If you ask Phil, owner of Lander’s Brew Company (in Landers, CA), what kind of garbage ingredients are in certain beers, he will tell you in his heavy British accent that “there’s an E-40 colorant that will fuck you up.” At LBC, you can get a variety of beers on tap, and you even get a Natty Ice and a bag of Cheetos when in stock.

Coming upon LBC, on a path of dirt off of several dirt roads in the middle of Landers, you might feel like you’ve mistakenly stumbled upon a beautiful accident in the middle of nowhere, and you’d be right. Phil knows just what he’s up to out there. When I joked to him about his habit of raking dirt around the building, he said that the patterned rake lines tell him a lot about what happens around his bar—-trespassers (human or animal), vehicle traffic, weather. “It tells you a lot,” he says stoically.

The building had hosted a variety of bars and restaurants since its construction as a roadhouse in 1948. Before LBC, it hosted The Castle, a biker bar. Before The Castle, there was O’Malley’s, The Oasis, and the original Golden Slipper. Phil recalls the days when the bar was the place where rough men from around the area came to get in bar fights.

These days, the bar boasts a beer garden, live music on an outdoor stage, and a karaoke night. It advertises itself as the “local watering hole with the best beer selection on tap in the desert — off-roaders, musicians, artists, misfits and characters welcome.” Patrons sign their name and the names of the people they meet at the bar on the back of dollar bills, which are stapled to the overhang above the bar.

1388 Golden Slipper Ln, Landers, CA 92285