THE STORY OF THIRD WINDOW

ROOTED IN PLACE

Third Window began with a simple belief:

Beer is an expression of place.

Long before brewing became industrialized, beer was inherently local. It reflected the grain, water, agriculture, climate, and traditions of the communities that made it.

While wine has retained a reverence for terroir—a French term often translated as “sense of place”—and its influence on flavor and character, much of modern beer has become disconnected from those roots.

Third Window was founded to explore what beer can become when that connection is restored.

THE BEGINNING

In 2014, our Founder & CEO, Kris Parker, began developing a business plan with fellow USC MBA classmates Adam Nazar and John Neale.

Together, they envisioned a brewery grounded not only in craftsmanship, but in agriculture, locality, and a deeper appreciation for where beer comes from.

Construction began in 2015.

Along the way, Kris developed a friendship with Patrick Rue, founder of The Bruery, through collaborations exploring the intersection of beer, wine, and agriculture. When it came time to build Third Window, that connection helped bring the brewery to life.

The brewhouse we still use today was originally built for Mendocino Brewing Company. After it was decommissioned, it sat unused in a field for years before being rescued and restored by The Bruery. It is now the second oldest operating brewing system in the United States and continues to produce every beer we make.

Third Window's founding brewer, Tyler King, also joined from The Bruery, helping bring the brewery's vision to life from day one.

In the spring of 2016, Third Window opened its doors.

A FAMILY LEGACY

Kris grew up in a family deeply connected to California agriculture and winemaking. As the grandson of Fess Parker, founder of Fess Parker Winery, he was exposed early to a world where farming, land, and craft were inseparable from the final product.

That perspective shaped a question that would ultimately define Third Window:

What would it look like to bring a deeper attention to place back to beer?

Not by making beer more like wine—but by reconnecting it with the agricultural traditions from which it came.

THIRD WINDOW

The name Third Window is inspired by the legend of St. Barbara, the namesake of the city we call home.

According to tradition, Barbara converted to Christianity in the third century CE, when the faith was illegal in the Roman Empire. While confined in a tower by her father, she had a third window added to symbolize the Holy Trinity. The three windows remain a defining element of her legend—an act that came to represent perspective and conviction.

For us, the three windows represent the values that continue to guide our work:

Passion. Cultivation. Purity.

Passion for craft, curiosity, and continuous refinement.

Cultivation of land, ingredients, and community.

Purity in intention, process, and expression.

HOW PLACE BECOMES BEER

That philosophy continues to guide the way we brew.

Through estate-grown barley, native yeast, and ingredients sourced from the surrounding landscape, we continue exploring what beer can express when it remains connected to its origins.

Every harvest, every season, and every ingredient offers another opportunity to discover how place can shape what’s in the glass.