In The Shadow of Giants (Pt. 1): An Oasis for the Heretics

Fairfield-based Jelly Belly, one of the top manipulators of sugary media
you can find in California's Solano County

As one travels eastward on Interstate 80 into the Suisun Valley in California's Solano County, a billboard or two may alert the uninformed that Fairfield, the county seat, is home to one of the most famous of candy confectioners in Jelly Belly. As my spouse and I will attest, the factory tour is definitely more than worth the time, with a weekday far preferable as you can see the machinery in full action,

Driving up a little farther up the freeway, this same newcomer to the area may catch a whiff another uniquely sweet smell not too long afterward. The source of this scent is quickly identified - just to the south of the interstate, the sizable structure (700,000 square feet worth, in fact) that is the Fairfield branch of international beer maker Anheuser Busch chugs away, like it has since 1976 and all by its seeming lonesome.

Digging deeper, one will discover that this has not always been the case - the small but plucky brewpub Blue Frog Grog & Grill plied its craft beer offerings for locals in the know starting in 1999, making a solid run as an independent business until the owners sold their business in 2013 (in a somewhat odd twist, the brews have been adopted as restaurant chain Fuddrucker's craft beer offerings in the Bay Area.)

But what Fairfield may have lost in 2013 by the Blue Frog's disappearance it gained back in spades later that year. Some would even say there was a great deal of heresy involved.