Apparently L.A. Only has Two Good Breweries

Print media seems to be relying on shock value to generate interest moreso than substantive (much less objective) reporting more than other forms lately.

Being a native, but now displaced San Diegan, I can tell you, there's a lot of angst towards L.A. still to this day. Took the basketball team, probably gonna take the football team. Adrian Gonzalez.

But hey, we got Steve Garvey.

 

is he wrong?

LA has been way behind on the SoCal beer scene. It is nice that Golden Road is helping LA out and hopefully a few new breweries will help their beer scene grow too (such as Ohana).

edit: I am genuinely asking. What other great LA breweries are there (not OC breweries)?

 

I think to those outside of SoCal, the OC is LA. Most people think of the area between Paso Robles and San Clemente as pretty much "LA". When I went down to the FW beer fest, everyone was like 'ah, another LA trip huh?'

Just like all my buddies when visiting Las Vegas, think I should just hop on down. Nevada is Las Vegas. Nevermind its over 400 miles away from where I live in Nevada. Dude, I'm in Vegas, its Nevada, like I'm next door.

 

The Bruery and Magic Mountain are the only reason I get near L.A.

 

+1 Beachwood, Strand & Eagle Rock. . . haven't had anything from the others.

I can't remember if Ventura is in LA County. . . if so, I liked Surf's South Swell Double IPA. . . funky Nelson hops baby!

 

Being the fastest growing brewery in California doesn't necessarily make you the best.

 

True, which is why people say Disneyland is in LA, when it is in OC. But this is a local article about the local scene, so I figured he meant specifically LA not including OC.

I have not tried Monkish or Strand. I have only tried El Segundo's Citra Pale, which I thought was good. Beachwood is good, ER is okay, I haven't had anything that wowed me.

Also, I took his article as a "Hey, look LA is starting to make good beer like the rest of the SoCal counties/areas" Which I think is accurate. Most of the places you guys named are very young and small operations, not even bottling. I am sure in 3-5 years LA will have a great brewery scene, but right now they are an infant stage and I think the author is right that Golden Road is a new standout amongst not that many options.

 

I'm a huge fan of Ladyface. They always seem to fly under the radar.

 

They make pretty good beer! I like their experimentation and the food is good. I've just had to bite bullet when I go there because their service sucks! I never like to complain on the Internet but I work in guest service and it's sad how the times I've been there and had friends go there we have all had bad experiences.

Back on subject the LA beer scene is getting awesome I can't wait for smog city to get a brew house of their own setup! Or have they? Are they still brewing at Tustin?

 

What about alesmith?

 

Agreed. I think Eagle Rock is putting out some pretty solid stuff, as well as Beachwood, Strand and El Segundo. Angel City just started putting out stuff (haven't had it yet) as well, plus Haven Brewing in Pasadena is making some solid beer as well.

Never really been impressed by Golden Road, although tried their Berliner last night with some Raspberry syrup and it was surprisingly tasty. The guy who runs Craftsman is pretty unpleasant to say the least, so I kind of refuse to buy anything they make.

 

Not sure if you're trying to be sarcastic, but Alesmith is about 120 miles from LA proper.

 

I'll admit that I lump everything north of SD as "LA."
Is Craftsman LA?
Hangar 24?
Ladyface?

I'd say those three are my favorite (though I think Beachwood's beers beat them all) but I genuinely don't know.

 

Ventura is in Ventura county!

 

Craftsman - yes (Pasadena is in LA County)
Hangar 24 - no (Redlands is in San Bernardino County)
Ladyface - yes (Agoura Hills is in LA County but not by much)

 

Yes, LA has only a small number of breweries but it's better than nothing. I would say every brewery that we have is better than average overall. Compared to SD however, yes it's obviously lacking.

 

I think we should include North San Diego County as part of LA.

 

Yeah... I'm dumb... What's the big one in Anaheim, or just northeast of it.