I used to dislike LA. I mean, I don't love it now, and I'd never live there, but I've definitely warmed to it quite a bit. And because my life revolves around beer, it's largely because the Southland beer scene is finally starting to earn some respect, and even though Orange County is where it's really exploding, LA itself is starting to pull their weight, too. A good example? Golden Road Brewing.

One of the cofounders, Meg Gill, used to work up here at Speakeasy, and headed down to co-found it with Tony Yanow last year. Yep, last year. It's a goddamn zygote of a brewery. And yet, you can find their kegs and cans all over California already (I saw both at Beer Revolution the other night). Which is- and you know this if you've ever watched someone try to start a brewery- fucking astounding.

It's up in… Glendale, I guess? I don't know anything about LA geography except that everything is at least 40 minutes away. I'd feel worse about that ignorance, but no one down there knows where anything is, either. Anyhoo, once you find it (look for the large primary-colored buildings), you'll be able to fill a growler, have lunch, and of course have a pint or nine (but don't because it's LA and you have to drive everygoddamnwhere). There's also a barrel room, where you'll find more experimental brews than what you'll find on store shelves or on tap.

And as I said, if you're not in LA, they're not terribly hard to find in the Bay Area, either. I've run across them on random trips to Beer Revolution, Toronado, and Zeitgeist, and host events every so often, as well.

They're also, quite smartly IMO, positioning themselves as "LA's brewery," with palm trees and references to the area all over the cans and their writings. Why no one else thought to do that, I don't know, but I think it's going to be nothing but beneficial to both Golden Road and LA beer in general as it begins to get noticed outside LA (and inside LA, for that matter).

And, just to tie it in with San Francisco baseball, here is someone in a goofy bear hat at their grand opening.

Man. I'm really gonna start running out of breweries to write about in NL West cities. Maybe I'll do Bay Area breweries for NL West home games.