If there’s one word I’d use to describe Chad, it’s passionate. Passionate about music, passionate about food, passionate about drinks, but most of all—as is the case with people who are passionate—passionate about life. I’d been to MixTape several times (mainly for their $1 taco nights) before I formally met Chad, so on the day I made my way to the bar to talk to him, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. What I got was, in many ways, everything. With his trademark neckerchief, nose piercing, and tattoos, Chad gave me a rundown on the history of beer which is a tale as old as time all the while launching into stories from his childhood growing up in California. By the time I left my head spun in a slightly discombobulated but altogether pleasant manner, as if I’d just taken a spin on a merry-go-round. There is an ethos that drives people like Chad, one of living not for the sake of the next pay-check but driving forward in an endless pursuit of discovery and understanding, both for what you love and the things you have yet to figure out.
Chad was born in 1979 in San Jose, California, the same year President Jimmy Carter legalised home brewing. The words destiny and fate have a tendency to get thrown around but in the case of Chad, I believe he’s where he needs to be, doing what he needs to do. If his birthdate wasn’t enough to convince you, there’s a neighbourhood called Little Saigon where he grew up, and so as a kid he was already surrounded by people whose names were Nguyễn, Anh, and Hoàng. Born into something of a hippie-Christian family, he was the oldest of seven siblings, making for a home that was characterised by constant play, competition, and a general rambunctiousness that is to be expected of homes filled with children. At the helm of this family were his mum and dad, two individuals Chad describes as being extremely high-energy—even, to my disbelief, more high-energy than he is. During our chat he mentioned how they have regular phone calls and they’ll always be tinkering away at some project or hobby, despite being in their seventies! I suppose, then, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
As a boy, Chad briefly attended pre-K before his mum, seeing how bored he looked and wanting to spend more time with him, decided to start homeschooling. At the time the whole ordeal was extremely regulatory, which resulted in his parents playing a role in the creation of the Christian Home Educators Association of California. With his dad taking care of mathematics and his mum focusing on English and the more creative side of learning, from an early age Chad was exposed to a more unconventional manner of living that encouraged thinking for one’s self and detracting from the mainstream. Naturally, growing up in such an environment made Chad curious about the world around him, and one area in which his curiosity was often directed was food and drinks. Growing up in California meant living in wine country, and though it’d be a while before he’d enjoy the taste of that particular beverage, he was more than happy to sample the galaxy’s worth of sodas and teas on offer. This meant he was an insatiable consumer of Arizona, Snapple, Surge, and Hansen’s drinks, not to mention an avid collector of rare Coca Cola bottles. He even recalled a drink called Orbitz, which he describes as boba tea before boba tea. Essentially, it was a non-carbonated fruit-flavoured drink that had edible jelly beads floating around and looked like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. Besides his love of F&B, Chad also had an equal passion for tech, writing, and music. These would go on to inform his choices after graduating from high school.
After a stint studying pre-med and law at Sonoma State University, Chad settled into writing and computer science. He found work writing for music events like Noise Pop and Treasure Island Music Festival, which satisfied his cravings for learning more about what was happening in the music scene, all the while providing him with a creative outlet to do so. Alongside this work he started building network systems for Amy’s Kitchen, the largest family-owned food production company in the US. His experience working with them was enlightening, and he pays homage to the founders who built a billion dollar business all the while remaining humble and putting people and food first. This philosophy remains with him today. With jobs as a writer and engineer, Chad lived something of a double life in his twenties. Working in tech during the day before hitting live shows at night, he was also satisfying his childhood love of food and drinks by trying as much wine and craft beer as he could stomach. Though his affinity for wine might’ve been predestined given his proximity to Napa Valley as a kid, it was funny how when he first tried beer, he hated it. So how, then, did someone who first hated beer eventually start a craft beer company?
It starts with The Hymn to Ninkasi, a song written down in 1800 BCE as praise to the Sumerian goddess of beer. More than just a song, The Hymn to Ninkasi also serves as a recipe for beer, giving evidence to the claim that the oldest known written recipe for anything is a cold one. This is why beer, in Chad’s eyes, is rooted in the history of civilisation. Though he gave me a detailed recap of beer’s evolution since ancient Mesopotamia, I have to admit, I got lost in the noise. For anyone interested in learning more, I’m sure Chad will be more than happy to oblige over a few of MixTape’s very own brews. Nonetheless, what really matters is what happened in 1979, the year Chad was born and, as mentioned, the year President Jimmy Carter legalised home brewing. From that point forward began a period where beer production was taken out of the hands of multinational companies and given to the everyman. So came the boom of craft beers. Individuals finally got a chance to tinker with beer in a way they never had before, resulting in the birth of numerous artisanal brands that were a rare combination of a brewer’s vision and sensibility without the often debilitating effect of having to appeal to the masses. Chad likened this to music, and the difference between a band like Nirvana and the hits that were played on the radio back then. Though they started as a niche, underground garage band, Nirvana quickly established themselves as a household name and effectively changed the face of music. A similar revolution occurred with beer when suddenly you had craft brewers such as Sierra Nevada and Russian River Brewing that were taking a stand against the Heneikens, Carlsbergs, and PBRs of the world. Chad—who believed he hated beer—was in for a shock. All of a sudden he was tasting beers made with hops and yeasts no one had ever tasted before, resulting in nuanced flavour profiles you wouldn't find in the more prototypical beer brands. Just as he’d been hooked on sodas and teas as a kid, the craft beer bug bit and it bit deep—As he put it, it gave him the desire to make beer for people who don’t like beer.
