It was recently brought to our attention that Inland Empire Brewing Company (aka IEBC) in Riverside has closed. There was no announcement from the brewery itself, although the owners have confirmed that the business is closed.
If you visit Inland Empire Brewing now, you’ll find Kitchen Sink Brewing. Kitchen Sink was the brewing arm of Chino Hills Brewing. They’ll brew for the restaurant in the former IEBC location as well as setting up their own base and taproom there.
Inland Empire Brewing posted on social media in the middle of 2020 that their taproom was closed due to Covid and would reopen at some point. They continued to sell their beer through SoCal.Beer a local distribution and delivery network. One of the minor owners of IEBC is also the founder of SoCal.Beer.
On the outside, it appeared that IEBC still had a legitimate pandemic business model. However, I learned from elsewhere that the dismantling of IEBC seemed to have started sometime earlier as the founding owners and head brewers left prior to Covid reaping its full effect. One of the previous owners cited a planned expansion in 2017 that never materialized.
Founded in 2009, it doesn’t look likely that IEBC will continue or reappear in any capacity. SoCal.Beer does have some of their products listed on its website, but I can’t tell you when exactly those were brewed.
