Head brewer Mike Hancock, right, owner Rob Bubens and his year-old Doberman Jax will mark the grand opening this weekend in El Segundo of the first combination craft brewery and distillery in Los Angeles County. Photo by Staff Photographer Ed Crisostomo).
A combo-brewery-distillery is a lot more complex to open than your average craft brewery, Rubens said.
“We carry eight licenses, two from the feds, three from the state and three from the city,” he said. “We placed our order for (the German-made still) in December 2014 and we received it in early February this year. So it took 14 months from the day we placed the order to the day it showed up in a truck. Then it was another four months until it was operational.”
Although Rubens has quietly had a soft opening for several weeks, this weekend is the first that cocktails will be available.