Chad started brewing in Phuket in 2013. He was living the dream life: a family, a digital nomad job he only worked at for twenty hours a week, days spent diving and sailing. This gave him a lot of time to dive deeper into craft brewing, and with his insatiable thirst for knowledge and budding brewing prowess, it wasn’t long before word spread. This led to meetings with a group of guys who were importing beers into Thailand, whom Chad started helping. From introducing the people of Isan and Chiang Mai to breweries like Founders out of Michigan and beers like Summer Solstice Ale from Anderson Valley Brewing Company, Chad became something of a Beervangelist. Spreading the gospel of Western craft beer concoctions to the people of Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, this was a period he looks back on with a glimmer in his eye as he recounts the joy and excitement he could see whenever people who hated beer—as he once had—discovered that perhaps they’d just been drinking the wrong thing all along.
After seven years in Thailand, Chad made the move to Vietnam. It came after he noticed the burgeoning craft beer scene with breweries like Pasteur Street leading the charge. Despite that, there still remained a general lack of craft beer knowledge and steady imports into the country which is why, upon arrival, he brought a bunch of American craft beer as well as some more well-known brands from Europe. It was around then he started MixTape with the idea of building a fully-integrated beverage company that spanned three tiers: distribution, brewing, and retail. The name took inspiration from the idea of mixtapes as a collection of things you love that you share with those you love. Despite the pleasant sentiment, things didn’t work out immediately. Besides coming to grips with the fact that he was starting a foreign company in Vietnam on his own, it was also hard to establish steady imports of foreign beers into the country. This was even while Vietnam was experiencing something of a craft beer boom with numerous breweries coming from outside of the country to set up shop in what, to many people, looked like the land of opportunity. As is the case when a marketplace becomes inundated, at some point Chad noticed the creativity and passion die out in favour of appealing to the masses and making money. Again, he relates this to music and the all-too-common but unfortunate phenomenon of more niche, creative musicians selling out at a certain point in their career in order to cash in. It’s easy enough, after all, to play the same old hits. Then you couldn’t forget Covid, which caused all manner of problems, among them every brewer’s worst nightmare when they had to dump a 2000 litre batch of Peaches & Cream due to the brewery losing electricity and staff.
Somehow they pulled through and today, MixTape’s mark on Saigon’s craft beer scene is evident. Boasting close to three hundred accounts, you can find them in Bia Craft, Bar Commune, The Flying Pig, many other of your favourite hotels and restaurants, and, in one of the more surreal achievements for Chad, even in 7-11! As a result of an especially trying period last year, Chad now possesses a better perspective on how to carry himself moving forward. Besides grasping the value of his team—who’ve become something of a second family given that he sees them day in and day out—he also wants to continue pushing the boundaries when it comes to craft beer brewing. This has culminated in several concoctions such as their bestselling Peaches & Cream and My Milkshake, a double IPA made with lactose, hints of pineapple, and quadruple loaded with hops. Beyond craft beers, MixTape also prides itself on its other drinks. This is why he calls MixTape a beverage company—He doesn’t want to be limited to one thing. This means they’ve also got a stellar selection of hard teas such as their ParTea, which is a black tea infused with raspberry and alcohol (a non-alcoholic hard tea is on its way!).
Having said all that, MixTape’s got a ways to go before they achieve Chad’s goal of becoming a fully-integrated scalable beverage company, but that isn’t to say they’re in any rush. This isn’t some dump-and-run operation where he wants to cash in quick and get out. Just like creating a new craft beer that he’s proud to sell takes time and tons of trial and error, reaching his goals with MixTape will require continued effort and dedication. But hey, that’s part of the process. Ultimately, after talking to Chad and realising how passionate he is about what he’s doing, I’m of the belief that all he wants is for other people to share in that excitement. So even if you don’t like beer or are someone, such as myself, who can’t tell the difference between one craft beer from another, why not try one of MixTape’s drinks out? You might just find you’ve never tasted anything like it.
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