Eagle Rock Brewery Wants to Open Tasting Room in Monrovia

By Nathan McIntire

Monrovia may continue to make progress on its quest to become the microbrew capitol of the San Gabriel Valley if a proposal to bring another brewer into town is approved next week.

The successor to the Monrovia Redevelopment Agency will consider a plan at its July 2 meeting to lease space in town to Eagle Rock Brewery. The brewery has expressed interest in renting space owned by the city on West Pomona Avenue and hopes to open a tasting room, barrel room and storage facilities on the property, city spokeswoman Jennifer McLain said.

If the Glassell Park-based brewery succeeds in its pursuits, it could become the second microbrewery to open in Monrovia this year. Pacific Plate Brewing Co. expects to open its tasting room on Myrtle Avenue this summer.

Although a host of procedural hurdles remain, the city is hopeful that it will be able to accommodate the brewery ahead of the completion of the Gold Line Foothill Extension.

"With the Gold Line extension on the horizon, staff believes that microbreweries and barrel rooms could serve as an economic stimulus to the City by capturing consumers of this expanding microbrewery market, creating jobs, and fostering growth for this emerging manufacturing cluster," McLain wrote in a staff report.

The land the brewery wants is owned by the successor agency to the MRA, and the city is must get approval from an oversight board and the California Department of Finance to sell it. 

The city is currently working on a long-range management plan (LRMP) that will specify how the land it owns is handled moving forward. The sale of the Pomona Avenue property to Eagle Rock Brewery will be included in the plan if the City Council signs off on the lease proposal next week.

"We haven't yet heard from our council whether this is something they're even open to," McLain said.

Under the proposal, Eagle Rock Brewery would lease the 3,300 square foot property at 124-126 W. Pomona Ave. for six months while the city prepares a lease-to-purchase agreement. That agreement would be included in the LRMP that would go before a 7-member oversight board and then the state Department of Finance.

Eagle Rock Brewery has been "a leader in the local craft beer industry" and it's products are served at more than 700 locations in Southern California, according to the staff report.

"We're very excited that they're considering Monrovia," McLain said.