Golden Road Brewing to have quieter counterpart in back: Chloe’s

Los Angeles’ Golden Road Brewing now has a pub behind its pub.

Work continues on what is being dubbed Chloe’s, a darker, woodier, more elegant spot to be dedicated to special events and more upscale dinners. Do not, say Golden Road’s owners, call it a speak-easy.

“It’s not meant to be snooty-tooty,” says Golden Road co-founder Tony Yanow, also the proprietor behind Echo Park’s Mohawk Bend and Burbank’s Tony’s Darts Away.

Yet unlike the more boisterous pub next door, which now features an Astroturf lawn and an old English pub game named Aunt Sally, Chloe’s has a more reserved, club-like feel. In fact, when the space is officially up-and-running toward the end of this year, Yanow expects Chloe’s, decorated in vintage beer signs from long-defunct L.A. beer makers such as Maier Brewery, to host weekly gatherings open only to those in the beer industry.

Think of it as kind of an invite-only Golden Road-run beer guild.

“We haven’t defined what that means yet,” Yanow says.” It’s for people who spend a considerable amount of their professional time aiding and abetting the beer community in Los Angeles. There’s no membership fee or anything.”

Golden Road hasn’t gone exclusive, either, as Chloe’s will also be open to the public. Based on demand, Yanow expects to accept a limited number of reservations in the 200-person space for a couple nights a week starting in early 2013, and Chloe’s patrons will find a higher-end menu than its neighboring pub. The requisite private events — corporate outings, birthday parties, beer-geek weddings — will also be hosted in the spot.

Chloe’s was originally envisioned as a meeting space but gradually evolved. Golden Road’s barrel-aged beer program will rest in Chloe’s, and Yanow and co-owner Meg Gill say plans for the spot are still evolving. One hope is that other local breweries will use the space to host beer dinners or more limited taste-testings.

There will never, says Gill, be any sort of velvet rope near Chloe’s. “The last thing we want to do is to create any sort of exclusivity around craft beer,” she says. “This is a space to celebrate the learning and growth of the L.A. craft beer market.”

Set in Stone: The Stone Co. Store in Pasadena has officially opened next to the Del Mar stop of the Metro Gold Line. The fourth retail outfit for San Diego County’s Stone Brewing Co., the Pasadena outpost boasts 20 taps of Stone-only beers as well the ability to fill glass jugs — called growlers — with fresh beer to go. The 1,700-square-foot store has a dog-friendly patio and customers can buy 4-, 8- or 16-ounce pours on site.

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