Don’t believe everything you hear about Los Angeles—it isn’t all uncontrolled sprawl and traffic jams. After years of playing a supporting role to their neighbors to the south, LA brewers are stepping into the spotlight as the dynamic craft-beer scene joins the list of attractions that draw visitors from across the globe to the sun-soaked megacity.
While craft beer flourished for decades just a hundred miles south in San Diego, until the current decade Los Angeles remained a craft-beer desert of cocktails and mass-market brews. A few short years ago this story wouldn’t be possible—despite an active homebrew community, commercial craft breweries were few and far between. Then came the recession of 2008, and in a plot line familiar to those who follow craft beer, some of these intrepid beer makers who were pushed out of the mainstream economy applied their DIY spirit to a new wave of brewery launches in Los Angeles. It didn’t take long before the ever-thirsty populace began to take pride in its city’s nascent craft-beer scene, and the region now sports more than three dozen breweries scattered throughout its infamous sprawl.
Los Angeles County comprises eighty-eight cities spread across almost 5,000 square miles—calling it a sprawl hardly does justice to the incredible patchwork of municipalities, neighborhoods, freeways, and hidden gems. The size has been one of the biggest obstacles to the development of L.A.’s beer culture, but as the scene has developed, three particular areas have become home to clusters of breweries, and there are enough other notable hot spots scattered between them to keep a dedicated beer tourist busy for days.
