Crafted locally: L.A.-based microbreweries

Angel City Brewing

www.angelcitybrewing.com

Michael Bowe, 54, sold his first beer in L.A. on St. Patrick’s Day in 1997. Six years later, he scored a brewery on EBay. Located in Torrance’s Alpine Village, Bowe estimates that about half of business caters to its yearly Oktoberfest. But the general contractor-turned- jazz musician-turned- professional brewer, who purchased a bottling line from Oregon’s Rogue Brewery, is already dreaming of a day when Angel City outgrows the suburbs. “My goal is to open up a brewery downtown,” he says. “I want to be the Sierra Nevada of downtown L.A. I believe that a great city not only has a great baseball and football stadium, but also has a great brewery.” For now, he’ll settle with having all his beers, which range from the smoothly malted Angel City Ale to the sweetly roasted Angel City Dunkel, on tap at downtown’s Spring Street Smoke House. And Bowe has an easy test, albeit not a very scientific one, for what makes a good beer. “If you can’t drink four pints of a beer, it’s not a great beer,” he says.

Craftsman Brewing

www.craftsmanbrewing.com

Mark Jilg spent eight years as an image processor for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory before convincing himself computers would render his position irrelevant. Rather than sweat being laid off, he opened a Pasadena brewery. That was 13 years ago. It would be five more before Craftsman became profitable. “I happen to lead an incredibly frugal lifestyle,” he says. Last year Craftsman swelled to a three-person operation, and Jilg’s adventurous brews -- the fruity Orange Grove Ale or the crisp 1903, made with just a hint of corn -- are becoming regulars at L.A. bars. It’s been a long time coming. “If I were making the beers I’m making in L.A. in another part of the country,” Jilg says, “I’d have a tail wind instead of a head wind.” Father’s Office owner Sang Yoon agrees. “Craftsman is really doing something unique and different,” he says. “Mark adheres more to subtlety and nuances. No one else in California does that. At the same time, he’s a freak when it comes to using botanicals and herbs and fruits.” Jilg hopes to launch a bottling line soon.

Skyscraper Brewing

www.skyscraperbrewing.com

Philip Sutton became a home brewer while a grad student at the University of Utah -- a move inspired out of frugality. “Salt Lake is a cool town, but a six-pack of Sam Adams costs about $13,” says Sutton, 32. Sutton then spent four years working in the Bay Area for an Internet start-up, and when returned home to L.A., he missed the NorCal beer scene. Perplexed by the lack of L.A. breweries, Sutton decided he “needed to do something about that.” Sutton’s Skyscraper Brewing officially opened for business earlier this year. He’s already bottling, and plotting a Christmas ale. Thus far, Sutton has two beers, an Anchor Steam-inspired Lug Nut Lager and his Bulldozer Honeyweizen, a brisk wheat beer laced with honey. “My stepfather is from this area, and his beer of choice is Miller Lite on the rocks, so yeah, L.A. is not the beer town San Diego is,” Sutton says. “But I think I can make it here.” Sample Skyscraper at Matt Denny’s Ale House, 145 E. Huntington Drive in Arcadia.

-- T.M.