Hapa’s Brewing Company Grand Opening Celebration

Image credit: Hapa's Brewing Company
Image credit: Hapa’s Brewing Company

Right after passing their final building inspection last month, Hapa’s Brewing Company – located at 460 Lincoln Ave., Ste. 90, San Jose – opened their doors on Jan. 18.

As they wrote, in part, on their blog at the time:

“This is it! The post four years in the making. Hapa’s Brewing Company is opening to the public!… Thank you to everyone who has helped us along the way. We couldn’t have done it without our friends, family, and all the beer lovers who have supported us for such a long time! More to come including detail about our Grand Opening Party…”

Their grand opening celebration has been set for this Saturday, Feb. 25 from 1pm to 5pm featuring:

  • Local band HackJammers
  • Mayor Sam Liccardo and Councilwomen Dev Davis at 1:30pm
  • Food from C. George Smoke & Fire and I Love Cheese Steaks
  • And two – possibly three – new beers, including a single hopped (Equinox) pale ale and a red ale. These beers join their blonde, IPA and a porter.

More about the brewery – started by two South Bay natives – from their website:

“Hapa is the Hawaiian word for ‘mixed.’ A word very applicable to brewing beer. Hot water is mixed with malted barley to create wort. Hops are mixed with wort during the boil to add flavor and aroma. Yeast is mixed with the cooled wort to ferment sugars and make beer. Hawaiians also use the word hapa to describe people of mixed cultural backgrounds. Taken in this context, the word is also very applicable to the founders of Hapa’s Brewing Company.

“Brian and Derek started homebrewing in 2007 after moving back to their childhood hometown in the South San Francisco Bay Area. Friends since their Little League days, the two formed the idea for Hapa’s Brewing Company during that first homebrew in Brian’s mom’s kitchen. Over the course of the next eight years the two would join the workforce, move to San Francisco, and meet their future wives, but never stop making award winning homebrew or thinking about Hapa’s Brewing.

“In 2012, the two would meet Peter Burrell, owner and head brewer of Dempsey’s Restaurant and Brewery in Petaluma. In Peter, Brian and Derek had found a mentor; someone who could help make their dream a reality. To cut his teeth in the business, Brian took a leap of faith and left his job in Silicon Valley to begin brewing professionally with Peter. Derek worked to set up the dominos that would eventually need to fall to open a craft brewery.

“Slowly but surely, the picture that is Hapa’s Brewing Company began to take shape. On August 24, 2015, Brian and Derek signed the lease for the future home of Hapa’s Brewing. There is still a lot of work to be done, but things are moving full steam ahead with the goal of opening in early 2016. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on social media for updates. Hope to see you in the taproom soon!”

I haven’t visited their brewery and taproom yet but very much look forward to doing so as soon as possible. And I love the fact that there’s another brewery in San Jose to call our own.