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Business & Tech

Local Home Beer Brewing Business on the Rise

Culver City Home Brewing Supply has added a second store in Eagle Rock to serve customers in the eastern part of L.A. County.

For people in Los Angeles who want to make their own beer and wine, Culver City Home Brewing Supply is known as the place to be, as it was—up until recently—one of only two shops in the county selling the required supplies and ingredients. So store owners Kevin Koenig and Greg Beron took on a third partner and expanded their business to a second shop in Eagle Rock. 

"We looked at it as a chance to lighten the load on the weekend," Koenig said, as the small Culver City store was known to get packed on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Culver City store opened 16 years ago, according to Koenig. He and Beron became the majority partners in the business about eight years ago. "Our business has been steadily growing since we got it," Koenig said.

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Despite the economic downturn of the past two years, the business has not suffered greatly. 

 "What we've noticed is that there's more interest in this economy," Beron said about beer making as a hobby. "For couples, it's something they can do together and end up with something that you can consume that costs less that what you'd actually have to spend to buy it."

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Needless to say, Beron is talking about the pricier ales and premium beers rather than a six-pack of Bud.

Culver City Chamber of Commerce President Steve Rose said that he's not surprised that the brew supply shop has been growing at a time when so many other businesses are struggling.

"I believe that Culver City Home Brewing may be the exception to the rule, since it is a business that services stay-at-home projects," Rose said. "Home brewing, gardening and home improvement are things that people can do and stay at home. Plus it's opening up [the new store] in a highly underserved area."

Until Eagle Rock Home Brewing Supply opened, home beer and wine makers in the San Gabriel Valley and Glendale areas had to drive to either Culver City or Woodland Hills (where Home Wine, Beer and Cheesemaking Supply is located) to get their grains, yeasts and equipment. The next closest option is in Riverside.

Beron said that he and Koenig chose Eagle Rock because it's more accessible for those who live on the eastern edge of L.A. County and—even though it's technically part of the city of Los Angeles—it has a similar small town feel to that of Culver City. 

"There appears to be more of an interest in winemaking in Eagle Rock," Beron said. "And Eagle Rock will have cheesemaking supplies because there's a freezer there and some of the ingredients have to be kept frozen."

But other than those quirks, both Koenig and Beron plan on providing the same stock in both stores.

"It's going to be as close as we can make it to keep from driving ourselves crazy," Beron said of the supplies to be found in store.

Koenig said he expects the Pacific Gravity beer-making club that meets at the Culver City shop to continue to do so and that if the Eagle Rock location hosts a club, it will probably be a second club rather than a chapter of Pacific Gravity. However, "there may be a combination of two clubs," Koenig said.

Regardless of the location, the stores will still be all about making delicious things that ferment.

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