jgarbee

The Lares Altar

​In L.A., where high-paid architects and interior designers seem as essential to a new restaurant's success as the choice of chef, walking into a well-worn local haunt like Lares in Santa Monica has that "welcome home" appeal you can't buy. It's the sort of place where the paint and woodwork take on the cracks and chips of age gracefully, developing a character that never needs a new coat of paint. It's also the sort of place people hit when they have pork carnitas and carne adobada cravings, not when they're looking to simply grab a drink.

In part, that's because the margaritas are proudly made with a mix -- ask for a fresh lime juice version and they'll make it for you -- and the beer list is old-school ("imported" here means Modelo). But mainly as the tiny six-stool bar area just inches from the front door is exceptionally dark by day, and come supper hour, an uncomfortably cozy way to get to know the dozen people lined up behind you for a table. You sidle up to this bar for one reason only: To have a beer at the altar.

More >>

jgarbee

A Smog City tap at the Yard

​Smog City. If it sounds like the perfect name for the next L.A.-area brewery, that's because it already is. With new local breweries making headlines months before they even open these days, we were caught off-guard when Smog City Brewery co-owner Laurie Porter contacted us after reading our homebrew club roundup to tell us about the brewery's first "tap takeover" tasting at the Yard in Santa Monica next week (we met her husband, Smog City brewer Jonathan Porter, at a Pacific Gravity homebrew club party). A homebrew club is taking over the taps at the Yard? We wondering how that would be possible with the city's tight food regulations.

This is an actual brewery that officially began stocking a handful of local craft beer bars like the Yard since September. If you've heard of them, you clearly get out for a drink more often than we do (lucky you), as the website is still in progress (in the meantime, they are on Facebook and Twitter), there has been absolutely no marketing campaign (not even a "Hey, we just opened!" email), and the beer is only on tap at a handful of L.A.-area bars where the couple know the owners from their years in the beer industry. How refreshingly old-fashioned and homebrew-worthy. Get our interview with the couple after the jump.

More >>

Elina Shatkin

Beer Sampler At Beer Belly

​With craft beer L.A.'s current unyielding obsession, it seems crazier than a 55% ABV beer that four short years ago that we were celebrating, along with dozens of tube sock-clad homebrew club sorts, the first local bars to land coveted cask-conditioned ales on tap. My how that fedora-topped draft beer crowd has changed L.A.'s IPA game. Since then, the surge in local craft beer bars, gastropubs, breweries and brewpubs has been so swift and topographically democratic, you'd have to be a Metropolitan Transit Authority employee with a great bus token credit report to hit them all.

So many that that today, separate top ten lists for local craft beer bars/gastropubs and another for breweries/brewpubs in L.A. would make the most logical sense. You could even divide both those categories in pre and post cask-conditioned ale era -- our beloved dark, dank, Frito-filled pubs with a handful of loyal weathered taps on one side, the pretty picture chalkboard menu types with bubbly IPA atmospheres and enough short rib slider variations to keep you going all night on the other. But as we like to make our draft beer decisions exceedingly difficult, we've combined every single one of those bar, brewery, gastropub and brewpub categories into one for the 10 Best Beer Bars In L.A.

And yeah, please do add your neighborhood favorites (Simmzy's, Lucky Baldwins, Angel City Brewing, City Tavern, Blue Palms, 38 Degrees, Library Alehouse, Ye Olde King's Head... we could go on) that didn't make it on this list in the comments below. We only wish we could have, too.

More >>

jgarbee

An Eagle Rock Brewery Growler On A Homebrew-Filled Cooler

​If there is a penultimate homebrew club myth, it is that you must know how to homebrew in order to join one. That's sort of like saying you can only join a cooking club if you know how to cook (and yes, it's perfectly acceptable -- encouraged -- to bring professional brews to a homebrew club like the Eagle Rock growler above). Part of the point, at least of many homebrew clubs, is for experienced brewers to teach the new hopheads like us how to fill our carboys. And there are so many different types of homebrew clubs out there, from the big boys in town like Pacific Gravity and the Maltose Falcons to the small clubs like the Yeastside Homebrewers, you've got plenty of choices. Each has a very different vibe, so it's wise to sample around town.

