Sunnyvale’s ShaKa Brewing closes down

ShaKa Brewing, a small, locally-focused brewery in Sunnyvale, shuttered last month for financial reasons, according to an Instagram announcement.

“We didn’t make this decision lightly, but the reality is that the business is just not financially viable from an ongoing operational standpoint,” the brewery’s owners said on the social media platform July 1. Their last day was July 20.

The brewery, which opened in late 2020, was founded by two longtime homebrewers, Shawn Ellis and Karl Townsend, who named it based on a portmanteau of their first names.

The “small on purpose” brewery offered its beer on location at its industrial nano brewery, as well as at 15 locations in Sunnyvale and online. The brewery was known for its inventive and easy-drinking Sunnyvale Pale Lager, inspired by German Helles; the Yardbird Golden Ale, brewed with juniper and purple sage; and the Alani, an IPA brewed with mosaic hops and honey malt. Other brews in the lineup included an American red ale and a stout.

The brewery also collaborated with other breweries around the area. With input from Brewing with Brothas, a not-yet-open East Palo Alto-based brewery, ShaKa Brewing wrote the recipe for SF Beer Week’s Silicon Valley collaboration beer last year to create Pure Harmony, a cold IPA made with local honey.