In Highland Park’s early days, owner-brewer Bob Kunz entered competitions with whatever beers he had available.
“We only had two fermentors back then,” he says. “And if I’m being quite honest, I didn’t really know what I was doing.”
It took a few years to find his footing, but Kunz now has a coherent, multifaceted strategy to make sure the Los Angeles brewery is always putting its best foot forward. His philosophy is that the brewery enters competitions as an incentive to make better beers—not to win awards. “That’s our guiding compass,” he says.