Beer scene in Santa Cruz?

So I got into UC Santa Cruz for my phd, and I'm thinking about moving out there from NYC. Obviously the California beer scene is one of the best in the world, but it seems to me that Santa Cruz might be missing out on some of this? I hope I'm wrong! I'm coming out visit in a month before I commit, and I've love to hear how it is out there. No Bevmo, which is as I understand it the place to go in CA. How's the homebrew scene? Any places I should be looking for in terms of living areas too?

Thanks SC guys!

most liquor stores and gas stations have a great selection of micro brews, but what ever you do dont move in the area in front of the board walk.

tekhna,
There is one brewpubs in santa cruz called Seabright brewery, and there is Boulder Creek brewing up in the hills north of ucsc. There are 3 micro breweries, Santa Cruz Ale Works, Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing and Uncommon Ales. You can do a googel search for more on each of these. The local homebrew club is Home and there is a homebrew shop called Seven Bridges Seven Bridges Cooperative Organic Home Brewing and Home Coffee Roasting
I will be conducting classes on homebrewing at Cabrillo College in May.
When you get out here, give me a call if you need to be shown around.
mark
Beer Diary...

I've lived here for 28 years. We have 5 local breweries, 1 which is not brewing because of a floor malfunction. All the breweries are hit and miss as quality goes. Local hangout is 99 bottles but their food is horrible. Service is not the best either. UCSC is full of T n A! Seven Bridges is our LHBS and can be expensive if you don't buy bulk. Good luck and look me up when you get in town.

Bev Mo now on 41st Ave.!!

We are worthy here and do indeed have a BevMo.

Gabe have you ever been to the Red Lounge? I had a wonderful wet hopped ale there some weeks ago.
Red Lounge

Hey guys, thanks for all the tips and welcomes! On none-beer related notes, how is the housing market? I'm used to NYC prices, but looking at craigslist, apartments are expensive... Also, am I going to need a car? I really don't want one, but if my girlfriend works in San Francisco or something, I guess we're going to need one. Do you need one for around town? I'm a pretty hardcore cyclist, so I am hoping to get by that way.

The Red, as it's called, is decent for certain beers, but I've ordered an IPA and recieveda Hefe, and the server wanted to fight me on wether or not it was an IPA.......I shook my head returned the beer to the bar and walked out. If you don't know your product, you should'nt be selling it. period!

You can definitely get by with a bike if you live in town. My brother in law lives in town and goes to Cabrillo. He cycles all over. A car would be needed to go to SF. 1 hour drive. Rent is expensive here as is everything else. A local seach of Craigs List will net you a small car for a decent price.Or for that matter a 2 wheel motivation.Look for a spot on the west side of town or mid town to live , nice and close to everything. Seabright Ave.-and west.

santa cruz is definitely bikeable, i didn't own a car when i was there. ucsc is up a pretty big hill from town, but real cyclists see that as an opportunity rather than an obstacle also if for some reason you need it, santa cruz has a really good bus system that's free to students, and you can put your bike on the front of the bus.

plus you get to go downhill on the way home, i used to be able to ride from the door of the physics building to my front door without pedaling once!

the fire trails above the UC campus are amazing if you've got a mountain or cross bike, and there are two bike co ops in town. the bike church is on pacific ave. in town and ucsc has a co-op on campus.

what will you be studying? i'm a former banana slug, and it was probably the best four years of my life (to date, of course).

for places to live, i agree that the beach flats near the boardwalk aren't great. places east of town like capitola, soquel, etc. are still close enough to be within very reasonable riding distance (esp. compared to new york) but tend to be cheaper.

the beer scene has pretty much been covered. plenty of access to good beer and quite a few homebrewers. seabright was my neighborhood brewery and i always liked what i had there.

Hey John, thanks for all the info. I'm studying Politics, although who knows if that's actually a good idea. I'm totally stoked about having the resources to get into mountain biking! I'm from MN and then NYC so I've never had much mountain biking except through-the-woods single track that didn't amount to much.
I'm hoping I can get a place with a yard so I can grow my own hops. I'm glad to hear there's a brewing community too! Sounds like an awesome place. I'm so incredibly ready to be out of NYC. Thanks for the advice on Capitola, etc.. The student areas look really expensive on the west end of town.