Is it just me, or does it seem strange how few brewpubs there are in America’s two biggest cities?
San Diego, San Francisco, and nearly every other part of California has a healthy amount of great brewpubs, but LA doesn’t have any - the nearest ones are in Orange County. And even the small brewpubs in Santa Barbara and Ventura aren’t that good. I think LA needs a good brewpub and I find it hard to believe that no one has tapped this market.
NYC has a few decent breweries, but no brewpubs like the 20 or so here in Portland. The closest thing would be Brooklyn Brewery, which is only open occasionally and not a true pub. And NYC is going through a craft beer revolution, too, where more and more specialty shops and beer bars are opening! If I had access to a million dollars to invest, I would absolutely build a brewpub in a decent part of Brooklyn.
Oh where to begin (says the LA living person)… it’s worse than you think… LA is the only metropolitan area on the whole on western seaboard without a good brewery scene.
Why? Combination of reasons - real estate prices and need to generate a certain minimum $$ per sq. ft, a city that gets about as suspicious as any Southern town about booze and it take a ton of money and connections to push through and a culture that until recently was massively indifferent to the “good” beer thing.
As last year’s LA Beer Week demonstrated, there’s a passionate crowd of beer people here and we can get a crapton of other beer from all around the country, but we’re sorely lacking on hometown players. There’s BJ’s which started down by the beach. There’s a few GB’s around town and a couple of small brewpubs eeking by. There’s been the elusive Craftsman out here in Pas for years, but they’re growing now and suddenly thanks to Sang Yoon proving you could draw a crowd with beer, there’s a 1001 imitators trying to glom off the Father’s Office model of biz. (The boys at the Verdugo and Brian at Blue Palms have since doubly proven the model and improved on it.)
What about breweries? Well if you look LA close - you’ll find the Bruery kicking ass and taking names. There’s new breweries in Tustin and the Beach Communities all starting up, Riverside the same and up closer to the city there’s a new contract brewer in play, a brewery that’s trying to come on line in Glendale and my good friends over at Eagle Rock Brewing are finally off the ground after 20(!) months of renting their facility waiting for all the various approvals to come through.
It is turning and I hope it keeps turning cause, damn it would feel good to remove that stigma.
Oddly enough the neighbors near Eagle Rock Brewing objected to it because they said it would attract gang members and become a hangout. (a couple of blocks away is the home of the infamous Drew Ave. gang)