At Hopmeadow Brewing Company, there’s love and family on tap along with the IPAs, stouts and lagers.

Bryan Hickey is the brewmaster, son Gabriel, 24, is assistant brewer, daughter Olivia, 17, is the cashier and Christy, his wife of 26 years, is the artist, sign-maker and runs the tap room.

“I was pretty happy because getting good staff is hard,” he said of being able to run the business with his immediate family.

Christy Hickey said, “It’s been really fun because, luckily, we all get along with each other… We’ve always been a tight family group.”

The family lives in Simsbury.

In addition to raving about the beer, customers say the family feel of the business adds to the warm vibe in the brewery that opened in June 2020 during the height of the pandemic, right after establishments were allowed to reopen.

“Hopmeadow Brewery is a laid-back, friendly place where Bryan, Christy, Gabe and Olivia greet you with a welcoming smile, a big hello and great beer,” said regular customer Donna Lisevick. “I love the various IPA’s. Point of Interest is hands down my favorite IPA, however a pint of O’Hickey’s always steals the show. Dark, smooth, never bitter and a strong solid finish.”

Last week the business brewed its 100th batch of beer.

A longtime executive chef before turning his beer-making hobby into a career, Bryan Hickey said, “I couldn’t be happier.”

John and Sheralyn Flanders have become regulars, enjoying trivia night on Thursdays and musicians on weekends.

“We enjoy that Hopmeadow is a true family-owned and operated business,” John Flanders said. “They are welcoming to their guests and show great pride in what they have all built together. Christy has warmed the walls with her unique artwork and engages people with her witty sense of humor. Bryan’s passion for brewing high quality beer is evident in every offering.”

Bill Latz, who describes himself as a “beer snob,” said Hopmeadow Brewing Company isn’t “sterile-feeling” like some bigger breweries.

“It’s a very relaxed, friendly atmosphere. It kind of reminds me of that old TV show Cheers — people know who you are,” Latz said. “The beer is really the highest quality. His beer is second to none.”

Bryan Hickey, 49, first took a crack at brewing in his early 20s and produced some great batches, but then there wasn’t enough time as his chef career took off and the couple, high school sweethearts, were building their family. They also have a daughter, Izzabella, 26, who does not work at the brewery.

He picked the brewing hobby up again 18 years later in 2014, and found it was “a different ballgame” in terms of availability of ingredients.

“I was making really good beer and brewing every single weekend,” he said. “That led to opening a brewery. It was the next logical step.”

Brewing beer, he said, is an extension of culinary arts.

“I just love making delicious things,” he said. “(Brewing’s) not a job for me. It’s a passion,”

Hickey had a business plan in 2017, but didn’t find the right location for three years. He originally wanted to open in Simsbury, where the family lives, but they needed a spot with city water and sewers.

They found the perfect location at 205 Old Farms Road in an old industrial building undergoing renovation and with room for expansion that could someday include canning and an eatery. Currently, various food trucks visit the brewery.

The brewery has high ceilings, big windows, five stainless steel tanks, and is decorated with lots of Christy’s artwork, including a mural with images of vines and hops.

The tap room and brewery area is about 2,000 square feet with additional patio space outside. There are 12-15 beer types on tap at a time.

It’s such a small brew house, Bryan Hickey said, that Hopmeadow Brewing Company is almost like home brewing on a larger scale.

Sometimes they even mush the grains by hand and Bryan likens that to cooking with love.

“It helps you put a personal touch in the beer you’re making,” he said.

His “employees” are happy too.

“Working with my family has been really fun. It’s definitely brought us all a lot closer,” Olivia Hickey said. “I’ve met a lot of really nice, interesting people working there and it is helping me develop a career path.”

Gabriel Hickey calls the brewery his “home away from home.”

“Between brewing the beer with my father, learning to love every step of the process, pouring into nice glassware and finally watching the eager eyes of our customers close as they take that first frothy sip, my only wish is to be able to accommodate more,” Gabriel said. “Some of the pleasures of this life that I have learned from my parents are accumulating at this brewery and I am honored to be the apprentice of it all… Hopmeadow has helped me discover new parts of myself as well as the world around me.”

Hickey said he chose the name Hopmeadow because it’s the name of a main street in Simsbury that the family travels to get to the business and is said to have a tie-in with hops, a flower that is key to beer-making, giving it aroma, flavor and keeping freshness.

As the story goes, Bryan Hickey said, the street got its name because hops — an image on the Simsbury town seal — were once grown there. But he said local historians can’t verify that because early records were lost in a fire long ago.

“When I was pondering a name it just seemed natural that it fit,” he said.

Family and friends renovated the space for the brewery as well.

“We made the place and it came out nice,” he said. “We put a lot of blood and sweat in the place.”

Find more information at hopmeadowbrewingcompany.com or facebook.com/hopmeadowbrewingcompany.