New brewery to open in downtown Winters ... with a second location already on the way

A Winters family plans to start selling its beer out of a taproom and restaurant on the town’s Main Street next month, the first step in a plan that’ll culminate with a beer garden overlooking Lake Solano.

Curtis Stocking and his adult children Chad, Melanie, Jackie and Courtney plan to open Hooby’s Brewing by the end of October at 9 E. Main St., Suite J after home-brewing for the last five years. They’ve knocked down walls in what used to be Main Street Cellars to create a 2,400-square foot taproom with a back patio and bocce court.

All beer is being brewed at a converted country store on the corner of Highway 128 and Pleasants Valley Road, where the Stockings own a 5-acre property neighboring Lake Solano. Bought more than 20 years ago from an eccentric old man with the last name Hoobyar, the site was supposed to serve as Hooby’s brewery and primary taproom.

That plan was tweaked when the downtown building became available this summer, though the Stockings still plan to open a second, all-outdoor bar on the farm sometime next year. It will likely have food trucks, in contrast to the paninis and salads prepared downtown, though customers can bring their own bites to either.

Chad and Courtney Stocking have been tapped as Hooby’s head brewer and general manager, respectively, and the rest of the family will help out in various ways. Chad’s beers tend to be on the hoppier side, Curtis said, though he’s also produced stouts and saisons and is experimenting with apricot- and pumpkin-infused brews. There are no plans to sell Hooby’s beers outside of the 10-tap bar.

Hooby’s will be Winters’ second brewery after Berryessa Brewing Co. and its lone downtown taproom. The 7,000-person town boasts an impressive selection of locally-sourced food and drinks and has made a tourism push in recent years, including a 73-room downtown hotel currently under construction.

The Hooby’s farm is about 4.5 miles from the taproom, with Berryessa Brewing sandwiched halfway between the two on Highway 128. With the U.S. expected to surpass 7,000 craft breweries — including 1,000 in California — within the next year, Curtis Stocking said he thinks Winters is big enough to support two of its own.

“I just think it’ll be totally different (than Berryessa Brewing),” Curtis Stocking said. “It’s almost like wineries where the more you have closer together, the better. It becomes ‘let’s hit ‘em all,’ or ‘let’s go to this one then that one.’”

This story was originally published September 27, 2018 at 4:27 PM.