"Blake S" > wrote in message
k.net...

> Coming from the Northwest, I'm surprised how far one has to travel in the
> Southland for good beer.

One has to travel far for everything here.

Of course, you're comparing one of the most beer-saturated regions of the
country to one that's, well, not.

> I did have one of the Belmonts on tap at another pub, and it was tasty
> (something red, but can't remember the name exactly). I was hoping that
> the Belmont was more of a hopheads hangout (as opposed to Rock Bottom,
> Gordon Bierch, Taps etc.).

BBC brews very nicely balanced beers. It's not the place to go for an
overload of hops by any stretch. Locally, to be honest, I'm not sure which
brewpubs I would put in that camp, actually.

> Surprisingly, I've found the BJ's (at least the one in West Covina), to
> brew better better beer than the ones up here in Oregon (IMO). It's also
> strange to me that BJ's is always packed in West Covina/Arcadia, but up
> here they're better known as an also-ran brewpub that's not on the radar
> of most beer enthusiasts. The food at BJ's is pretty good though
> (especially the buffalo chicken pizza).

Eh. BJ's has never impressed me. They're not bad, and they do have a couple
rather nice beers. The food's OK, as long as one steers well clear of the
pizza (and that's without getting into my customary rant about how there's
nothing remotely Chicago-style about the stuff).

-Steve