. A West coast IPA was great and one of the hazy(top of menu). Off to the next brewery.

On a side note, I think I just went on the wrong day. I'm not a huge fan of Paint nights or Trivia type nights, I get it though, it brings people in.

Cool they had 2...