Top New Breweries
Highland Park Brewery (Los Angeles) turned three over the summer, and they continue to impress with a lineup of on-trend beers and more experimental fare. Sure, they joined the legion of SoCal breweries making hazy IPAs and holding brewery-only can releases that see dedicated fans line up for hours before the beer goes on sale, and they’ve continued to explore the funky realm of mixed fermentations with additions of local fruit, but for my beer money, it’s the clean and refined lagers pouring at the brewery that keep me going back. From German Pilsner to Baltic porter, the HPB crew is turning out deliciously drinkable lagers that have somehow stayed under the radar in L.A. I can’t wait for their new brewery and tasting room expansion in Chinatown to open.
Brewery REX (Santa Barbara, California) is a small project started by two industry veterans. There’s no tasting room, there aren’t bottles on the shelves at the local shop or a big social media presence. SometimeS you just see a new Brewery REX beer on a beer list, and if you’re smart you order it. Everything I’ve had from the team up of Tyler King (the Bruery and a bunch of other spots) and Brian White (Monkish, Chapman Crafted) has been, as the kids these days say, “straight fire.” From the simplicity of El Whaler inspired by refreshing Mexican lagers (and served with a lime slice) to the complex and breathtaking Malum Belgian IPA, the brews demonstrate deft balance and vivid flavors.
Cellador Ales (North Hills, California) is one of those unconventional projects that wary beer writers rolls their eyes at—until they get a taste. Started by a young couple and focused on wood-fermented mixed fermentations that lean on locally grown fruit, Cellador was one I initially dismissed as another homebrewer trying to go big. Then I opened a bottle of a saison spiked with tangerines and was blown away. A tasting room visit the next day proved that the worst beer in the lineup was better than most “wild ales” that come across my desk. I can’t get enough Cellador beer; it is regularly inventive and unique, but more importantly it’s always eminently drinkable. Get these young guns on your ISO lists and keep an eye on them as they grow.