Los Angeles

The New Frontier of Beer

L.A.’s nightlife is notorious for being more about the scene than the drinks. But of late, this city of saketinis and sprawl has lit up with joints pushing craft beer, and every one of them feels like it couldn’t exist anywhere but Los Angeles.

Right now, the city’s best bars for suds tend to be run by one of two beer gurus. Ryan Sweeney owns the windowless faux-speakeasy Verdugo (Glassell Park), the chill-by-day, party-by-night Surly Goat (West Hollywood), and Little Bear (Downtown), where you’ll want to wash down the Stilton cheeseburger with a Unionist Belgian pale ale by Eagle Rock Brewery.

Then there’s Tony Yanow, co-founder of Golden Road Brewing (one of two city breweries, along with Eagle Rock). He also owns Echo Park’s Mohawk Bend bistro—California-fresh food and seventy-two taps—and Tony’s Darts Away in Burbank, which strongly resembles a Big Lebowski set. Instead of a White Russian, you want Russian River Brewing Co.’s Redemption, a rare blonde ale brewed in Santa Rosa.

Late at night, though, the pick is a giant pretzel and an even more giant glass of something German at the Standard hotel’s rooftop Biergarten. There you’ll have two classic L.A. views to choose from: the glittery, beautiful skyline and the glittery, beautiful women.—Christian Debenedetti

**Next: Welcome to Brewtown, U.S.A. **

Above: Grab a pint or four at Great Divide Brewing Co.

Denver

Welcome to Brewtown, U.S.A.

Throngs of thirsty outdoorsmen, beer-friendly laws, and some of the country’s purest water have made the Mile-High City America’s craft-beer capital. Drinkers descend by the thousands in October for the Great American Beer Festival (the country’s largest), but the season lasts all year here, at beer-focused restaurants like Freshcraft and bars like Ale House at Amato’s, which has forty ever-changing taps.

Colorado law lets brewers sell their beer on-site, keeping prices down and the start-up vibe alive in the state where craft brewing began. It also means you can drink right from the source.

There’s enough beer brewed within city limits to make drinking a neighborhood affair, and up-and-coming hoods like Platte Street and the Art District on Santa Fe are anchored by suds factories. Duck under the bay doors of a former auto garage to try Denver Beer Co.’s Graham Cracker Porter, which tastes like a campfire in a glass, or into a ninety-four-year-old soda-bottling plant for Renegade’s coffee-infused strong ale.