Tied House - History

Origins of the Tied House

During the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries, the system of “tied houses” and “free houses” emerged in England. A “tied house” was a pub that was owned by a brewery and was allowed to sell only beer manufactured by that one brewery. A “free house” was owned privately and was allowed to sell any type of beer. The number of “tied houses” owned by a brewery could vary from one to the 9,800 that Bass owns today. This Tied House is operated by the Redwood Coast Brewery. Our first Tied House was opened in 1988 in Downtown Mountain View, the second one followed in 1991 in Downtown San Jose.

In 1987 the Redwood Coast Brewing Company was formed in Mountain View California and opened its doors as the first Tied House Cafe & Brewery, a Brewery/Restaurant set in Downtown Mountain View.

World Beer Cup Award On January 7, 1988 the first pint of beer was poured. Since then, two additional Tied Houses have been opened, one in Downtown San Jose and the other one on Alameda Island.

Much of the initial success of our products is due to the skills of our original Master Brewer Cheuck Tom. After obtaining a degree in Chemical Engineering at Sun Yai Sen University in China, Mr. Tom was the chief chemist and then the Brewmaster at San Miguel Brewing in Hong Kong for thirty-some years. After retiring from AB in Los Angeles where he was Brewmaster for six years, Mr.Tom was in charge of completing our first brewery in Mountain View.