The L.A. breweries that remain open in 2025 survive solely due to a commitment to consistently delicious beer, which likely tastes slightly better every time you try it. To this day, these taprooms remain community hubs for people with kids, dogs, and thirsty friends.
L.A.’s craft brewery scene began in earnest in the post-2008 Great Recession period. For context, this is decades behind Northern California, often hailed as the “birthplace” of U.S. craft brewing (San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing was founded in 1965), and ten years or so behind San Diego, which bills itself as the “Capital of Craft” and home to foundational beer-makers like Karl Strauss (1989), Pizza Port (1992), AleSmith (1995), and Stone Brewing (1996).
As of 2024, California has over 1,100 breweries, making it the state with the most breweries in the country. Though smaller and younger than California’s more established craft brewing regions, greater L.A.’s mighty beer presence began with a handful of breweries that held their own with—even won medals alongside—their more storied cohorts to the north and south.