Highland Park Brewery

The trajectory of what is arguably Los Angeles’ most innovative and multifaceted brewery is like few others in America. Evolving from homebrewing roots into a cramped production space behind a former club, then into a proper production space & taproom in Chinatown, Highland Park Brewery has become one of the industry’s most emulated within the world of craft beer.

Founded by Bob and Tiffany Kunz, along with co-owner Ross Stevenson, in June of 2014, Highland Park Brewery got its beginning in a small back room of Stevenson’s neighborhood bar called The Hermosillo.

Born in Helena, Montana, Bob Kunz is the youngest of 7 children. Though he comes from a family of farmers in Montana, Bob missed out on this part of his heritage as his family moved to Washington State when he was 7 years old.

He decided to pursue a degree in English at Bellingham’s Western Washington University in the early aughts, where his primary hobby quickly became homebrewing. Maybe it can be attributed to being roommates with Josh Pfriem, also a High School classmate, who went on to brew at Chuckanut Brewery and founded pFriem Family Brewers. Before long, Bob found himself at Boundary Bay Brewing, working as an intern and learning to brew all grain recipes after brewing over 30 batches of extract homebrews with Pfriem in college.

Following a few years of travelling the world with his wife Tiffany, the couple ultimately moved to the Los Angeles suburb of Burbank, with Bob landing a job at Craftsman Brewing in Pasadena while Tiffany studied jewelry design and fabrication. After a year and a half brewing at one of LA’s original breweries, Kunz moved on to bartend and manage Father’s Office, a local chain of bar/restaurants, for 7 years.

In late 2012, having bought a home in the Highland Park neighborhood of LA a few years earlier, Bob linked up with the owners of The Hermosillo, which had become his local waterhole. Over the course of 13 months and an initial investment of $130,000, Highland Park Brewery came to life in the Spring of 2014, occupying the 400 square foot VIP Room in the former escort lounge-turned Mexican cantina. It was equipped with a 7 barrel brewhouse, 2 15 barrel fermenters and a handful of barrels. Cold storage was fabricated from a shipping container in the back parking lot.

In their first year, HPB created around 40 unique beers and 400-500 barrels of total production, with the bulk of their yields sold directly to Hermosillo. From the beginning, what has set the brewery apart is it’s dedication to brewing all styles well. That first year saw the creation of a sessionable Belgian Pale called Vacation, the mixed-fermentation complexity of Lazy Susan, one of their flagships Hello LA West Coast IPA, 6+ Porters and Stouts, and all styles in-between.

Not long after completing over 100 batches of beer in 2016, Highland Park created something completely new that’s become a benchmark for the style – a West Coast Pilsner called Timbo Pils. This elevated and modern take on the Pilsner involved a healthy dose of America’s favorite IPA hops, Mosaic and Citra, creating a new style that most every brewery is emulating today.

The final piece of the puzzle, creating their own taproom and a larger production facility in the Chinatown district in 2018, solidified their physical presence in the city. Since their opening in 2014, HPB has created over 540 unique beers and have won 8 GABF medals including gold for Timbo Pils in 2019, and 2 World Beer Cup medals including gold for Hello, LA IPA.

It’s exciting to welcome Highland Park Brewery for their first residency at Function PDX, which also happens to be their first take-over of 2024 following the renovation of their original NW 23rd Avenue space and the grand opening of the brand new NE location at Alberta Street and NE 20th. Both locations will be open starting Friday, February 2nd.

Here’s a rundown of what’s slated to be available on draft and in cans at both locations:

Barrel Aged Griffith: This year’s barrel aged Griffith includes a blend of Woodford Reserve, Woodford Reserve Double Oaked, Blanton’s, & Eagle Rare 10 year bourbon barrel aged Griffith, 13.3%. Available in 500ml bottles & on draft.

Bortz: our dark Gnome Wizard Lager! This beer is one we always look forward to at HPB. A crisp, chocolatey, toasty, & super drinkable dark lager. A lighter bodied beer that highlights the malts, 5.5%. Available on draft only.

Coconut Tree: a blend of 2 different imperial stout recipes aged in a mixture of rye & bourbon barrels then topped off with 21 pounds of coconut. We used a mix of a stout aged for 11 months in Old Fitzgerald bourbon barrels, 11 months in Brown Forman Rye Select barrels & a stout aged 18 months in Woodinville bourbon barrels, 13.8%. Available on draft only.

DDH Yes: a double dry hopped version of our hazy DIPA, Yes! Generously hopped with Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin, Citra, & Citra cryo hops to help produce big intense aromas of peach, mango, & grapefruit, 8.3%. Available in 16oz cans & on draft.

Electric Living: Hopped with generous amounts of Citra, Galaxy, & Riwaka! Electric Living offers a wide range of aromas including grapefruit zest, passion fruit, & candied peach, 6.8%. Available in cans & on draft.

