1 month after massive fire, owner of Riley's Brewing in Madera County working to rebuild

KFSN logo
Monday, August 29, 2022
1 month after huge fire, owner of Riley's Brewing working to rebuild
Through the tragedy, Riley's gained many supporters. Friends in the brewing community are helping it get back on its feet.

MADERA COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- It's been just over a month since Riley's Brewing in Madera County caught fire and burned for days, leaving only ash and destroyed equipment behind.

"Kegs were exploding, cans were exploding, the fire got to over 2,000 degrees. It was really hot," says owner Dan Riley.

But through the tragedy, Riley's gained many supporters.

The brewery is working to get back on its feet with the help of some friends in the brewing community.

"It's incredibly humbling... everybody up and down from Turlock to the Coast start calling you saying, 'I'm here to help, what do you need?'" says Riley.

The owner of the House of Pendragon in Sanger says he had a couple of extra tanks he wasn't using as much and invited a brewer from Riley's to brew their beer there - an example of the Valley's tight-knit brewing community.

One brewer from Riley's was able to stay on staff and work out of the House of Pendragon brewery.

The rest have found other jobs - and will get help from the GoFundMe page Riley created to support his employees.

Riley says the damages are estimated to be just under $7 million. He's still working through the insurance process to figure out when he'll be able to rebuild - but he assures us, he does plan to rebuild as soon as possible.