Match Point Brewing, founded by two tennis enthusiasts, will open a beer hall in Albany in early 2024 that will specialize in Asian-flavored beers like Mandarin Wheat Ale and Jasmine Rice Lager. (Match Point Brewing)
After a long day of hitting balls on the court, you might be craving a cold beer. And now there’s a truly fitting place to grab one, thanks to a tennis-themed bar set to open soon in Albany.
Match Point Brewing is a local brewery founded by tennis doubles partners Simon Chen and Johnny Weng. The brewery specializes in beers made in Concord with Asian ingredients such as Mandarin Wheat Ale and Jasmine Rice Lager. It also collaborates with Richmond’s Origin of the brewersuch as a Heritage Five Spice Saison and a Slava Ukraini California Amber Ale (the proceeds of which will go to aid Ukraine).
“We plan to open a beer bar by mid-March in Albany,” Chen wrote via email. “We hope this will help us open a partnership with Restaurant 310 “We opened a restaurant next door to offer great catering and new menu concepts. Now we’ve simply knocked down a wall to connect the two spaces and help grow this craft brewery and micro-restaurant.”
Like Match Point, Albany’s 310 Eatery has an Asian twist, serving dishes such as a soft-shell crab Tokyo Po’ Boy and the 405 Traffic Jam Burger with short ribs, bacon, portobello, dipped pastrami and kalbi aioli.
The tennis theme extends beyond the brewery’s name and logo, which prominently features a tennis ball. Last summer, the brewery sponsored Match Point Brewing’s first tennis tournament in El Cerrito, and the owners expressed hope to host similar events in the future.
“Through our passion for sports, we encourage others to challenge themselves and take pride in their accomplishments,” the founders wrote on their Kickstarter page last year. “Match Point Brewing celebrates the rich cultural heritage of Asian Americans through craft beer. Our beers are inspired by the traditional and modern Asian cuisines and ingredients that the founders were privileged to grow up with in the San Francisco Bay Area.”
The Taproom occupies the space formerly occupied by the Albany Taproom, which closed last year, after a decadedue to the economic situation of the COVID era.
Details: Opening in spring 2024 at 745 San Pablo Ave., Albany, next to 310 Eatery; matchpointbrewing.com.
