A craft brewery. In a modest brick building in the rural town of Hopland. Groom figured it was a gimmick. Breweries, she thought, were supposed to be in huge industrial buildings owned by big companies. So she pulled over.
When she walked into Mendocino Brewing Co., California’s first brewpub licensed to sell its own craft beer made on site, she saw people boiling wort — the sweet liquid starter for beer — in 55-gallon drums in the back and knew her days of “wasting my life, standing there counting pills,” were over.
“I said, ‘This is what I want to do for the rest of my life,’” Groom said. “It was like when you see stars and stuff in the cartoons.”
In 1990, Groom opened the Lost Coast Brewery in Humboldt County, becoming one of the country’s first female microbrewery owners. Her booze won national awards, she was dubbed “craft beer’s original female gangster” by Hop Culture magazine and, for 36 years, her business has thrived.
In addition to Groom’s original downtown Eureka brewery and cafe, Lost Coast Brewery now includes a 75,000-square-foot facility that can fill 1,400 kegs per day.
But the brewmaster turns 80 this fall, and she’s got other stuff to do. She put Lost Coast Brewery up for sale.
A tough time for craft breweries
Downtown Eureka, pictured Sept. 3, 2022, with Lost Coast Brewery, a yellow, multi-story building, visible in the center.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Craft brewing exploded in the 2010s. But these are tough times for brewers. According to the Brewers Assn., an industry trade group, craft brewery closures outpaced openings in 2025 for the second year in a row amid rising production and labor costs, market saturation and declining alcohol consumption by young people.
Last year, California had 939 craft breweries, according to the Brewers Assn., down from a high of 987 small beer makers in 2023.
Groom is not expecting a quick sale. She’s hoping for someone much younger to run it. Someone with a bit more energy, though hers is hard to top.
The beginnings of a beer queen
Groom is a jane-of-all-trades farm girl from Stockton. As a teen, she wanted to become a snow skier. She sold Avon makeup door-to-door — even though she doesn’t wear makeup — to pay for travel to a ski resort and lessons.
Turns out she didn’t like skiing. Too scary.
So she became a pharmacist. She practiced for 20 years, but it never satisfied her creative side. She bought a blueberry farm in Oregon and built her own cabin by hand. But that was too isolating. She dabbled in furniture making, but that didn’t pay the bills.
Barbara Groom checks a new brewing tank, called a mash can, at her Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka, Calif.
(Provided by Barbara Groom )
After visiting the now-closed Hopland brewery, she spent six years studying brew methods and equipment (many small breweries were then using repurposed dairy equipment) and getting her finances in order.
In the foggy little timber town of Eureka, she bought a century-old building — a former lodge for the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization — and she opened the doors to Lost Coast Brewery in 1990 along with a female business partner.
Chicken wings and trailblazing
Those first couple years, Groom said, “No one came in. I could shoot a cannon off in there and not hit anybody.”
Eventually, she heard about “this guy who was in town living on a boat” who had tended bar in Washington state and talked sort of like a pirate. She found him docked in Humboldt Harbor and hired him as a bar manager.
His advice? Give out free chicken wings to get people in the door to try the beer. Worked like a charm.
What’s next?
Groom said she’s selling because she’s got a lot of adventuring to do in retirement. She does travel photography, jetting around the world — China, Romania, India, Argentina, Norway — with her cameras and drones. Upcoming trips include Iceland and Azerbaijan.
She never gave much thought to being one of the country’s first female brewpub owners. Except one time, early on, when she went to buy a part for her brewing equipment at a plumbing wholesale business, where an employee told her: The next time you need something, send your husband.
She actually never married. She proudly did everything herself — and did it well.
“A woman’s wort is never done,” she joked, referencing the beer starter that is pronounced “wert.”
“I never really worried about being a woman,” she said. “I just did what I wanted to do. If somebody gave me a bad time, I just turned around, walked away, and didn’t care. I wasn’t going to be slowed down.”
Today’s top stories
People cross the street at South Indiana Avenue as smoke rises from a fire at a cold storage facility in Boyle Heights on June 17.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Astronomical soot pollution after Boyle Heights blaze
- Air monitors near the Boyle Heights warehouse inferno recorded off‑the‑charts smoke and fine particles, rivaling 2025 wildfire pollution and sending nearby residents to emergency rooms.
- Despite multiple agencies testing the plume, gaps in monitoring for some toxic gases leave people uncertain about what they inhaled.
The battle between a yoga teacher and the city of San Diego
- A San Diego yoga instructor has filed a third lawsuit against the city for citing him for teaching public classes.
- At issue is a city ordinance that prohibits most yoga instruction in parks and beaches.
Trump’s campaign to reshape how states run elections
- Trump has spent months waging an unusually aggressive campaign to reshape how states run elections.
- His administration has hit numerous snags in court, with judges reaffirming that the Constitution gives states — not the federal government — authority over elections.
What else is going on
Commentary and opinions
This morning’s must-read
Other must-reads
For your downtime
The Goodie Shop at Stile in DTLA. The design-forward historic hotel recently reopened in June and took over the former Ace Hotel building.
(Scott Strazzante / For The Times)
Going out
Staying in
A question for you: What are the most unique town names in California?
Jean B. writes: For 80+ years I thought that Coalinga, the name of the town where my parents lived when I was born, was a Native American word and wondered what it means in, maybe, Chumash. What it means, I finally found out, is that it was Coaling Station A on the local railroad.
James R. writes: Washington, California; Buttonwillow, California; Nancy, California.
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
And finally … your photo of the day
Local artist known as Ladie One uses spray paint to work on her large mural titled The Transfer of Energy overlooking a parking lot on the side of the Premier Towers building off Spring Street in Los Angeles.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Gina Ferazzi outside a mural in downtown Los Angeles.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Hailey Branson-Potts, staff writer
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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