Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Thomas and Ky Pedulla.
Hi Christopher and Ky, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
We are the owners of Hop Secret Brewing Company. From co-workers at a hotel bar turned friends, we bonded over our families’ east coast roots, our love for nerd culture and music, and of course, beer. We began homebrewing in our garage in Playa del Rey, CA in 2015, serving up home-grown recipes to our friends and neighbors. This garage is where our Gold medal winning 8381 Belgian Wit recipe was born!
Over the next few years, as our experience managing bars grew, so did our enthusiasm for craft beer, and we knew we wanted to grow our passion into a full-time lifestyle. In February 2019, when our place of employment closed its doors for good, we decided to take the plunge into entrepreneurship and find a spot to brew commercially.
Enter: Hop Secret Brewing Company, located in Monrovia, CA. Hop Secret was founded in 2017 by the mad scientist Gary Gates, and we purchased it in January 2020. Yup, two months before the pandemic started.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
After two joyous and successful months as the new owners of Hop Secret Brewing Co., we (along with the rest of the world) were thrown an unprecedented curveball: the economic shutdown following the onset of the global pandemic. Our main source of income, the taproom, was immediately shut down. We were forced to get creative and start a beer-to-go program, which had previously not existed to the scale needed to keep us afloat. Although not ideal, we managed to make it work, all in the hopes of keeping our dream alive.
Once our to-go program was operating at a sustainable rate, we were thrown another curveball: breweries with outdoor dining were allowed to open at limited capacity. Unfortunately for us, our taproom does not have an outdoor area or on-site dining, so not only were we unable to open the taproom, but our to-go business also suffered as a result of the lifted restrictions.
At long last, after 444 days, we were finally able to reopen our taproom and pour some tasty beers straight from the tap! We are extraordinarily grateful to the local community, friends, and family for the ongoing support, without which we would not have survived.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Hop Secret is a microbrewery and tasting room located in Monrovia, CA, dedicated to producing clean and delicious beer across a wide spectrum of styles and flavors. Fresh on the craft beer scene, we are so proud to have earned two medals at the 2021 California Craft Brewers Cup: Gold for our 8381 Belgian Wit and Silver for our Close Talker Lager. Our core line, composed of our top sellers, includes: Close Talker Lager, Here 2 Stay IPA, Starhazer Hazy IPA, 8381 Belgian Wit, Safehouse Stout, and Deep Space DIPA. We enjoy providing a wide selection of different beer styles to accommodate the wide spectrum of palates; it’s also a great way to keep challenging ourselves to grow and make great beer in the brewery! Additionally, because of our experience in the hospitality industry, we know it is so important to have an atmosphere to match the quality of the beer. During the course of the shutdown, we took the time to renovate the taproom to be more reflective of our personalities and to create a richer in-person experience. Among a few aesthetic changes, we also added arcade machines, more TV’s, and board games. We hope to see you all in the taproom soon!
Contact Info:
- Email: info@hopsecretbrewing.
com - Website: https://www.
hopsecretbrewing.com/ - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/ hopsecretbrewery/ - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/hopsecretbrewing
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://www.hopsecretbrewing.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hopsecretbrewery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hopsecretbrewing
