A dozen miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, in the sage-scented hills below the San Gabriel Mountains, a brewer walks with a purpose. Founder of Pasadena’s Craftsman Brewing, Mark Jilg is a trailblazer of artisanal beer in Los Angeles, and Craftsman started making distinctive beers long before craft beer caught on in the region.
Triple White Sage is a yearly signature brew that captures the “rather assertive aroma” of the chaparral woodlands, and Jilg forages the hills for the Belgian ale’s key ingredient. “I used to spend a lot of time mountain biking in the Front Range [of the Angeles National Forest],” Jilg explains. “And I have a lot of familiarity with the flora—and the aromas—of the foothills.”
Before 2010—when the new wave of craft producers hit the L.A. area—there were only a scattered handful of brewpubs and small breweries. Many new operations now cater to the shifting tastes of thirsty Angelenos, but the veterans at Craftsman hold their course. The brewery makes two distinct families of beer: expertly executed examples of classic styles (“four-ingredient beers”) and more esoteric brews. These “complicated beers” are often wood-aged and feature local ingredients. Jilg wants his beers to be expressive and authentic. He forages for ingredients to create a connection with the environment. Jilg has worked with spruce and even acorns, but it was Southern California’s ubiquitous citrus that compelled him to add a sense of place to his beer. “I have two really old Valencia orange trees in my backyard,” he says, “and that sort of got the ball rolling on taking advantage of the bounty of Los Angeles.”