Popular Citrus Heights brewery reopens thanks to financial help from city
CITRUS HEIGHTS – A popular brewery that closed its doors last year is now back in business. DarkHeart is celebrating its grand reopening this weekend thanks to some financial help from Citrus Heights.
DarkHeart Brewing had been in business since 2019 along Auburn Boulevard in unincorporated Sacramento County. The pirate-themed taproom was a popular place to taste locally brewed beers.
"We've got our hidden treasure up on the top there," DarkHeart owner Cynthia Lee said.
Lee said they were forced to close last year when their landlord raised the rent.
"A little bit of something died, you had a really tough time letting that go," Lee said.
Then Citrus Heights officials came forward with a plan, offering the business $87,000 in economic stimulus money to reopen in their city.
"Our team saw this as an opportunity to welcome them to the city of Citrus Heights and bring an amenity that our community so deeply desired," said Marisa Brown, a spokesperson for Citrus Heights.
Now nine months later, DarkHeart is back in business.
"It's one of the most amazing experiences," Lee said.
The city helped find DarkHeart this new location at Sylvan Corners, a spot on the historic Lincoln Highway which is one of the city's priority intersections for economic redevelopment.
"We want to see this main corridor that people are traveling through bolstered by local businesses and DarkHeart is going to be a great asset to this location," Brown said.
The brewery is already helping boost nearby businesses.
"We don't have a kitchen so we support all of the restaurants around us, they'll come and deliver for free," Lee said.
"It's awesome, I'm so glad that they're back," a customer said.
Longtime customers are excited to check out the new spot.
"We appreciate the city of Citrus Heights to be able to open the doors to a place like Darkheart to come in and be able to offer this kind of environment," Gordon Haley said.
"It feels really good to have a permanent home where you just feel like it's right," Lee said.
DarkHeart will also offer live music nights and they're looking at adding another amenity in the future to bring in even more customers.
"Our dream is to have an amazing tiki garden out back so that's the next phase for us to work on," Lee said.
DarkHeart's official public reopening celebration is on Friday and will continue through the weekend.
