Newest Threads

SteveM · 09-30-2005, 09:37 PM

I was in Newport once and I saw an upstairs brew pub - the draft house brew was on special - maybe $2.50 a pint, and it was Monday during football season - jackpot! Monday Night Football and draft house brew!

What a mistake - one of the worst beers I ever had. The lesson I took was, stick with wine in Cali.

Rookie · 10-09-2005, 06:27 PM

It doesn't matter if the beer sucks in L.A. as there isn't enough good beer in the world to make me go back there.
If you are moving to Beervania (Portland) and are looking to buy a house look across the river in Vancouver, Washington. I bought one two years ago when I gave up looking for one I could afford in Oregon.
Just don't wait too long as prices over here are climbingggg.

david_42 · 10-09-2005, 08:33 PM

Beverages and More, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods

http://www.celebrator.com lists about 40 brewpubs in your area. Bonaventure and Luna in LA itself.

Brewsmith · 10-10-2005, 06:05 AM

BevMo does have a pretty good selection, and luckily they did open one up near me, but again, you would think it would be easy to get more of the great microbrews from your neck of the woods down here. Many of them don't even distribute anywhere close. And on housing prices, I know they're going up, but it's sure a heck of a lot cheaper than LA.

Windaria · 10-17-2005, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mmditter

You need to make a beer run to Milwaukee. You will not be disappointed.

I imagine wine is the big thing in CA.

Always strikes me that California is known for being the big wine state in the US... the Columbia Valley has been rated as having some of the best wine in the world, one of the top 3 or 5, though I can't remember which. All I know what that I loved it when I lived up in Washington because you could always find something good. In Texas... well, it is another matter entirely.

Oh, and the microbrews were everywhere there too. Oh how I miss WA.

david_42 · 10-17-2005, 09:50 PM

There are a suprising number of good microbreweries and brew pubs in the SF Bay area. I think the big problem in L.A. is zoning and building restrictions. I've seen many stories of brewers that end up outside L.A. because the process of trying to get anything done there was driving them crazy.

At least you don't have the three-tier distribution system that Oregon has. It jacks the prices up quite a bit. An example: T.J.'s "two buck Chuck" wine is three bucks here. By the same token, it becomes very attractive financially for a brewery to be a brewpub.

**DesertBrew** · 10-18-2005, 03:22 AM

Are there still Albertson's grocery's out in LA? I seem to get a decent enough selection of better brews in southern AZ at Albertson's. Not the real obscure stuff but a fair selection of microbrews/imports. I'd say maybe 30 different brewers.

For real selection you always got to "find" that place. But I know what you mean, need convenience in your proximity without making a road trip out of it.

**Walker** · 10-18-2005, 03:31 AM

yeah... you can get Fat Tire at Albertsons in CA.

MAN, I wish I had a Fat Tire right now. Only 6 more weeks or so and I can drink my clone.

-walker

Brewsmith · 10-23-2005, 11:41 PM

I found "the place" The Beverages and More that they opened up in town has everything, including beers that don't get distributed here. I may have to reconcider my dislike for Los Angeles, but only a little. My new favorite place to buy beer. I'm still going to have to make a road trip back east to pick up all the great micros out there...(finding my map)...

Sethticlees · 10-25-2005, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewsmith

I know that most people on this site are from outside CA, but you would think that Los Angeles being the major center (or centre depending on which continent you're on) that it is would have some of the best beer, or at least one of the best selections of beer around. You have to search hard to even find a brew pub. And the selection at the super market isn't that great either. The only thing you can get from Sierra Nevada is the pale ale. From further north you can find Red Hook ESB (got some in the fridge right now) but that's it. This summer I visited relatives and friends in Salem and Portland, OR and Seattle, WA. I drove back with the entire back seat of my car filled with beer you can't find anyhwere down here. Best beer run ever. Screw it. I'm moving to Washington.

I find it funny that you say this... being as when I last visited California I distinctly remember how pathetic the beer selection had been. Living in Seattle kinda makes me a beer snob by happenstance, but I was truly disappointed when out at the bar you find Samuel Adams is only decent beer available (and by decent I mean least terrible on a long list of terrible domestic and imported beers). Needless to say when it comes to late night taco joints L.A. has got us beat, but when you're talking beer there is no place on earth like Seattle.
We’re so lucky to be surrounded by 100's of excellent breweries. In fact I got 2 awesome micro-breweries within walking distance of my house.

Hale's Ales and Maritime Pacific.

Mongoose IPA clone is all I need.