What started as a decade-long ‘idea,’ made-up by two friends with a passion for craft beers, The Beer Aisle has reached its first anniversary of serving craft beers to patrons in and around the City of Oakley.
The owners of Beer Aisle are Travis Jannisse, a firefighter, and Chris Giddis, a fire prevention worker, met in EMT school back in 2013 and have since developed a friendship, spending time off together going to tap rooms that were similar to Beer Aisle in style. Their love for craft beers eventually evolved into the idea of owning a tap room of their own.
“At some point, the idea just came up, like this would be cool to have our own,” Jannisse said. “We probably talked about it for like a decade.”
Both Jannissee and Giddis living in the City of Oakley and wanted to bring a tap room to the area, specifically in the city they lived in. The pair began seeking out locations but pickings were slim–their goal was always the downtown area.
After seeing the Mercantile construction begin in 2020, Jannisse said that they thought that would be the perfect spot, but they had trouble getting in touch with the owners to secure a spot.
“When we saw this building start to go up, we were like hey if we’re going to do it, this would be the perfect place. When we saw it, there was just a sign in the dirt lot here,” Jannisse said. “We started calling shortly after that and it took literally two years of nobody getting back to us.”
So they waited. And waited. Until the point where they were on the brink of giving up on the location. Then one day, they received a call about an available space.
In August of 2023, they toured their current location at the Mercantile and within two months, the space was theirs. Jannisse said that he was the general contractor for the location and that he and Giddis worked together to design and build the place themselves, which took them around six months.
According to Jannisse, some of the biggest challenges they faced were handling all of the paperwork and permits, as well as having to build a tap room on a limited budget.
“There were things like our walk-in cooler, like, how much would it cost to have somebody do this for us? Nope, we’re just gonna have to do it ourselves,” Jannisse said. “So, one day, a truck showed up with pieces of a walk-in cooler just on pallets out here, stacked up, and we had to figure out how to put it all together. Doing things ourselves was one of the biggest challenges.”
Within eight months of signing their lease, they were able to open in June 2024.
Opening Day Ribbon Cutting with Oakley Mayor Shannon Shaw.
Jannisse said that another challenge they faced was learning how to juggle all of the different breweries that distribute to them for their craft beer lineup.
“Trying to get good beer is crazy, we obviously are trying to put the 20 best beers we can find on tap, and sometimes with some of these really top notch breweries we have here in Northern California, I feel like I’m trying to get Taylor Swift tickets, trying to get their best beers,” Jannisse said. “I have to be sitting there, waiting by my phone, because if I don’t get it in the first 10 minutes, the best beer is gone.”
As of now, with few tweaks over the past year, Jannisse said that he is happy with their lineup of beer.
Since opening, Jannisse said that he and Giddis have managed to find a really good balance between both of their occupations, and owning the tap room.
“I’m there [the fire station] for 48 hours and off for 96 and Chris works more of a nine to five,” explained Jannisse. “So, it’s actually a really good balance between the two of us because if there’s a problem when I’m at work, he’s usually getting off work by the time we’re opening. Usually, one of us is able to do it.”
While juggling their jobs and The Beer Aisle, Jannisse and Giddis have also managed to participate with multiple different community-based events, which has, helped them not only build relationships, but also grow their business.
“Anytime we get the chance, we try and sponsor local Oakley events, we’ll have swim teams, baseball teams, charity events come to us and anytime they do, we always jump on that,” Jannisse said. “We want this to be a local place and we want to be a part of the city of Oakley and local events.”
Jannisse said that they will be participating in this year’s Oakley Summerfest Parade on June 28, as well as sponsoring the Rotary Club’s booth.
Oakley Mayor Shannon Shaw congratulated The Beer Aisle on its anniversary.
“Since opening their doors a year ago and holding a ribbon cutting, they have been the exact type of business we needed in Oakley. Not only do they have a great variety of beers, they are just good people. This was only year one, I can’t wait to see how they grow into the future,” said Shaw.
Oakley City Councilmember, Anissa Williams, said that the Beer Aisle has been a wonderful addition to our downtown.
“They have integrated themselves wholeheartedly in our community – volunteering to support every event, including our upcoming parade and Summer Fest,” Williams said. “We are so grateful to have them in our community, and wish them an amazing anniversary.”
Jannisse shared that their proudest accomplishment with The Beer Aisle is seeing the place grow from a simple vision to reality over the past year.
“Neither one of us have any experience in the beer industry, we’ve never worked at a place like this, so we were kind of making it up. We just are both really passionate about good beer and wanted to make a place that we would like to go to,” Jannisse said. “I come in here on a Saturday and there’s parents sitting down, enjoying themselves, kids running around playing, and just having a good time. I think that’s probably what both of us would be most proud of, we really feel like we created something that Oakley needed and people are enjoying it.”
Giddis said that he is proud to be an Oakley resident and a business owner in Oakley.
“I’m happy the city and residents of Oakley have supported us and allowed Travis and I to realize a dream,” Giddis said. “I hope we can contribute to the ever changing and growing city of Oakley for years to come.”
Meanwhile, Oakley Chamber of Commerce President Oleksii Chuiko joked it was his second office because he is there often because of the environment.
“Once you go, you can’t wait to come back. One word comes to mind when I think The Beer Aisle, is community. The cozy family friendly tap room is tucked in the back of the new mercantile building became the epicenter of our downtown and the kind of business Oakley needed because people will travel to our town from the City of Pittsburg or Town of Discovery Bay,” explained Chuiko. “It is basically a homegrown staple of our community It’s unique, has the best taps, great team and brings in a great crowed which makes for a great environment. It is a perfect place.”
The Beer Aisle hosts Trivia Nights every Thursday and they have live music two weekends a month. Jannisse said that they hope to eventually host bigger events, such as a rib cook-off or a chili cook-off.
“There’s definitely some big plans for this place,” Jannisse said. “But we want to keep it local, laid back spotlight, we don’t want to make it anything too crazy.”
This Saturday, Jannisse said that Beer Aisle will be having an all-day party, from noon to 10 p.m., in celebration of their first anniversary.
Paulo Sausage Company and Street Steam Bunz are the food vendors for the event and they will have live music from 3 to 5 p.m., with Grace Reimer performing, and 7 to 9 p.m., with Terminous performing. Jannisse said that they will also be putting some special beers on tap for that day.
The Beer Aisle is located at 3350 Main St, Oakley, CA 94561.
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