Brethren Brewing Company is pushing for a summer opening.

The brew pub is the outgrowth of efforts dating back to 2010 to bring people together to share spiritual inspiration over beer.

With faith as the catalyst and a shared love of craft beer and beer making as the instrument, the effort grew.

It was even more, however, than church and beer. They started placing love buckets at their gatherings. Over the course of several years, they have raised over $10,000 for non-profits doing community work such as Love INC (In the Name of Christ), Greater Valley Second Harvest Food Bank, Pregnancy Help Center of Manteca, Manteca Rescue, Northgate Little League, Manteca Unified endeavors that assist students and their families along with other endeavors.

The idea is to set aside a certain percentage of  the brew pub profits as well to be dedicated to help support the work of community groups.

“We are going to change Manteca one pint at a time,” notes Brethren Brewing Company owner Daniel Machado in a promotional video.

They have spent the last decade perfecting various offerings they plan to make available through the brew pub. The public has sampled some of them during the Market on Maple event in downtown last year where their brews were used by organizations at the beer tent to raise money.

The plan is to have 16 beers on tap.

“One hundred percent of our beer will be brewed on site,” said founding member Jesse Adams.

That site is close to the heart of Manteca at 220 North Main Street.

They have taken a 103-year-old building that served as South San Joaquin Irrigation District headquarters for years after they moved from Manteca to Ripon. It housed the Manteca Bulletin briefly and then Larimore’s Restaurant for a long period. It most recently was a consignment shop.

The group said when they decided to take Brethren Brewing to the next level that they decided the brew pub had to be in downtown. They want to play a role bringing people downtown to strengthen the central district as well as the community social and cultural fabric.

“Beer has a communal aspect,” Adams said during Thursday’s meeting of the Manteca Rotary on Thursday at Mt. Mike’s Pizza.

The brew pub will follow a popular business model. It will function as a tasting room while various food trucks will offer various food selections.

Initial plans call for the brew pub to be open Thursday through Sunday.

For more information go to brethrenbrewingcompany.com

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com