Those looking for an open beer garden to bring kids and dogs might do better elsewhere, as LA Bodega’s secret speakeasy-like setup is more conducive to business lunches, date nights and happy hour meet-ups at the bar. LA Bodega Brewing Co., Whittier’s newest brewery, celebrated its first anniversary in November.

Don’t miss resident pop-up Watson’s Pizza serving chewy, gooey oven-baked pies on site. Other notable beers include Dips Amber Lager, smooth and balanced with subtle caramel finish the toasty Jekyll American Stout and the pleasing Stunt Dubbel Belgian-style ale. Popular ones include the Revival West Coast IPA and Annabelle Blonde Ale. La Jara makes good, drinkable beers in a range of lager and ale styles. Buzzing with business since opening in April, La Jara’s inviting taproom attracts the after-work crowds on weekdays and hosts live music on weekends for a fun, beery “Pura Vida” atmosphere inspired by one of the co-owner’s Costa Rican heritage.

Though not the first indie brewery based in Norwalk - that distinction goes to Ray Ricky Rivera’s contract and distribution outfit under Norwalk Brew House, makers of Bidi Bidi Blonde Blonde and numerous benefit collaboration beers - La Jara is the city’s first craft brewery and taproom. Tucked on a side street near Carmenita Road and the 5 freeway is La Jara Brewing Co. Nearly all of them are small, independent, family-run breweries that depend on steady business from neighborhood locals and new visitors alike. Many have already enmeshed themselves in local communities, often supporting nonprofit organizations, local artists, fundraising causes and collective efforts through special brewery collaborations. These new breweries reflect a growing diversity in the groups that make, drink and enjoy craft beer. Many opened for business during or after the 2020 pandemic closures, which saw new or fledgling local craft breweries turn to canning and to-go sales to stay afloat until customers could be welcomed back into taprooms. region have been open for less than five years. Unlike some of the more established breweries in the South Bay or downtown L.A., most of the breweries in the greater East L.A. and along Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino county lines. This includes “Greater El Monte” and other parts of the San Gabriel Valley down to Southeast L.A. In brewery terms, we can use “Greater Eastside” to describe those neighborhoods and cities that span roughly east of the Los Angeles River to the 57, bordered by the 10 to the north and Imperial Highway to the south. We can extend “east of East L.A.” to include all of the San Gabriel Valley, a region “defined by majority-minority status and ambivalent relationship to Greater Los Angeles.” The essay collection “East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte” (2020) draws on this articulation of the “Greater Eastside” to designate the “east of East L.A.” cities of South El Monte and El Monte. Valle use the term “Greater Eastside” to describe the “industrial landscape” and network of the primarily Latino and Asian working- and middle-class suburbs and cities of eastern Los Angeles County. In the 2000 book “Latino Metropolis,” professors Rodolfo D. In defining this beer region “east of East L.A.,” I draw from two sets of scholarly works.

Why do I write about beer? It all started with a visit to a brewery in Washington with my grandpa when I was just 3. Food Brewing memories and a passion for beer with my Grandfather Miguel

San diego craft beer map