As the number of coffee roasters in the Arts District has rapidly grown, the number of beer makers is also increasing in the neighborhood. According to the Los Angeles Times, Downtown is poised to “rival the South Bay as the center of craft brewing in the county.” After a rocky start in 2012, Angel City Brewery (27,000 sq. ft.) successfully reopened its doors in 2013 and now regularly brews a solid selection of craft beers. During 2014, while specific plans for each have not been publicly released, Arts District Brewing Company (17,000 sq. ft.) and Iron Triangle Brewing Company (40,000 sq. ft.) are obviously full steam ahead with their renovations and both seem well underway to open later this year. Later this year, Dry River Brewing (5,000 sq. ft.) hopes to open across the river from the Arts District on the East Bank, and just this week, Mumford Brewery (1,600 sq. ft.) announced the opening of its tap room in nearby Little Tokyo.
What seems to have totally slipped under the radar and missed by many of those who actively scan the Arts District is Boomtown Brewery. Established in 2014 by managing partners John Rankin, Charles Lew, and Alex Kagianaris with head brewer Samuel Chawinga, this local brewery specializes in small-batch artisanal ales and already has six beers in production and distributed through Wine Warehouse): Ingenue Belgian White Ale, Submission Golden Strong, Magic Napper Scottish Ale, Limelight IPA, Nosejob IPA, and Personal Assistant Belgian Pale Ale. (I had the pleasure of having sneak peeks of the operations and tasting these brews a few weeks ago.) In the meantime, construction is in progress on its tasting room (expected to open this summer) and special events venue (slated for opening this fall), all of which are hidden away in the quiet North Arts District.
Located in what I formerly called “No Man’s Arts District” due to its lack of residential spaces and community gathering places (I need to rename this area to simply North Arts District!), Boomtown’s 17,000-sq-ft facilities consist of three historic buildings: the brewery is housed in one built in 1918, the tasting room in another built in 1926, and a special events venue is in a third built in 1938. Once fully open, the brewhouse will have indoor/outdoor seating, shuffleboard tables, and monthly art shows.
Photo Credits: Boomtown’s head brewer Samuel Chawinga with Melissa Richardson Banks – featured photo by Scot Ezzell. All other photos in the gallery below — except for shots of Boomtown Growlers and Boomtown’s John Rankin, which are from the brewery’s Facebook Page — are by Melissa Richardson Banks.
Angel City Brewing
216 S. Alameda St., Los Angeles 90012
(213) 622-1261
Arts District Brewing Company
830 Traction Ave., Los Angeles 90013
Boomtown Brewery
700 Jackson St.
Los Angeles 90012
(213) 617-8497
Dry River Brewing
671 S. Anderson St.
Los Angeles 90023
(213) 375-5235
Iron Triangle Brewing
1581 Industrial St.
Los Angeles 90021
(213) 864-8558
Mumford Brewing
416-418 Boyd St.
Los Angeles 90013
Sat 12-8pm and Sun 12-6pm
Beers on Tap: Black Mamba American Black Ale, Boyd St. IPA, Experimental Hop Batch #1 IPA, L.A. Crema California Cream Ale