After four years of celebrating brewing in tandem with their Latino heritage, the family behind Border X Brewing is looking to ramp up their operation. The company is based in Barrio Logan with a brewery and tasting room replete with Chicano art, and beers featuring Mexican ingredients and flavor profiles. CEO David Favela and his team have made a name for their business, aided in the revitalization of Barrio Logan and arguably done the best job of any local brewing interest in conveying a complete expression of Mexican culture. Now they want to do it on a larger scale with an expansion into Los Angeles and, eventually, the greater Southwestern U.S.
Border X is in the midst of the first phase of an expansion plan that would see the company build a brewery and taproom in Bell, a community of roughly 35,000 located on the east bank of the Los Angeles River in the heart of L.A. County. In establishing a presence in Los Angeles, Border X hopes to endear itself to L.A.’s Latino population, which registers around five million strong. According to Favela, who has spent the past year-and-a-half in close communication with city staffers, Bell is one of the densest residential areas in the U.S., with Latinos making up an astounding 95% of the population.
Located at 4400 Gage Street across from City Hall, Border X’s future tasting room will come in at 7,000 square feet with ceilings over 30 feet high and a 3,000-square-foot mezzanine. The space will have a dozen taps supplied with beer from an on-site 10-barrel brewhouse as well as beers shipped up from the company’s San Diego location. Much as the Barrio Logan tasting room artistically conveys its hometown’s heritage, the interior of the Bell location will touch on the area’s history, including the Zoot Suit Riots, which took place in the summer of 1943 at the nearby Sleepy Lagoon. And like its predecessor, the new venue will feature food trucks and cultural events.
In addition to the Bell taproom, Favela hopes to reach Hispanic consumers by distributing beer to select Mexican supermarkets, restaurants, bars, and purveyors of ethnic ingredients. If successful, he plans to set up more tasting rooms in L.A. and Riverside counties. From there, he would like to expand to Central and Northern California, followed by Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas.
Seeing the success companies such as BrewDog have had with online fundraising, Favela and company have established a WeFunder campaign to raise additional capital to assist with its expansion efforts. Border X’s fundraising goal is stated as between $150,000 and $750,000. Favela says that regardless of the outcome of the WeFunder campaign the company will move forward with the Bell project. As of press time, Border X had raised $37,495 from 79 investors pledging at least $100 apiece. Favela says Border X’s Bell facility is on pace to open to the public by mid-September.