Friendlier: this is a chuggable lager beer. Dry hopped lightly with classic German noble hops Tettnang and Hallertau Mittelfruh. Friendlier has fresh floral aromatics with a subtle bready malt base and balanced bitterness, 4.2%. Available on draft only.

Green Chimera: a Rustic Saison made up of a blend of oak aged spontaneous beer, oak aged mixed culture beer, & fresh lager. Before packaging it was treated to a small amount of UV light to recreate the “green bottle” saison maturation process before locking those flavors. A complex, funky, innovative, & incredibly refreshing experience, 5.5%. Available on draft only.

Griffith: our yearly Imperial Coffee stout with Trystero Coffee. This big chocolatey imperial stout received 3lbs per barrel of Natural Ethiopia Guji Gigesa coffee roasted by our friends at Trystero Coffee, providing amazing complementary notes of blueberry, pomegranate, and honey, 13.5%. Available in cans & on draft.

Hand of Josh: our west coast Pilsner that uses NZ Cascade & Nelson Sauvin hops. A bright gold yellow appearance with pungent aromas of fresh mango, riesling grapes, & finger limes, 5.8%. Available in 16oz cans & on draft.

Hello, LA: our West Coast IPA hopped with the classic 1-2 punch of Mosaic & Citra hops! Pouring with a clear golden appearance & fluffy white foam head, this IPA produces huge aromas of juicy tropical fruit, fresh tangerine, & has a slight dankness with residual bitterness, 6.8%. Available in 16oz cans & on draft.

Infinitefinite: Infinitefinite is a premium blend of barrel aged stouts and double barrel aged stouts. Infinitefinite v2.0 consists of 5 barrels:

•A stout aged in a Willett bourbon barrel for 2 years
•A stout aged in a Weller wheated bourbon barrel for 1 year
•A stout aged in Blanton’s bourbon barrels for 15 months
•A stout aged in Woodford Double Oak bourbon barrels for 18 months
•And most importantly, a double barrel blend of Infinitefinite v1

After blending last year’s version we filled a Weller bourbon barrel with the blend and allowed it to age another year. 14.7%. Available on draft only.

Luxury: Barrel aged imperial stout with vanilla, 14.1%. Available on draft only.

Marigold: a rustic saison with Aztec Marigold & fireweed. When our friends from Fair Isle were in town to brew a collaboration lager with fireweed, we just had to fit in a second collaboration. We took a portion of Fireweed Lager & allowed it to open ferment before pitching some Fair Isle mixed culture yeast (as well as picking up some wild yeast from the open fermentation) & adding some locally foraged Aztec Marigold, 5.3%. Available on draft only.

No Ends: a continuation of our Only Beginnings collaboration. We took a portion of the original Only Beginnings brew (that wasn’t canned or adjuncted) and laid it to rest in bourbon and rye barrels. When it came time to select the barrels, which were aged for about 12 months, we had Sam from Firestone come over and taste the barrels with us. We landed on blending a Woodford Rye barrel for that bit of spice, a Woodford Double Oak barrel for that extra oakiness, and a Weller wheated barrel for that smooth spirit heat, 12.7%. Available on draft only.

Old Youth: Composed of a Barleywine recipe aged for 19 months in Elijah Craig barrels, a (different) Barleywine aged for 7 months, and lastly a third barleywine recipe that was a double barrel Barleywine (our last barrel of the Fuerte Manana brew) that was aged for 26 months in a Heaven Hill barrel before being barreled again, this time in a Woodford Reserve barrel. To top it off (for evaporation and transfer loss) we added a big Imperial Stout and aged it for another 16 months, 14.9%. Available in bottles only.

Scooter Commuter: a Hazy IPA that we loaded with Citra, Idaho 7, & HBC 522 hops. A hazy beer with bright pungent notes of tropical Starburst, peach, citrus tea, & Trader Joe’s pineapple juice in those small cans, 6.5%. Available on draft only.

Timbo Pils: West Coast Pilsner that uses Mosaic & Citra hops. The hop combo helps create intense aromas of fresh mango, Riesling Grape, passion fruit, & zesty orange, 5.8%. Available in 16oz cans & on draft

Toast Points: a Czech Style Lager we brewed with our pals Moonlight Brewing! This beer is crisp, enjoyable, & full of maximum flavor! We used Durst Turbo Pils malt for this beer as well as Moonlight selected Perle hops from Crosby hops. You’ll notice notes of brioche crust & Bizcuity goodness, 5.9%. Available in 16oz cans & on draft.

Tonight, Tonight, Tonight: our big Imperial Stout with tons of coconut & vanilla. This beer will make you nostalgic for Mounds Bar with every sip, 12%. Available on draft only.

Ultra Cloud: a Hazy IPA with all Citra hops! Dense hazy straw appearance with massive tropical aromas of lychee, guava, & mango gelato, 7%. Available in 16oz cans & on draft.

Content for this article sourced from Forbes, Los Angeles Magazine, Craft Beer & Brewing, and Eater LA.