Las Vegas / Joshua Tree Trip

Pappy and Harriett’s. They generally have bad beer there tho.

 

Its a fun bar with really good breakfast tacos and good mixed drinks. That's it. But, there really isn't much else out there. Pappy's is overrun with people from LA at this point, so you almost always need a reservation at night, and has the basics for beer as well. Landers Brew used to be awesome, but has closed up. They actually had the best stuff out there for a long time.

Distro is VERY expensive to get beer out there. Breweries that self distro have a hard time actually covering the costs of getting beer out there, unless they do it in one big run, and distributors just don't have the labor to take care of that area. Hangar 24 used to be huge out there, because the brewery was relatively close and they were able to spend the money out of Redlands to get beer there. But the amount of outlets to sell to out there 5 years ago was nothing (Bowling alley / dive bars / JT Saloon / etc). I used to work for Reyes, and our San Bernardino location pretty much gave up a few years ago in sending beer out there. Only recently have they stepped it up, since there is more growth out there. Its a bummer, since Palm Springs has decent distro going to it, and if you just drive an hour from there you could service all these accounts.

I don't really see the appeal of Pioneertown, but to each their own. If you haven't been, and want to kill a few hours, its fun to walk around and have a drink.

Beer in general out there is a wasteland. If you are going out to that area for beer, just go somewhere else. If you are going out there to see the area, I think doing Pioneertown along with Joshua Tree and Landers is all worth seeing.

 

Yep. Exactly. If you are going to the high desert with some plan to drink exotically. Replan it. It's High Life and shots country.

Even La Copine the esteemed restaurant in the area has a shitty beer list.

 

You honestly probably won't find anything out there outside of Coachella Valley Brewing that is unique, tbh. Palm Springs and Palm Desert will have some stuff, but most of that area is more cocktail and wine focused given the clients.

Even the places that have "unique" beer in that area aren't really focusing on niche California stuff.

CVB and La Quinta kinda suck. La Quinta's best beer is probably their porter or their blonde. CVB does a decent Mexican lager and Kolsch.

 

No. I would pick up your supplies in Vegas/Henderson (Khourys Wine and/or Beer Zombie. BZ has some good cans to go but they also have too much slushies if your into that kind of crap. I'm to old for slushies. If you dont need to stop in Palm Springs/Desert then dont. I'd spend my time in Joshua Tree before heading to Sin City.

 

Freshest beer from my experience in the Desert is at Whole Foods tbh.

But they rarely have anything special.

If you are cutting through 29 Palms from Vegas @IceAge's suggestion of GRNDSQRL is probably your best bet. They had North Park Brew last time I was there which is probably the best WC IPA you can get regularly in San Diego right now.

 

For sure visit GRND SQRL in 29 Palms. They have a good selection (better than Red Dog) for out there near Joshua tree and the food is better than average pub fare. They even have cans of North Park, Burgeon, HPB to go sometimes.

Bottle shop has some Grimm stuff, but nothing really worth going out of your way for in terms of beer.

 

dcgunman and pixiesfanyo got it right. I went into the Total Wine in Palm Desert hoping to find something of interest and came away empty handed. Not much there that you can't find at their other locations. Sure there's a few locally made brews available but honestly none that I've tried have been worth going back for more.

One suggestion I'll make as far as both Las Vegas and the Palm Desert/Palm Springs area is you might want to pay a visit to a Trader Joe's marker or two. There are a few of them in the Las Vegas area and a couple in the Palm Desert/Palm Springs area. The selection can vary by location, and sometimes you'll find a locally made beer. The nice thing as that any of the beers are available to purchase as singles (and not marked in price up either), so it's a good way to give some of them a try for cheap without having to invest in a 4/6 pack. You'll certainly find some beers that you can't find in your neck of the woods. I actually stopped by one of their stores this afternoon in Rancho Cucamonga and picked up some singles from Smog City and El Segundo. Let us know how your trip goes!

 

Stock up as much as you can in Vegas would be my suggestion. Hit Whole Foods, Beer Zombies , Tenaya Creek for to gos for your Joshua Tree Trip cuz last thing you want is to not find anything out there( which happened to me) .

The Trader Joes suggestion is worth a shot, sometimes they have good stuff .



Joshua Tree is like being in Fallout 4

 

Thanks for the update, I was not aware. Now where will I get the spiked milkshake with my eggs and people watch?

I would say that the Total Wine in Vegas has different beers than what I saw in Total Wine in SoCal and up here in NorCal. It all depends on the local distributor and the beer buyer for the store; as well as what the locals are purchasing.

 

I wouldn't do it unless you had other reasons to be nearby. It's been said upthread that La Quinta Brewing is nothing to write home about. This is true, but they also have guest taps and cans at their taprooms that are worth looking up to see what they're currently pouring. They keep the taplist updated regularly, the cans not so much.

 

I went a while back, and enjoyed Las Palmas Brewing for their beers, cooler selection, and natural wine list. Would recommend that if you're planning on going into Palm Springs. Joshua Tree is a beautiful park, enjoy!

 

Was up in the area a few weeks ago and there is a relatively newer spot called Tiny Pony (gay bar if you care) that had great food and a decent liquor and beer selection.

 

Thanks for the report! I'm always bummed when people ask for suggestions and then don't tell us how it went! I've only driven through 29 Palms a couple times at non beer drinking hours. The high desert is a strange place!

 

You should check out the "low" desert.

 

The high desert is more normal to me than most places I've been.