After speaking with Brian Mercer of Brouwerij West, tasting his beers (which include a lightly hopped blonde that is in the testing stage) and walking around the cavernous Navy warehouse that will be the future home of the brewery, you sense both hope and fear.
The potential of the space is stratospheric. It will be seriously green from a solar and water standpoint. There is plenty of parking and a billowing sea breeze that could make this a destination for beer. The beers that I have tasted have been better than others on the market, especially the fruit tinged The Dog Ate My Homework.
Cruise ships lie to the right and left, Port of Los Angeles workers inhabit the town of San Pedro and an USC Oceanic Lab is in the works so customers will be there to be drink.
But years of contract brewing and diminished visibility of their super cool labels on their bottles means that they have been passed by to an extent. Beachwood and their upcoming Blendery has stolen thunder and there is already a well established operation in San Pedro Brewing that is also expanding with Port Town.
I certainly hope they make it because it will be a great place to kick back with a beer and the potential of making more and better beer should improve with new equipment under their own control.
