USA, CA: Beachwood Brewing to move into Beach City Brewery’s Huntington Beach facility

One man’s shutter is another man’s opportunity, as Beach City Brewery in Huntington Beach will be closing down to become a production hub for Long Beach-based Beachwood Brewing, Eater LA reported on March 29.
Rumors have been circulating for some time regarding Beachwood owner Gabe Gordon and his plans to acquire Beach City, but on March 29 the company confirmed the purchase and plans for the Huntington Beach facility.

Beachwood is based in and around Long Beach, operating a couple of barbecue-focused brewpubs as well as a concept-driven tasting room called the Blendery. However, it’s been difficult for the award-winning brewery to scale up production on their beers with their current business layout, so Beachwood made a decision to purchase an existing small brewery (plus all their space and equipment) and grow from a standalone facility somewhere nearby. That’s where Beach City comes in.

The Beachwood growth into Huntington Beach should allow the brewery to expand to a capacity close to 10,000 barrels annually, and will let the company grow their portfolio of existing beers. That will take some time, of course — Gordon says upwards of five years — as the licensing alone can take months. Thankfully both Long Beach and Huntington Beach have proven to be very craft beer-friendly cities, so hopefully it won’t be long before Gordon and his team are able to get up and running in their new location.

It doesn’t seem at this time that the expansion will be anything more than a true production facility (that means no tap room, no growler fills, no tours), but for those hoping to more easily get their hands on some of Beachwood’s beloved beers, it’s certainly good news.

30 March, 2016