Hoops Brewing Owner Celebrates 25 Years of Duluth Brewing

DULUTH, Minn. — 25 years ago, Dave Hoops left California and returned to the northland where he was born.

“I moved to Duluth, Christmas, ’99 with my wife and newborn daughter,” Dave Hoops, Owner of Hoops Brewing said.

Dave went from brewing on the West Coast to taking over the reins of one of Minnesota’s four breweries at the time.

“January, 1, 2000 I took over Fitger’s Brewhouse, which at that point had been brewing fairly small amount of beer they’d started. But over time, the brew house became a real force,” Dave Hoops said.

Then in 2017, Dave took his skills and opened Hoops Brewing in Canal Park. All month long Hoops Brewing has been celebrating Dave’s accomplishment with sales on beer and merchandise and even a party on April 23.

“It is a milestone, certainly. I’m proud to have been in Duluth, the Twin Ports, all this time, kind of mixed in with the beer culture growing, the amount of breweries growing. We now have 12 in the area,” Dave Hoops said.

Dave’s daughter Daisy is now the Marketing Director at the brewery and has seen firsthand how her dad’s legacy has effected the Duluth beer scene.

“He also opened the brewery the same year I went to college. So it’s been wonderful, you know, every summer during those four years to come back to hoops and now to be back here again. It’s a really special place, and there’s been a lot of growth and a lot of wonderful things here,” Daisy Hoops said.

During the 25 years that Dave has been brewing in Duluth, he has seen the growth and popularity of local breweries rise.

“I feel great pride in the Duluth brewing community and kind of what we’re doing with the platform that we have,” Dave Hoops said.

Dave says it hasn’t been an easy road, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In my case, we try our very best to keep our prices reasonable. On the other hand, every single cost has gone up, so we truly, really need the patronage. And I’ll mimic all the other breweries in town, we all feel that way,” Dave Hoops said.

Hoops Brewing is sticking with their community and family-friendly environment, which includes events, non-alcohol beers and free parking.

“It’s also been a privilege as a daughter to watch him follow his dreams. I feel like not all children get to watch their parents do that, so that’s been really special,” Daisy Hoops said.