Central Valley family is opening Modesto craft brewery with ‘really creative’ beers

Some people prefer to keep their family out of their business, and some people — such as a brother-and-sister duo based in Manteca — start a business with their family.

Joffre Roberts and his wife, Mia, banded together Tyanne Penado and her husband, Henry, to bring beer and a sense of community to the Central Valley.

Their craft brewery, Black Orchid Brewing, is expected to open at Sylvan Avenue and Oakdale Road in north Modesto in the spring.

“Working with family is a whole other dynamic,” Tyanne Penado said. “We all bring something different to the table.”

Aside from the couples, other family members have been involved with the business from the time it was named.

Joffre and Tyanne’s father, who does woodwork, built the bar top. He also made a jig for Tyanne to use on a miter saw so she could cut wooden hexagons to create a honeycomb-like design on the face of the bar.

Here’s what you can expect at Black Orchid, and how it got started.

How did Modesto craft brewery get started?

Brothers-in-law and best friends Joffre Roberts and Henry Penado began brewing at home more than a decade ago. They started with a cheap kit and buckets set up on an apartment balcony.

At the time, Roberts didn’t imagine he and Penado would open a brick-and-mortar brewery. He just enjoyed making beer.

A few home brew competitions and beer festivals later, Tyanne Penado took the reins and helped turn her husband’s and brother’s hobby into a business.

“I just typed up a business plan and started pitching it to our family members,” she said. “I started talking to (Joffre) like, ‘I think we can really do this.’”

Black Orchid Brewing was officially established in 2019.

The partners picked the name of the brewery out of 12 suggestions written on pieces of paper and thrown into a hat, Roberts said.

A few factors set Black Orchid apart from its competitors, the family said, including the partners’ multicultural background.

Being a black- and brown-owned brewery is not super common around here, Tyanne Penado said, and “that was something that was also really important to us.”

Zoning restrictions, building limitations and other factors prevented the group from opening in Manteca. The family even considered moving into a building in Ripon before eventually deciding on Modesto.

The brewery is opening in a spot that’s “more like a retail kind of location” than an industrial one, Penado said.

What’s on the menu at Black Orchid Brewing?

According to Penado, her husband and brother handle the beer making while she and Mia Roberts do the beer tasting.

“I like putting a little bit of input on things, but that’s really (Joffre and Henry),” Tyanne Penado said. “They’re really creative with that.”

Joffre Roberts already has a list of beers he plans to serve, including German hefeweizen, German altbier, hazy India pale ale, cream ale and oatmeal stout.

Some of the unique brews visitors can expect to see on tap eventually are a Thai tea stout and a jackfruit hazy IPA.

Roberts’ background as a chef contributes to his knack for building flavor profiles. It takes knowledge and understanding of the ingredients to create recipes that work, he said.

Crafting high-quality beer is Black Orchid’s highest priority, including how it tastes and how it looks.

“I would prefer dumping it than giving them a subpar beer that someone’s going to spend their money on,” Roberts said.

He and his partners have ideas for events at the brewery, such as beer-making classes, trivia nights, candle making, yoga and live music.

They plan to sell growlers or crowlers (essentially, a growler in a can) as well as flights and grab-and-go beers.

Aside from beer, Black Orchid will sell seltzers and nonalcoholic drinks.

To start, Black Orchid Brewing will be open 4 to 10 p.m. Fridays, noon to 10 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 8 p.m. Sundays.

Construction was mainly done as of Tuesday, and the business is awaiting two more inspections before it can open.

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