Olive oil and beer? 88-year-old Modesto company’s new venture is ‘somewhat radical idea’

I can’t remember a time I’ve ever written “olive oil” and “beer” in the same sentence, much less had a tasting of both on the same day and in the same building.

That changed when I toured Sciabica’s California Olive Oil and its new brewery, Track 424, in late June.

You may have this question, because I certainly did: How did a well-established olive oil company venture into the beer business?

“I’m gonna preface this by saying I love olive oil. I love my job,” said Jonathan Sciabica, CEO of the company and the great-grandson of the business’s founder. “It was from my desire to put my mark on Sciabica’s and the family and do something that I was really passionate about.”

Jonathan Sciabica thought he might get some opposition for his “somewhat radical idea” to expand the family business with a seemingly polar opposite product, but he received support instead.

“I was gung ho,” said Daniel Sciabica, co-owner of the company and Jonathan Sciabica’s uncle. Jonathan Sciabica’s father, Nick Sciabica, is the second owner.

Daniel Sciabica said opening the taproom has led to an increase in olive oil sales because it sits next to the gift shop and there’s a large opening in the wall between them.

Though drinking alcohol is not allowed in the gift shop, sipping olive oil is. Customers can choose from a variety of olive oils to sample for free while learning about the products.

There’s more overlap in the olive oil industry and the beer industry than one may think, Jonathan Sciabica said.

The Sciabicas work backward from a targeted flavor, meaning they observe what their customers like and what the family likes and figure out how to make it happen with chosen ingredients, equipment, where they plant and what time they harvest. The culmination of these choices helps them achieve the flavor profile they and their customers are seeking.

The family has long used this process for making olive oil and has since used the process to develop its beer product.

“I knew exactly what I wanted the hazy IPA to taste like before we even did the first trial,” Jonathan Sciabica said. “We just kept working on different hops, grains, water chemistry, time and temperature until we achieved the flavor that I was after.”

He does acknowledge, however, that olive oil and beer don’t often go together in a business or in people’s minds.

The plant that houses the gift shop and the taproom on Yosemite Boulevard will soon have a sign that says “olive oil and brewery.”

When passersby see it, it may provoke thought similar to what Jonathan Sciabica said happened when olive oil tasting rooms started popping up all over the country.

People may have had questions like: Why would I taste olive oil? Doesn’t it at all taste the same?

“I’m hoping to do a similar thing by kind of breaking down a barrier for people (who may ask), ‘Well, what do olive oil and beer have to do with each other?’” Jonathan Sciabica said. “And in my opinion, it’s about crafting flavor.”

Sciabica’s celebrates 88 years with Farm2Fork event

A trip to Modesto to buy watermelons ignited the start of the business that has now existed in the city for nearly nine decades.

Nicola Sciabica learned to make olive oil in the town of Marsala in Sicily, Italy, in the late 1800s before immigrating to the United States.

He found his way to San Francisco, where the climate wasn’t quite what he was searching for. Sciabica traveled to Modesto to buy watermelons to sell at a market in San Francisco, but he fell in love with the smaller town.

He bought a piece of property along Dry Creek in 1925 where he began producing olive oil, thus starting the family business in 1936.

“We’re now in our fifth generation making the olive oil in the same place,” Jonathan Sciabica said.

The water used in brewing the Track 424 beer is pulled from the family well that sits on the property along the creek.

In 1998, the family bought the Yosemite Avenue building, which sits around a mile from the Dry Creek property.

The Sciabica family’s olive oil is made at the original property and transported to the newer building, where “everything else happens,” including bottling and distribution. All of the offices, the gift shop and the taproom are in the Yosemite Avenue building as well.

After Nicola Sciabica, the business was passed on to his son, Joseph Sciabica. Joseph Sciabica ran the company for 74 years.

Now, the legacy is carried on by Nicola Sciabica’s grandsons Daniel and Nick Sciabica, and his great-grandson Jonathan Sciabica. Other Sciabica family members also have roles in the business, and there are no ownership changes in sight.

“I think we’ve got the next 40 or 50 years covered,” Jonathan Sciabica said.

The family will celebrate its 88th anniversary with the annual Farm2Fork Market & Culinary Fair in the parking lot of the building at 2150 Yosemite Blvd. in Modesto.

The event is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 23, and features food, olive oil, beer, wine and cider sampling.

Sciabica’s largest sale of the year happens during the event.

Vendors include Fiscalini Farmstead Cheese, Paul’s Rustic Oven, Matkat Sourdough, Naturacentric Honey, Bauhaus and Food Fix.

Sciabica’s California Olive Oil gift shop is open Monday through Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Track 424’s hours are Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 8 p.m.

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