Hop Haus

The Challenge

Hop Haus, a thriving family-run pub business established in 2017, needed a modern digital presence to represent their two growing venues. They required a website that could effectively showcase their extensive, rotating beverage menus and act as an active event hub. Crucially, the site needed to feel alive by bringing in their Untappd check-ins, Google reviews, and Instagram activity, while still remaining fast and fully manageable by the non-technical pub staff.

The Solution

I developed a high-performance static website powered by Jekyll, leveraging Bootstrap 4 for a responsive, mobile-first experience. To deliver the dynamic feel the client requested, I integrated multiple external APIs: the Untappd API brings in real-time cask beer check-ins and ratings, while Google Reviews and Instagram APIs feed authentic social proof directly to the homepage.

For the backend, I implemented Forestry CMS. This headless, Git-backed CMS allows the staff to seamlessly update YAML data files that control the house beers, wine lists, and event schedules. Cloudinary CDN was integrated to automatically optimize and serve images, ensuring rapid loading times despite the rich media and parallax scrolling effects.

The Result

The finished website perfectly encapsulates the lively, community-focused vibe of Hop Haus. By merging static site speed with live API data, the website remains consistently updated and engaging for patrons without sacrificing performance. The Forestry CMS integration has removed bottlenecks in their workflow, allowing staff to update menus and event calendars in minutes. The centralized platform effectively drives engagement, helping to boost foot traffic and event attendance across both of their locations.