NAPA VALLEY

It may be synonymous with vineyards and bold Cabernet Sauvignon, but dig deeper and you'll find experimental menus rich in local produce and a gutsy craft beer movement that prove there's more to the region than grapes

- ALICIA MILLER

On the sidewalks of St Helena, just over an hour north of San Francisco, it feels hot enough to fry an egg on the pavement. It's around 35C on the manicured high street of the wine town, the heat radiating across the clipped rows of the surrounding vineyards. So naturally, I blame thirst for driving me into a cool tasting room at just 11am. Not that I should have to explain myself; this is Napa Valley, where drinking is encouraged.

Surrounded by steel tanks and barrels, effervescent assistant Zack spends an hour pouring me samples. Then, a dozen boozy splashes in, when things have gone pleasantly fuzzy and the outdoor heat has faded to distant memory, he pulls out one final bottle. "This," he says, filling my glass, "is really special; it has notes of mandarin and lemongrass." I breathe in the zesty aromas and sip deep. Now that's one heck of a beer.

Yes, beer in Napa Valley, America's most famous wine region. Here, where most worship at the altar of the grape-specifically, bold, tannic Cabernet Sauvignon - it takes imagination to do something different. More than that: with both tourism and local economics skewed heavily towards wine, it also takes guts.

Nile Zacherle, founder of Mad Fritz Beer, definitely has that. While training in brewing decades ago, he found the increasingly generic ingredients used in mass-market beers uninspiring, so switched to winemaking. Later, as the craft beer movement grew, he saw a gap in the market for a quality Napa variety and started Mad Fritz alongside his vinous day job.