Eagle Rock Brewery turns 4 years old, throws itself a great party

In the four years since Eagle Rock Brewery’s tap room opened, the brewery’s founders have witnessed the craft beer scene in Los Angeles blossom and their fan base swell. The extent to which Angelenos have accepted craft beer was on display Sunday during the brewery’s Fourth Anniversary Party, which drew more than 500 thirsty craft-supporters and featured 20-plus unique brews.

Due to constraints on the brewery’s conditional use permit, the last two anniversary parties were held at nearby Verdugo Bar -- where the first commercial keg of Eagle Rock beer was tapped four years ago, but thanks to a partnership with the Keep A Breast charity this year’s celebration was able to return to the Atwater Village-adjacent brewery.

A throng of beer lovers filled the taproom and the walled-in parking area outside the brewery, while volunteers and friends of the brewery poured beers ranging from the brewery’s core offerings (Solidarity, Populist, Manifesto) to special one-off casks (mango habanero Populist, Stimulus on cacao nibs and coffee beans) to the brewery’s fan-favorite sour brews (Yearling, Tart Noir, and a not-quite finished version of award-winning Equinox dubbed “Pre-quinox”) to the complete series of anniversary brews.

This year’s special anniversary beer bucked the trend of being named after the brewery’s age (Yearling, Deuce, Threes) and the “imperial wit beer” was dubbed White Rabbit. An evolution of brewery founders Jeremy and Steve Raub’s early homebrew recipes, White Rabbit is a bold and boozy (11% alcohol) take on a style that is typically light and demure. Kegs and bottles of the celebratory brew will be distributed around Los Angeles in the coming weeks.

Food was dished-out by longtime friends of the brewery Mandoline Grill and the newly launched (and winner of the Cooking Channel’s “Food Truck Face Off”) Peaches’ BBQ truck, and while the crowd was dense at times, but there was never much of a wait for beer.

The Eagle Rock Brewery team is known in L.A.’s craft brewing industry as trailblazers and tireless advocates for craft beer, and you couldn’t walk far during the party without spotting another L.A. craft industry personality celebrating alongside the beer geeks and the loyal fans from the neighborhood.

ERB may have its biggest year yet in 2014. The brewery is increasing production of its core beers, has added additional fermentation capacity for its sour beer program, and hopes to open its second location in Eagle Rock by summer. Housed in the historic building on Colorado Boulevard that was previously Fatty’s vegan restaurant, the brewpub concept will serve as a satellite taproom and kitchen, with a new brewhouse to be added in 2015 to further increase Eagle Rock Brewery’s production capacity.

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