Is that a craft brewery with soccer fields? Beer, ‘footy’ culture get a boost in Visalia

It’s Wednesday night at Soccer City 1852 Visalia and players are starting to roll in.

Girls in blue and black soccer uniforms with sports packs mill around in groups, as parents find spots along the railing of the two indoor fields.

A few are sipping beer from the craft brewery tap room at the back of the open warehouse.

Jeremy Schultz is finishing off a few quick rounds of a game called soccer tennis, which feels a little more like soccer mixed with volleyball, but plays much like you would think, with two low nets at center field and players trying to rally back and forth.

Elsewhere, kids bounce a ball around a large convex table designed for something called Teqball.

Think ping-pong with a soccer ball.

“It’s kind of a playground for all ages,” says Schultz, who opened the indoor soccer facility (and on-site craft brewery) in Visalia in August.

Schultz and business partner Bill Cummings are well known in the central Valley soccer community. Schultz was the general manager of Fresno Fuego and the assistant GM of Fresno FC during its two-season run. Cummings was a partner in the ownership team for the Fuego (and also the Fresno Grizzlies).

It was their time working with Fuego and Fresno FC that inspired the concept for Soccer City 1852, Schultz says.

They saw the social space that Tioga Sequoia Brewing Company built at its beer garden before and after the games and how it tied together the cultures of craft beer and soccer.

“We knew the market was ready,” he says.

The guts of the game

While the brewery’s tap room is open to the public during business hours, Soccer City is membership-based. Players can pay $50 a year, or $25 per season, for league play and pick-up games.

The youth and adult leagues play eight games in a nine- to 10-week window, with five seasons each year. A full schedule can be found online.

The facility also has a roots training program for kids as young as 2 years old.

The fields at Soccer City (two indoor and one outside; each sponsored by community partners) are noticeably smaller than schoolyard fields, with netting running along the sides and overhead to catch errant balls.

Games are five-on-five and run in two 20-minutes halves with a five-minute halftime. Because of the smaller space, the games tend to be fast-paced with lots of activity and lots of scoring, Schultz says.

“For the kids, it’s hundreds of more touches on a ball during a game,” he says.

“I always like to say: ‘It’s the guts of the game.’”

Currently, the complex is running at 25% of league capacity. Schultz would like to see that number gets to 75%.

“When that happens, this place will be hopping,” he says.

Of course, the Soccer City space was designed for more than just game play.

The tap room for 1852 Brew Co. is at the back of the warehouse, separated with windows looking out toward the indoor fields. It has a craft beer bar vibe, TV screens visible from several long tables. There is also a back patio with room for food trucks.

The space will be used for events, Schultz says.

Already, they have plans for a World Cup watch party, which involves a 16-foot LED jumbotron.

There is also plans for a Ted Lasso watch party. Season three should premiere sometime this fall. Or that’s what the fans are hoping for, anyway.

Before that, the brewery will host an Oktoberfest event.

1852 Brew Co.

Though the facility is on the outskirts of Visalia’s microbrewery district — the clump of craft beer places on the eastern edge of downtown — it is part of a growing craft beer scene in the city, says brewmaster Will Peltzer.

It is unique in that, along with Brewbakers, it is the only other craft beer spot in Visalia that has its own brewing facility on site. It’s clearly visible through glass windows at the back of the warehouse.

The 10-BBL system (one BBL is equal to 31 gallons) should be able to crank out 1,000 barrels of beer its first year of production, Peltzer says.

Currently, the beer is only available on site or to go in 64-ounce hydro-flask style “howlers.”

Eventually, the company is looking to distribute to restaurants, bars and stores.

Like Schultz, Peltzer grew up in Visalia. He got his start as a home brewer and worked for Karl Strauss Brewing Company and Smog City Brewing, among others, before returning to his hometown during the pandemic.

He keeps the beer menu simple with six beers on tap — a Mexican lager, a pilsner, a blonde ale, two IPAs and an American brown ale. They tend to be light, drinkable and suited to the atmosphere, he says.

Peltzer is currently working on a series of four German-style beers that will debut during the brewery’s Oktobefest.

He says Soccer City 1852 Visalia is about “footy and brews and marrying those things together,” even though soccer is the one sport he never actually played.

“I just want to bring good beer to the Central Valley.”