While I believe in small town living and small town enterprise, I am not very quick to label a restaurant as an “institution.” There are many places in our small corner of the globe that would certainly fall into that category because they are nostalgic, have history, and our families have been going there for a while, however the word “institution” is personal, and defined usually by individual tastes and memories. I won’t even hesitate when I say that The Hopyard American Alehouse and Grill is an institution, and for two distinct reasons.
First of all, the concept was born from the 100 year old history on which the property lies in Pleasanton. Directly under the floorboards used to lay 1900 acres of the worlds largest hop farms in the 1880s, belonging to the Pleasanton Hop Company. This swampy marshland turned out such premium hops that most were exported to London for the highest prices. The business fell out in 1913 because of the war and prohibition, only to be realized once again when local boys Eric Otis Nostrand, Barry Just Barry Mori, Rob Hilde Hildebrand, and Erik Big E Heth started brewing beer and creating food based on the community that raised them.
Second is community. The doors to the Hopyard were opened with a community-first nostalgia as the foundation. With the Pleasanton sports fields visible from the backdoor, The Hopyard has become the destination to commune before, after and between adult softball games, kids sporting parties, or any other situation that calls for the comfort of wood-grain, sports on TV, and a beer-on-tap selection that can’t be beat.
Every Tuesday night is Brewery Night, where the doors are opened to a different brewer to come and educate and showcase their product. On a personal note, this was the event where a friend and I sat and reminisced about good times in the past and people we missed. Realizing that one of our very good friends from the past had moved to San Diego, we made the gunslinger decision to pack up our food, grab our souvenir pint glasses and drive the eight hours to see her at 9:00 pm. Note: we were not drunk, simply nostalgic.
With 30 beers on tap and just about half of them rotating on a weekly basis, you can bet they have a Beer Club. The Hopyard Harvester Beer Club issues an index card to be stored behind the bar that allows you to taste and drink the different beers as they come in. When you reach 30, you get rewarded for your efforts with t-shirts (we love t-shirts), glassware, hats and more! As a member of the club you are bound to get first word of when Pliny The Younger is coming in. For those unaware, this is one of the most sought after beers in the world, and only select places get ONE keg every year. Both Hopyard locations get TWO kegs every year. There are so many tickets issued for this event that, literally, lines form out the door in February every year. As for Pliny the Elder (one of the top five in the world), they get two kegs every week!
On another personal level, The Hopyard has employed two of my three siblings and both still say it was the best job they ever had. When everybody else in their 20s were wearing their gray college sweatshirts, I was proudly rocking my gray Hopyard Ale House Sweatshirt and literally wore it to shambles over the years.
So this is why The Hopyard American Ale House and Grill is an institution. Yes, the term is personal, however I would never throw that term out if there was not a legion of other faithful followers that agree with me—and there is not just a legion, but armies of people that already do. Are you one of them?
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