About Us

Aaron Barkenhagen - Proprietor/Head Brewer

Responsible for all operations of the brewery as well as new beer development, distribution, sales, marketing, and most importantly quality control (requires a lot of "sampling")

Patricia Barkenhagen - Vice President

Well, her title says it all! A true jack-of-all-trades, she is in charge of keeping everyone organized, coordinating events, staffing the tasting room, and most importantly keeping the piles of paperwork somewhat manageable.

Rod Burguiere - Brewer

An avid homebrewer for years and a Navy vet, Rod has brought to the team a ferver for brewing and enjoying great beer.

Chris Smith - Brewer

When Chris' college professors asked him how he was going to use his Physics degree from UCLA we doubt any of them expect him to make a career out of brewing, but we are glad he did.

Michael Wooldridge  - Brewer

A Marine Corp Vet and former long time volunteer brewer at Newport Beach Brewing Co, Mike has brought a keen eye for organization and strong work ethic to the team

Mike Barkenhagen

Co-conspirator

Part owner in Bootlegger's Brewery, Mike has been instrumental in building the brewery and keeping it running.

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.