Our Story

Bootlegger’s Brewery began as the brainchild of experienced homebrewer and beer lover Aaron Barkenhagen. Aaron developed the business concept and wrote the business plan while enrolled in the Entrepreneurship program at California State University of Fullerton. The brewery as envisioned would be a small artisian brewery supplying the local community and beyond with fresh unique handcrafted beer.

With the support of family and friends, Aaron continued to lead the development and build out of Bootlegger's Brewery in Fullerton, CA. It took almost a full year of contruction, licensing, and buildout to complete the small brewery on Richman Ave. The resulting brewery was a humble 7 barrel brewhouse with 3 fermenters and plenty of space to grow into.

After over 2 years of planning and build out, Fullerton’s first packaging microbrewery opened its doors and delivered its first keg of beer in April 2008. While we continue to expand our distribution, add production capacity, and enhance our technology at the brewery, we stay true to our original plan; To build a local artisian brewery supported by local businesses and consumers and making the highest quality and most unique beer possible.