Company Profile · Food & Beverage · Est. 2018
TALEA Beer Co.
The women-founded Brooklyn brewery rewriting who craft beer is for - one fruit-forward can and one welcoming taproom at a time.
The women-founded Brooklyn brewery rewriting who craft beer is for - one fruit-forward can and one welcoming taproom at a time.
TALEA Beer Co. began with a shared irritation. Tara Hankinson and LeAnn Darland met in 2018 at a New York City beer e-commerce startup - Hankinson had come from The New York Times and a beverage-industry family; Darland had spent five years as a naval officer before Google and an MBA. What they had in common was exasperation with how craft beer marketed itself: to one kind of drinker, in a room that rarely felt built for anyone else.
So they built the alternative. The company's name stitches their own together - Tara plus Leann - a small signal that the founders' names, and reputations, are on every can. In March 2021, one year into the pandemic, they opened Brooklyn's first woman-owned and operated brewery and taproom in Williamsburg. The beer is still brewed there today.
The thesis is straightforward: make beer that's approachable - fruit-forward, lower in alcohol, familiar in flavor - and put it in spaces that feel like an invitation rather than a members-only club. It worked well enough that the taproom crowd runs roughly 70% women, a striking number in a category long dominated by men.
From one flagship, TALEA grew into a network of NYC taprooms - Cobble Hill, the West Village, Bryant Park and Penn District - each designed by a female architect, with a sixth location announced for the Upper West Side in fall 2026.
Playful reinventions of classic styles - hazy IPAs, an Italian-style pilsner, and fruit-forward sours - engineered to win over people who insist they "don't like beer."
Taproom guests who skew ~70% women, remote workers, groups and event hosts, plus retail shoppers across New York State and direct-to-consumer buyers online.
Craft beer's marketing and rooms had narrowed its audience. TALEA widens it by rethinking the beer, the branding, and the space itself - down to changing tables and non-alc options.
TALEA's launch beer: pineapple-forward with lemon, berry, vanilla and passionfruit. An ode to optimism and new ventures.
Crisp, dry-hopped and clean - one of TALEA's most popular pours and proof that approachable can still mean serious brewing.
Colorful, dessert-leaning releases like Pina Colada Splash, Rainbow Cookie and Raspberry Crush Gose.
Design-forward NYC taprooms - each by a female architect - serving beer and food and hosting community events, private parties and weddings.
Beer delivery, merchandise, gifting and a beer subscription, plus wholesale distribution to 1,300+ New York State retailers.
A visual identity by London studio IWANT, built to signal inclusivity before the first sip.
TALEA's model is omnichannel: company-owned taprooms (beer, food and events), wholesale distribution across New York State, and a direct-to-consumer shop. It didn't start with a single blockbuster round - the founders raised over $2 million from about 115 friends, family and angel investors before institutional capital arrived.
| Round | Amount | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Seed / crowd + angel | $2M+ | 2019-2020 |
| Series A | $3.5M | Jan 2022 |
Investors have included 37 Angels, Goods Ventures and Wisdom Venture Capital. Figures are drawn from public reporting and should be treated as approximate.
Plenty of breweries make good beer. TALEA's edge is who it decided to serve and how deliberately it designed for them. Every taproom is built by a female architect. Bathrooms have changing tables. Menus carry non-alcoholic options. Ingredients are sourced from women-owned suppliers where possible. None of these are afterthoughts - together they define a hospitality product aimed at drinkers the category overlooked, competing not only with other NYC breweries but with wine, hard seltzer and non-alc alternatives for the same approachable table.
Tara Hankinson and LeAnn Darland meet at a NYC beer e-commerce startup and form the company, naming it after themselves.
TALEA introduces its flagship fruit-forward beer while building toward a physical home.
Brooklyn's first woman-owned brewery and taproom opens in March, one year into the pandemic.
Institutional funding arrives and the taproom footprint grows across New York City.
Cobble Hill, West Village, Bryant Park and Penn District join the map; distribution reaches 1,300+ retailers.
A sixth taproom at 441 Amsterdam Avenue is slated to open in early fall 2026 with an all-day menu.
Came from a beverage-industry family and a career that included The New York Times. Her familiarity with hospitality shaped TALEA's guest-first approach.
Served five years as a naval officer, then worked at Google and earned an MBA at UC Berkeley before co-founding TALEA.
Tara Hankinson and LeAnn Darland, who met at a New York City beer e-commerce startup and combined their first names to name the company.
It's a women-founded, women-owned brewery focused on approachable, fruit-forward, lower-ABV beer and welcoming taprooms designed by female architects - bringing a broader audience, about 70% women in its taprooms, into craft beer.
At its NYC taprooms, in 1,300+ retailers across New York State, and through its direct-to-consumer online shop with delivery and a beer subscription.
Its launch flagship Sun Up Hazy IPA and its bestselling Al Dente Italian-style pilsner, alongside playful fruit-forward sours and specialty releases.
Over $2 million from roughly 115 friends, family and angel investors early on, followed by a Series A; public estimates put total funding in the several-million-dollar range.