After a long process, Channel Brewing Co. opened it’s doors on the corner of San Joaquin Street and Weber Avenue in downtown Stockton with a soft opening on March 24.
The first full day of operations was March 30.
According to Chaddock the soft opening brought a good turnout of about 400 people through the night.
“It’s been a long process but it’s been good … I guess we were a little naive about everything involved in opening,” said Billy Chaddock, owner of Channel Brewing Co.
Channel Brewing Co. is the first of its kind in Stockton and has received a lot of attention and local support.
Starting with the company’s logo, there’s an immediate connection to the Port City.
The logo consists of a red triangle and blue base of the triangle representing water. “The red represents the channel markings on the channel when you’re coming into port from the ocean. The blue was added to drive it more to home,” said Chaddock.
The mission is community building in Stockton, not only downtown but the entire city. Stockton has a lingering stigma of being dangerous and boring from many living in the city.
Chaddock knows traditionally speaking there isn’t a lot of support for new things in the city. He wants Stocktonians to give them a chance.
“I don’t just care about downtown … I care about the whole city. Don’t be afraid of coming to try something new,” said Chaddock.
The team of four including Chaddock, Ryan Sharpe, Erich Rau and Brandon Piasecki, had a vision to bring quality beer to Stockton.
“Ryan brews, Erich is the multimedia guy, Brandon is the hype man and coordinator and I’m kind of the visionary,” said Chaddock.
The team also brought in Rick Stanton. Stanton is a craft beer specialist and president of the Brew Angles. After brewing for the past 27 years he has grown to be an authority around the San Joaquin Valley when it comes to brewing.
Stanton works out of a Lodi Wine Laboratories and helps write recipes for Channel Brewing Co.
His mission is to teach others to make better beer and perfect the craft. After getting in touch with Channel Brewing he was on board to help.
“It surprises me that Stockton doesn’t have breweries. It’s so big and even Lodi has a few open and has more opening soon,” said Stanton. “There should be more in this town.”
Channel Brewing Co. has a brew house not far from it’s location that will also help easier distribution locally. The goal Chaddock and his team are aiming for is to put a pin on the Stockton on the map for Stockton.
“This is the beginning … we really want to do is push product out, but we always want the focus to come back here, in Stockton,” said Chaddock.
Channel Brewing Co. has a grand opening April 15-16. Expect live music, food and most importantly, beer.
All over social media and talk around town, people seem very interested and eager to visit Channel Brewing Co.
“Yes! I’m always excited to try new beer and a new atmosphere,” said Adrian Vasquez.
With its a clean look and natural lighting filling the location people are starting to swarm in. Regular hours are from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays. Channel Brewing is closed Mondays.
