Two Sacramentans with a decade each working in local coffee bars are set to branch out on their own this week as they open Insight Coffee Roasters at Eighth and S streets. Ben Lance and Lucky Rodrigues met about five years ago when they both worked at Temple Coffee, and their idea of what a coffee business should be is set to open Wednesday – possibly as early as Monday or Tuesday if all goes well. “We’re opening this to stay in coffee, not just to own something in coffee,” Rodrigues said. “We want to do this our whole lives, and this is a way to stay in it and not earn minimum wage in our 40s.” The premise of the business is to keep things simple while providing sustainable coffee to t

Those who prefer to buy specialty brews will soon have a new place to go to stock their beer cellars as Curtis Park’s Pangaea Two Brews Cafe celebrates its third anniversary by opening a bottle shop. Adjacent to Pangaea, at 2743 Franklin Blvd., it will complement the already-successful cafe with its largely Belgian and Belgian-style beer selection. Prices will be competitive with other local distributors, owner Rob Archie said. The bottle shop will open in about a week. Also new to the space will be specialty cheeses, high-end Belgian chocolates, wine and a larger selection of charcuterie. “We’re probably going to start off with about 250 bottles and work our way up,” said the 36-year-o

Brewers from Maine, Vermont, Ireland and, of course, California will fill Discovery Park Saturday for the 16th annual California Brewers Festival. Around 60 brewpub, distributors and home brewers will be pouring ales, lagers and craft beers for what festival organizers anticipate will be more than 3,000 attendees. Although the festival attracts brewers from across the nation and overseas, the Sacramento region is heavily represented. Rubicon Brewing Company, Hoppy Brewing Company and Brew It Up! are a few locals participating. You can view the full list of brewers here. The festival is organized by Sacramento's Rotary Club of Point West to benefit the Assistance League of Sacramento. A

Oktoberfest meets BikeCrawl Welcome to the 3rd "bicycle-themed" Grubcrawl. When: Thursday, October 15, promptly at 5:00 for the pre-party, we're off to the first spot at 6:00. Where: Bikes and Bites, 1013 12th street @ 12th & J, Downtown Sacramento. Starting off with the HOPPIEST Kick off party on the planet! HOPPY BREWING COMPANY has offered to help get thing hoppin’ before we even leave the starting line. HOPPY BREWING COMPANY will be bringing 4 of their nationally renowned brews for all the registered BikeCrawlers to sample. Not only that, HOPPY BREWING COMPANY has also offered to supply scrumptious snacks to compliment their excellent choices in brew. What a kick off! And all you