Two Ass Brewing Company - Never Serve a Half-Assed Beer!

Tucked in the heart of Downtown Auburn, Two Ass Brewing Company isn’t just a place to grab a cold pint—it’s a gathering spot where community, craft, and character come together. Founded by Chris Haupt, an avid brewer with a passion for malty perfection, Two Ass Brewing specializes in crafting rich, full-bodied beers, from crisp Blondes and classic Pilsners to smooth Reds and bold German styles. But beyond the brews, it’s the welcoming atmosphere—complete with a cozy taproom, a laid-back outdoor patio, and a steady rotation of food trucks—that makes this neighborhood brewery a must-visit. Whether you're a seasoned craft beer enthusiast or just looking for a relaxed spot to unwind, Two Ass Brewing delivers more than great drinks—it fosters connections, celebrates good times, and invites everyone (dogs and kids included!) to experience the joy of local craft beer. In this exclusive Delivery Rank’s interview, we sit down with Chris Haupt to talk about the art of brewing, the journey of building a brewery from the ground up, and why Two Ass Brewing has quickly become Auburn’s go-to beer destination.

What inspired you to start Two Ass Brewing Company, and how did you settle on Auburn as its home?

After really focusing on technical homebrewing for many years, my co-founder Kris Bartow (an equine Vet) and I (former Computer Scientist and Engineer) saw that we were having a lot of success at local and State competitions. We were also brewing a lot, and while the old saying that "brewer's have lots of friends" is true, we made more beer than we could give away even to all of our friends! The idea of turning it into a business hatched around 2018-2019. We attended a brewery-in-planning boot camp, spoke with a number of brewers and brewery owners, and combined that with a desire to do something that was very community focused. Both of our families have lived in Auburn for decades, with our children growing up here. It was important for us to be part of Auburn's revitalization and growth. It also turned out that the City of Auburn is very friendly towards business, particularly breweries and beverage companies. 

While there was a slight pause in plans between 2020-2022 due to the pandemic, we started renovating a building owned by the third family (Jen and Ryan Nordby) involved in our project. Jen's Great Grandfather built the building at our 140 Hoffman Ave location in the 1940's, originally as a butcher and cold locker facility. It was perfect for the industrial requirements of our brewery. We were done enough to fire up our brewhouse in the late Spring of 2024, and here we are nearly 9 months later fully operational!

Your brewery specializes in malty styles like Blondes, Pilsners, and Reds. What draws you to these flavors, and how do you ensure they stand out in today’s craft beer market?

We like pretty much all beer styles, but during our preliminary market research we sought market gaps in our geographical region. We have some fantastic breweries in our City, but the majority of styles they are known for are more hoppy (West Coast IPAs/NEIPAs/Hazy Ales in particular). We kept seeing (and hearing when at festivals) that locals wanted more lagers and other kinds of ales (light and dark). We decided to make that our focal point. Brewing these clean, delicate styles is also a lot of fun to produce. Nothing tests your technical attention to detail and quality practices more than making super drinkable Pilsners and being able to reproduce them time and time again. No haze to hide behind there!

We're growing our reputation in these styles and by having more or less flipped the balance of our menu to these malt-forward styles. We still produce some hoppy beers that people love, but that accounts for 1/3 of our menu and the other 2/3s is filled out with our lagers, blondes, ambers, and darker styles.

As the only downtown Auburn neighborhood brewery, how have you seen the local craft beer scene evolve, and what role does Two Ass Brewing play in the community?

Our business plan is very much geared towards being a neighborhood brewery. We have great beer of course, but we are also a common social space for people to meet-up and enjoy a good conversation and some relaxing fun. We are inside the downtown area of Auburn and are in a mixed residential and commercial zone. It is really wonderful to have a good 20-25% of our patrons be able to walk to the brewery from their homes. Even before the pandemic, having social spaces was important, and it really seems over the last couple of years that people are reconnecting in these spaces. 

From a beer scene perspective, we are seeing a couple of things. 

First, and I'm not certain this is really just because we are a small city, but local hospitality businesses are really engaged with supporting each other. Most of the restaurants, bars, and businesses that serve alcohol make it part of their offerings to support the breweries, cideries, wineries and distillers in the area. This builds a supportive network of businesses. Besides our great local customers, our area is very popular with tourists. We are in the middle of the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains, and plenty of people come here for hiking, biking, skiiing, rafting, and horseback riding. Regardless of where they visit to eat and drink, they will be exposed to the breweries somehow.

Second, while the varying breweries still have their specialties, we've seen more cross pollination and introduction of beers other than IPAs and super Hoppy styles. Seems to me like people are brewing more delicate flavors and trying new things. Low and No Alcohol styles are picking up, and alternatives like Hard Seltzers are big sellers these days too.

Your brewery encourages a laid-back, social atmosphere with an indoor taproom and outdoor patio. How do you cultivate a welcoming space for both beer lovers and casual visitors?

As it is likely obvious to readers based on our name, we don't take ourselves too seriously. We take the beer _very_ seriously, but ourselves not so much. People like that our vibe is very comfortable and friendly. Everyone gets welcomed when they walk in with a smile and a hello. We love to see total strangers start talking with each other and making new friends. We are all very nerdy too. We host a lot of fun and games throughout the week, and almost everything we do is all-ages. While we are technically a beverage manufacturer and can only sell the beer and seltzers we produce, we offer plenty of commercial non-alcoholic drinks and snacks for everyone. We are also strategically across the street from the biggest pizza place in town, and have a very supportive relationship with them. Our guests can order food and it will be delivered right to their table at the brewery. People love that!

What’s next for Two Ass Brewing? Do you have any plans for expansion, collaborations, or special events in the near future?

We're just getting started! For this year, folks will see us at a lot of festivals and fundraisers throughout the greater Sacramento area. This will help increase our visibility and raise awareness of our offerings. We will always be a taproom-driven-revenue business, but have started a small amount of hyper-local distribution this year. We'll be doing more of that to get more attention to our brand.

We are currently only using about a third of the building we are in. If things continue to succeed like they are now, we can expand both our taproom public space and our production space.

We started as a family business and that will always be our main focus. That said, we look forward to getting more people involved both on the business side and on the events and activities side of things. It should be a really great 2025.

To read more about Two Ass Brewing Company, please visit https://www.twoassbrewing.co/