Besides being locally owned and operated, Iron Springs Pub & Brewery is green-certified. Its Give Back Tuesdays program has also channeled hundreds of thousands of donated dollars to Marin nonprofits. With at least 12 beers always on tap, Iron Springs does it all and does it all locally. We spoke with proprietor Michael Altman, an industry veteran who worked in brewing hotspots like Portland, OR, and Boulder, CO, before opening Iron Springs in 2004.
Where do you draw your inspiration for your menu?
Our two head chefs, Alex Klarkowski and Miguel Gonzales, work in tandem with one another, feeding off each of their culinary backgrounds and skills, creating mouth-watering delectable menu items. The same goes for the beers. The brewery team of Ryan Edmunds and Tom Conner work together formulating recipes and sourcing ingredients to produce some of the most excellent handcrafted ales in Marin
What can you tell us about your Give Back Tuesdays program?
This is one of our proudest accomplishments. Give Back Tuesday® was born out of our kids eat free Tuesday’s we did when we first opened. We found that those Tuesday’s were the hardest to staff and was the most strenuous for our team because it became more of a “Chucky Cheese” environment. We brainstormed to try and figure out how to best utilize the money we were giving away in free food into something more positive. Since its inception in 2007, we have been able to donate over $250,000 to local area non-profits that focus on the environment and education.
Anything else you’d like to add about Iron Springs?
As we are preparing for our 15th-anniversary soiree, we have been looking back and reflecting on what great memories, friendships, marriages, children, and kinships that have blossomed over the years – all because we chose to open up this authentic community-based establishment here in Fairfax. We also like to say; we didn’t choose Fairfax, Fairfax chose us.
