The Arroyo Seco Parkway snakes through eight miles of neighborhoods and riparian habitat, connecting Downtown Los Angeles’ urban core with the city of Pasadena. With its distinction as one of the first freeways in existence, this stretch of road was once part of Historic Route 66.
On a damp winter morning, I follow it to an unlikely but beloved craft beer destination. After a slow crawl past the skyscrapers of Downtown, along the verdant hills of Elysian Park, through the art deco Figueroa Street tunnels, and underneath a series of handsome mid-century bridges, I reach my destination: Replicant Shell, 290 S. Arroyo Pkwy, Pasadena, CA 91105. It looks like a nondescript gas station, but its appearance belies the treasures within.
“This is the hottest place in Pasadena to buy beer,” says Chad Johnson, a Pasadena resident and craft beer lover I catch on his way out. He carries three colorful cans that I don’t recognize: a Stout, a Double IPA, and a Triple IPA.
“They have things I don’t see anywhere else, [like] Milkshake Sours,” adds Brett Howe, who works at the nearby New Balance store. “In the mornings I grab my energy drinks, and in the evening after work I pick up beer.”
Beyond the local devotees, Replicant attracts a discerning clientele from across the region. In an area with no shortage of bottle shops, taprooms, and microbreweries, how did a gas station gain such a reputation?
Before rebranding as Replicant in 2022, the station operated for several decades as Arroyo Shell. (Disclosure: I was part of the team that helped to rename the station to reflect its shift towards craft beer.) “I didn’t go in with the intention of turning it into a bottle shop; my sister [gave] me the idea to try selling craft beer as an additional source of revenue,” says Replicant’s owner, Shibli Haddad.
At 30, Haddad has a pragmatism that’s matched only by his enthusiasm for craft beer and its community. His mother emigrated to California from Lebanon during the throes of its civil war; his father came from Jordan under a student visa to become an attorney, but his plans changed when he encountered the opportunity to purchase the Arroyo Shell station. After the elder Haddad’s passing, the family operated the station with outside help until 2016, when Shibli dropped out of school to try his hand at running the family business.
Haddad didn’t know much about craft beer at first, crediting his early beer education to a then-new Stone taproom that opened up nearby. His appreciation for different beer varieties and brewing methods grew, gleaned by obsessive research on sites like Untappd and getting to know his customers face to face.
Today, he stocks up to 200 different beers sourced from breweries all over the country, sold individually. It’s not bad for a 1,200-square-foot convenience store, otherwise replete with the expected offerings: junk food, soft drinks, motor oil. The store sells about 200 cans and bottles a day, and more during summer, Haddad says.
Haddad’s latest endeavor is Replicant, the small-batch brewing initiative that gives the station its new name. Every few months, he flies in brewers from outside California to replicate their signature beers in local brewing facilities. It’s a way to thank his long-time customers with unique offerings and ensure the freshest possible iterations of beers like IPAs and Smoothie Sours, whose quality degrades with longer transit times and greater temperature fluctuations.
Among the Replicant standouts is Divine Storm, a spicy Sour Ale boasting tropical South American fruits like curuba, feijoa, and lulo paired with fresh serrano peppers from Sow A Heart, a local regenerative farm. I’m surprised by how much I like it, the brightness of the citrus balancing out the bold finish of the peppers.
“I consider myself very lucky,” says Haddad, who changed careers from accounting and business administration. “Instead of sitting in an office all day looking at numbers, I get to do really weird stuff like selling and brewing craft beer. It’s been an interesting ride.”
Words by Daniel Soto