After a long and tedious process, from finding a location, health inspections to renovations and city permits, on March 24, the doors were opened to Taplandia---- a taphouse serving up craft beer, wines, cider and more in Tigard, Oregon. For co-owners, business partners and good friends John Reyes and Jack Phane it was a dream finally realized.     

For Reyes, who was born and raised on Guam, it was a couple of years after graduating from George Washington High School in 1997 that he made his way off-island to start a new chapter. Fast forward and Reyes has made the Pacific Northwest area his home for almost 20 years.

It was three years ago when a buddy of his opened his own taphouse which motivated the former Sinajana resident to do the same.

"He kind of gave me the blueprint. And I said, 'I can do this!' and during the pandemic it was actually successful because the number one thing that was selling was actually alcohol," Reyes said. "It gave me the courage, having that guy mentor me and then I wanted to open up a business and friend of mine encouraged me to have a partner  because it's less scary." 

So what can one expect when stepping into Taplandia?

"You're always gonna have that island hospitality," Reyes said. "My partner he's Laos, so we're both minorities out here. But we want to treat everyone well and share the culture we grew up in and to provide for the people in our community. But the beers you're going to see- are from Oregon and Washington that we're providing."

And this local boy, made sure to include the island grub

"Out here people never tried the food that we have- the fiesta food--the red rice, the chicken kelaguen," Reyes said. "When they try it for the first time, and they are like- what is this? This is interesting--- they love the way we make it, using the lemon or the achote. We want to provide the hospitality, the hafa adai."

With a few local brewers on island, we asked Reyes about a possible collaboration in the future. 

"I would definitely love to have a collab or have a tap takeover right?! All the beers from Guam came here," he said. "For Guam, I definitely would love to represent Guam, and promote their brewery out here. If you guys decide I would love to represent Guam for sure."

Follow the taphouse's journey on instagram: @taplandiataphouse and if you happen to be in the area, make sure to check them out. You can go to their website for more information: www.taplandia.com.

"Please stop by and say hello at Taplandia," Reyes said. "We have a lot of locals out here that have food carts that are making a name for themselves. We are all pacific islanders. But what we bring to the U.S., is the culture that we grew up with--- the things we got from our parents handed down from our grandparents....come say hello, come say your hafa adais."