• The Marz beers that Maria’s had on tap last weekend. I think that’s Smoke Wheat Every Day out front.

I’ve known Ed Marszewski for years—first as one of the troublemakers at Lumpen magazine, then as overlord of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, where my old band Brilliant Pebbles used to play his art festivals. I’ve hung out with him at Maria’s (he helped transform it in 2010 from its previous incarnation as Kaplan’s Liquors), and last June I accepted his invitation to judge the Mash Tun Fest he held to mark the publication of the third issue of his Mash Tun beer journal. So it’s not news to me that he’s one of the principals at the nascent Marz Community Brewing.

  • Marz cofounders Eric Olson and Ed Marszewski

It would be a painfully long time before the Marz crew could begin test batches on their own system, though—that finally happened in late summer 2013—and during this protracted incubation period, more and more people were drawn into the brewery’s orbit (even though it was still largely hypothetical). Marz folks brewed at home, learned the ropes at CHAOS Brew Club, or apprenticed at Pipeworks. Eventually they’d number more than a dozen. (Due to laws forbidding a single person or group from owning both a bar and a brewery, Mike has divested himself of his stake in Marz, and is no longer actively involved; likewise Ed has sold his share of Maria’s, and can’t work there. Mike now owns Maria’s himself, while Ed is owner and president of Marz.)

  • Every brewery needs behind-the-scenes office personnel to keep things humming.

  • A fraction of the Marz crew: Pete Alvarado, Ed Marsziewski, Mike Redwick, Eric Olson, and Tim Lange

Aside from the half dozen beers I’ve already mentioned, Marz’s output to date includes a porter called (probably inevitably) Bridgeporter, a saison provisionally christened May of ’68, and versions of the Bubbly Creek brewed with yuzu fruit and with Chardonnay grape juice (the latter nicknamed “Winobacillus”).

The Marz guys classify May of ’68 (7 percent alcohol) as a saison, but it’s like no other saison I’ve ever had—I kept returning to it, trying to get a handle on its combination of toasty, buttery caramelized malts, bitter but distinctly tropical hops, and crazily winelike fruitiness, which tangled together red grapes, tawny port, and even bubblegum. The yeast is doing something magical here, like the yeast in De Dolle’s amazing Stille Nacht (though the two beers don’t have much else in common).

Marz has no obvious home run in its lineup yet—a beer that could do for it what Black Butte Porter has done for Deschutes, for example. (Well, not unless Berliner weisses get way more popular in a hurry.) But by drawing on a diverse talent pool, these folks already make good beer across an impressive range of styles. I look forward to seeing what happens as their brewery grows.

This week’s first sign-off song isn’t metal, but it’s a welcome reminder that the Flaming Lips haven’t always been insufferable: “Take Me ta Mars” appears on the 1990 album In a Priest Driven Ambulance.