If you're still grumbling and saying you have no room for all that homebrew equipment, well, that's what friends with garages are for, right? There's also another little secret that homebrew clubs don't want you to know (or maybe they do): You don't have to even want to learn to homebrew to join, you simply need to appreciate (drinking) homebrewed beer. Here are our Top Five Reasons to Join a Homebrew Club.

More >>

A. Scattergood

T. Boyle's Tavern

​Now that musicians and nerds are the cool kids and jocks are the villains, liking sports has become distinctly uncool. So where are reasonable people of average coolness supposed to go to share their now-lame passion for twentysomething physical freaks throwing or kicking roundish objects for millions of dollars (or, in some cases, for an "education")? Never fear. For though it may not be cool anymore to talk about sports at parties, concerts, work or school, there is always your friendly neighborhood sports bar.

Traditionally a humble place, with simple (read: fried) food, good beer at decent prices, plenty of TVs and a lively atmosphere, a good sports bar is an oasis of casual fandom, free of pretensions and full of camaraderie and congenial competition. We have scoured this city, watching game after game, making new friends and rivals, pounding nachos and sampling brews to bring you the following list: the 10 Best Sports Bars in L.A.

More >>

Anne Fishbein

the invisible restaurant critic

​Dear Mr. Gold:
What's with all these beer pubs? It's very 1991 Denver.
--Eric Beteille, via Facebook

More >>

Erika Bolden

Happy Hour at City Tavern

​Last week's State of the Union promoted a generally positive economic outlook. If your pocketbook is more cynical about times ahead, you may find yourself defeated by the meager options at your disposal for living well in an expensive city. If you define "living well" as indulging your craft beer habit, rest easy. That's where happy hour comes in.

Happy hour is a golden moment in a beer lover's life. Peak occupancy is hours away, bartenders are available for information and conversation, and if you're in the right place, the beer you adore is cheaper than at any other time. Not every beer bar offers happy hour, but there are a few places where you can get in before crowds and costs escalate and enjoy a moment of beer bliss. Turn the page.

More >>

Flickr/quite peculiar

​If you need another excuse to drink a good beer this weekend (and who doesn't), Eagle Rock Brewery is celebrating its 2nd anniversary on Saturday. But not at the brewery.

According brewery representative (and darn good resident artist) Andrew Bakofsky, the last-minute location change came about when their permit was unexpectedly denied at the end of last week. State regulators reportedly informed Eagle Rock that their past outdoor events, which flowed into their enclosed parking lot, were technically code violations even though the city has given them permits for similar events in the past (Will we be seeing more outdoor event crackdowns in l.A.'s beer future?).

And so you'll find Eagle Rock fans drinking to Solidarity (or a Revolution, depending on how the afternoon unfolds) at Verdugo Bar , also in Glassell Park, from noon to 4 p.m.

More >>

Flickr/Theodore Richard

​Finally, a way to mitigate the Starbucks caffeine high, or at least a chance to start fiddling with DIY energy drinks. The giant Seattle-based coffee company began selling wine and beer, as well as "more upscale food" (savory snacks! hot flatbread!) at a Seattle cafe in October, and now five stores in Seattle and one in Portland offer the drinks and larger menu items.

More importantly, of course, Reuters reports that we can expect up to a half-dozen booze-carrying Starbucks in Southern California by the end of this year. If you don't live on the West Coast, Starbucks has plans to open a handful of stores in both Chicago and Atlanta as well. So if you're a screenwriter who spends your days at your local coffeeshop, now you don't have to leave to go to the bar next door after, oh, seven hours of writing bad dialog. Just buy a CD of Tony Bennett duets and a beer and keep working. Lucky you.

Hi-Class PBR

​Maybe we've watched Blue Velvet too many times, but to us there's something uniquely American about Pabst Blue Ribbon. Sure, it's been widely acknowledged from Williamsburg to Echo Park as the beer du jour of the hipster masses, but really, who doesn't appreciate a blue-collar beer once in a while, especially when it's from one of Milwaukee's oldest breweries. As long as you set your expectations reasonably low, PBR always delivers.

That's why we were so shocked to hear that Pabst is set to release a new specialty beer in China called "Pabst Blue Ribbon 1844," a title that nods to the brewery's founding date. Not to be confused the standard $2 pint, PBR 1844 comes in an elegant 750ml bottle accented with gold lettering and a label that suggests serving the beer in champagne flutes. It is expected to retail for around $44 per bottle.

More >>