About

Voyager Magazine | June 2022

Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Dunn. He and the team share their story with us below:

Brewer and owner, Patrick Dunn, became enamored with craft beer and its variety in college at UC Santa Barbara. After a few years of trying every beer he could, he decided to learn how to brew at home.

The idea of developing his own twists on styles and creating entirely original flavors sucked him in completely. After a few years of homebrewing while working long hours in the film industry and growing a family, he decided to take a leap. With family help (and patience) he started brewing professionally, and doing what he loves: making people happy.

With the help of his wife Laura on the business side, and his father as a mentor, the three launched the 15 barrel production brewery in 2016, opened a taproom to the public in 2017, and have plans to open more tasting rooms in and around LA in the near future.

Lincoln Beer Company is known for its variety of IPAs, lagers, and unique flavor combinations like Habanero Vanilla Red. Brewers Patrick Dunn and Eric Whiting recently took home the silver award at the 2022 World Beer Cup for their Mosaic PIlsner. The Company has also partnered with The Simpsons to create Duff Crafted Lager and Actor Danny Trejo on Trejo’s Cerveza Mexican Lager.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
What hasn’t been a struggle?! Between long permitting and licensing timeframes, increased competition, rising prices, and COVID shutdowns, starting and operating the brewery has been anything but easy.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
1) We brew, package, and sell beer out of a 15bbl brewery called Lincoln Beer Company in Burbank, CA.

2) We specialize in hoppier styles like IPA but we really try to remember how much more fun diversity is. Trying new and differing styles is the whole point of visiting a taproom or walking down the beer aisle at your local market. We keep that in mind so we try to “specialize” in doing a little bit of everything.

3) We’re most recently known for our single hopped Pilsners. Our Mosaic Pilsner just won silver at The World Beer Cup. While Mosaic has become a constant, we always keep a rotating version, showcasing a different hop on hand as that, in my opinion, is what keeps the style so exciting.

4) I’m MOST proud of my wife and my 4 kids. The beer I’m most proud of changes all the time but at the moment, I’d say I’m most proud of our new Cream Ale. Cream Ale is a forgotten style. I tried to bring it back a few years ago and people seemed to dig it but it was too sweet and I eventually just fell back and focused on lagers. This version is much better in that it’s crisper, cleaner, and more balanced.

Our Assistant Brewer, Eric Whiting has really dialed in our water profile for all the beers but it really shows up on this beer. My wife, Laura designed our awesome, retro packaging… everything comes together to make this beer a fun experience from first purchase to the last sip!

5) I’m not sure what sets us apart from any other brewery. We’re consumed, maybe even obsessed with innovating and improving our beer.

We always see the potential for the better. We’re also a true family business. I brew, my sister designed our taproom, one brother-in-law constructed the taproom and another brother-in-law built all the big beer tables, my wife essentially runs the day-to-day and designs our merch while my Dad backed us financially and makes sure we don’t do anything too stupid.

Our staff has developed into the family as well. We don’t get a lot of turnovers, we love our people and they (seem to) love us. Maybe that’s what sets us apart. We’re a big, ridiculous, sometimes dysfunctional family but in spite of all that we’re able to pump out a killer product and it’s all sort of working.