Asian Craft Beer from Oakland Named UPS Small Business Challenge Semi-Finalist

Dokkaebier, with its award-winning Asian craft beer, was named a semi-finalist in The UPS Store #SmallBizChallenge. The Oakland-based brewery is making waves with its Asian-inspired beers, creative vision, and unique storytelling.

As an Asian-inspired craft brewery based in Oakland, Dokkaebier is changing up the game by brewing with unique and exciting ingredients like yuzu, lemongrass, ginger, calamansi, rice and even kimchi culture. The result? Bold, incredible flavours you won’t find anywhere else.

Our name comes from “dokkaebi,” a mythical creature in Korean folklore. Trickster, protector, and all-around mischief-maker — the dokkaebi reflects our spirit: playful, curious, and always unexpected. Our beer reflects this as we’re always on the lookout for the next playful innovative brew, something that you’ve never seen before, with the goal of filling up not only glasses and bellies but lifting up spirits as well.

Our Approach to Asian-Inspired Beer

We’re not just tossing Asian ingredients into traditional styles. We build each beer from the ground up, with a clear vision and cultural inspiration. Think Kimchi Sour, Yuza Blonde, Rice Kolsch— beers with purpose, rooted in story. These brews have found fans across the Bay. Whether you’re deep into Oakland beer scene or just diving into Bay Area craft beer scene, Dokkaebier offers a fresh take.

We started in 2020 — in the middle of the pandemic. We've built something resilient, thanks to our community, strong commitment to innovation and quality, and a clear mission to shine a light on Asian craft beer in Bay Area and underrepresented voices in brewing.

Dokkaebier is expanding fast. You can find us in bottle shops, taprooms, and cultural events across the stateWith over 900+ retail stores selling our product across California alone, Dokkaebier has big ambitions of putting Asian craft beer in households not just across the US but the world in the following years.

Asian Craft Beer Recognized as Semi-Finalist in UPS Small Business Challenge

Being named a semi-finalist means a lot. The UPS Store #SmallBizChallenge recognises small businesses with impact, vision, and heart. We’re extremely honoured to be part of that. We made a series of short videos for The UPS Store challenge, highlighting what we do and why we do it. They take you inside our brewery, our process, and the people behind it all. Through The UPS Store Challenge, we’ve also been incredibly lucky to receive mentorship from Chris Do —Emmy-award winning designer, entrepreneur, and founder of The Futur—and his guidance has been nothing but invaluable. We are excited to see how Asian craft beer can grow from this experience.

We’d love to bring our product to more people and The UPS Store helps us with this mission! You can support us by voting for Dokkaebier in this link. You can vote once per day until the voting period ends on April 4, 2025.

Where to Find Dokkaebier

If you’re craving Asian beer in California or just want something different in your glass, we’ve got you. We ship nationwide! You can also find us in Whole Foods, Bevmo, Total Wine, and more retail stores across the golden state. For more information on how to get our amazing Asian craft beer in California, you can click this link to see where Dokkaebier is being sold. We're working on securing East Coast locations this year so stay tuned!