For nearly two years, husband-and-wife team Mike and A.J. Aubuchon have been patiently waiting to open Koakai Brewing Company (
@koakaibrewing ). Like many other food and drink businesses, they’ve faced delay after delay after delay—but this month, it finally opens in Oceanside.
A North County native, Mike started his beer career in the bottle shop at Pizza Port Carlsbad and worked his way up to head brewer at its Carlsbad location. Soon, he was racking up hardware at competitions like The Great American Beer Festival, where he won bronze in 2015, silver in 2017, and gold in 2020. He stayed for a little over 10 years before helping launch brewing operations at Heritage BBQ & Beer Co., now Hill Street Brewing.
Originally from Kyoto, Japan, A.J. worked in restaurants from her teens until she moved to Oceanside to attend MiraCosta College. She also worked alongside Mike at Pizza Port, bartending, learning about craft beer, and making connections with other people in the industry—relationships they plan to bring into their operations through collaborative brews.
Koakai means “warrior for the sea” in Hawaiian and “a little red” in Japanese, and the brewery’s inaugural lineup will feature a flagship Japanese lager, German schwarzbier, West Coast IPA, hoppy pilsner, Mexican lager, XPA, and a few collaborations like a West Coast IPA with RahrBSG. They’ll likely add more drinks later, such as a house seltzer, and dry Irish stouts on nitro, and even feature some imported Japanese sake.
Patrons will also be able to pick up food—like onigiri, Japanese-style sandwiches, bento boxes, and sushi—from the Aubuchon’s Kyoto Japanese Market next door. The brewery’s kitchen will offer fresh sushi as well as its signature blend of Japanese, Hawaiian, and Central Texas-style barbecue, similar to what the market currently serves on weekends.
“It’s our time to show people what we’ve learned and what we can do,” says A.J. Koakai Brewing Company opens at 559 Greenbrier Drive in Oceanside in mid- to late April 2026.
Click the link in bio for the full story by
@thedelightedbite . Photos courtesy of Koakai Brewing.
