Hopkins Farm Brewery – Havre de Grace’s First Brewery

Hopkins Farm Brewery opened this past summer, becoming Havre de Grace’s first brewery. While the brewery is new, Hopkins Farm has been milking cows and growing produce for over 100 years.

Located on Level Road, minutes from 95, Hopkins Farm is well-known for their farm stand and fresh produce, especially their sweet corn.

When Hopkins Farm Brewery announced they were opening, the response was overwhelmingly positive. The anticipation grew by the day as the family shared photos documenting their journey – starting with their groundbreaking in July of 2019.

Aaron Hopkins, the brewery’s Brewmaster, had always dreamed about brewing his own beer and owning a brewery. Aaron has quite a bit of experience in the industry having worked at DuClaw and Independent.

In 2014, Aaron and his dad, David, who oversees the farming portion of the business, launched the Chesapeake Malting Company, which provides many Maryland breweries with hand crafted, floor malted grains grown on Hopkins Farm.

It was after a long day on the farm when the wheels started to turn. They owned a gorgeous property, Aaron had a background in brewing beers, the Chesapeake Malting Business had taken off – why not build a brewery on the family farm? It made perfect sense.

Bringing their vision to life has been quite the adventure. The family visited breweries all over the East Coast – taking away something from each one. Turns out, one of their favorite barns was in their backyard – Wilson’s Produce. “I love the barn there – it’s beautiful. It was an Amish builder and I got the information from the owner. It turns out the builder was a friend of the family and we’ve known him for years. Such a small world,” Dan Hopkins said.

The first beams went up on July 9, 2019 and coincidentally, their grand opening was held on July 9, 2020. The barn exceeded their expectations, and it has quite a bit of sentimental value as they’ve included stone and reclaimed wood from their parents’ farm property.

While they expected the brewery to be successful, they didn’t anticipate the crowds. Since opening their doors on July 9, 2020, the brewery has become very popular – attracting beer lovers from as far as Philly, New York City, Richmond, and D.C.

While many small businesses have suffered greatly from the pandemic, others have thrived, including Hopkins Farm Brewery. While they clearly were not anticipating a global pandemic – they couldn’t have chosen a better time to open. What’s better than a cold beer, live music, food and an entire farm to socially distance?

In the seven short months they’ve been open, they’ve already had to add two additional tanks and more fermenters to keep up with production. Aaron has stayed quite busy – constantly brewing new beers that keep people thirsty for more. Thirty to forty percent of the barley used is grown on the family farm. Aaron’s beers are as fun as they are tasty and constantly rotating. Recently, he tossed dozens of eclairs into the tanks to create the “Goll’s Éclair stout,” which sold out very quickly.  His all-time favorite beer is the yam beer. He used over 400 lbs. of sweet potato, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and it turned out great. Alice Hopkins Puckett, who is known for her award-winning tomatoes and years of playing and coaching field hockey, now heads-up marketing and events. “There’s a funny story about the yam beer. We were trying to figure out whether we should call it Yammertime or Yam Right. I sent out an employee text. The 30 and over crowd voted for Yammertime and the 30 and under voted Yam Right. The 30 and under crowd won – it was officially named Yam Right,” Alice laughs.  

Alice is enjoying every minute of the family’s brewery, “I want every day to feel like a festival,” she said. They hosted their first event with the Turntable Foundation this past summer and it was very well attended with two main stages, food trucks, and of course delicious beers. The brewery also hosted its first wedding this past September for Aaron Hopkins.

Alice is working on lots of new projects including a walking trail for visitors that will hopefully be open this summer.

It has been all hands-on deck since their opening. Mitchell Hopkins was in college at the height of the pandemic and ended up staying home his last semester. There was no shortage of work for a college student. Mitchell and his friend assembled all the picnic tables over the summer, and you can now find him in the tap room as he is one of the main beertenders. “It’s a great industry, I love it,” Mitchell said.  

The Hopkins are enjoying their new business venture and most importantly, the extra family time. “We are grateful for the community support – it has been exciting and consistent,” Dan said.

I think that I can speak for many others when I say, we are awfully grateful for them too –  it is such a wonderful addition to Havre de Grace. If you haven’t visited yet, I recommend visiting soon. The second you walk through the doors you feel like family and the friendly vibe and great beers will keep you coming back.