Border X Is the New Star of Southern California’s Mexican Craft Beer Movement

It’s been quite the road trip for Border X Brewing. After launching in San Diego in 2014, the popular Mexican craft brewery envisioned a new location in Los Angeles. That started with an online equity sale, which gathered nearly $200,000 from investors who believed in the brewery’s business. Tack on a partnership with the city of Bell and nearly a year of construction, and the brewery will be ready to open this Saturday on the corner of Gage and Pine Avenue.

As a new player in Southern California’s Mexican-inspired brewery landscape, Border X joins good company with makers like Progress Brewing in South El Monte, Monrovia’s Pacific Plate Brewing Company, and Wiretap Brewing on the west edge of Lincoln Heights. But the buzz behind Border X has been bubbling since the announcement last April.

That excitement began when the Border X team started talking about bringing pepino sours to Southern California. This blend has a sour Berliner weisse feel to it, along with the addition of key lime zest and pepino or cucumber. Then there’s the camotero, or sweet potato, with qualities of a saison beer that’s brewed with pumpkin and piloncillo, also known as unrefined cane sugar.

Wonho Frank Lee

There’s a total of 16 beers on tap in the nearly 7,000 square foot space, which includes a tasting room, a 45 foot long bar on the first floor, and an open airy mezzanine. Food from the adjacent Cuban market El Nuevo Mundo Bakery includes loaded carne asada fries and Cubano sandwiches. Community tables fill the space, with a mural celebrating street vendors and artwork from the Boyle Heights community arts center Self Help Graphics & Art. Here’s what Border X’s CEO David Favela had to say about the opening: “I keep going back to the Irish pub (and think) how immigrants can contribute and bring the best of their culture, food, traditions, and the best of our people...I feel like we’re part of a movement.”

Although the brewery has investors, Border X is a family-run affair, as Favela opened Border X with brother Marcelino and his sons, Marcel and Martin.

Though for Saturday’s opening the lot will be filled with vendors and blocked off, there are 27 parking spots at the back of the brewery. For now, Border X is only open four days a week, though Favela sees those hours expanding in the summer. Grab a pint from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Saturday from noon to 11 p.m., and noon until 10 p.m. on Sundays.

Border X Brewing. 4400 Gage Ave, Bell, CA

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Border X Brewing, Bell, California

Wonho Frank Lee