Brett Keating
April 1, 2021
*Update: Monkish Anaheim is now open.*
One of LA County’s best breweries is opening a second location. South Bay-based Monkish Brewing announced on Instagram that they’ll be debuting a new location this summer in Orange County. The new Monkish will be in the Anaheim Packing District – a multi-block food hall in Downtown Anaheim, where they’ll have a brewery, tasting room, and beer garden.
This is the first new location after the Torrance original, an exciting step forward for the brewery, and co-founders Henry and Adriana Nguyen. Monkish will be taking over the space from Anaheim Brewery, which has been open there for nearly ten years.
Along with substantial indoor and outdoor seating, the new location also has a brewing facility on-site, which, according to the Instagram post, they’ll be using to expand production. As it stands now, Monkish has a relatively small 15 barrel set-up, and daily releases frequently sell out within minutes. This should add to capacity, and – perhaps – make those cans just a bit easier to snag.
Monkish first opened in Torrance in 2012, and soon became one of the hardest-to-get beers in the country. It’s one of a wave of breweries that helped establish LA County as a nationally-renowned beer region. Monkish first rose to fame as a sort of anti-IPA brewery, focusing on Belgian styles like saisons, Belgian pale ales, and dark strong ales. Now, they’ve still got those Belgian styles, but their hazy IPA releases are what draw hours-long pick-up lines.
This part of Anaheim is quickly turning into a hotspot for breweries – Unsung Brewing occupies another section of the food hall, and Leisuretown, San Diego-based Modern Times’ newest location, opened about a block up the street late last year.
While Monkish has yet to announce an official opening date, their Instagram post says it will come sometime this summer. Follow the new location’s Instagram for more details, and stay tuned for more Monkish coverage soon.
