headed to Laguna Beach, CA

Going to visit friends in 2 weeks in Laguna Beach. Planned on touring Stone. Any other "must visits" or "must tastes" anyone can think of in that general area? What about something I can't get in michigan but could get my hands on in Cali?

If you've never had any beers from The Bruery, you have to try them. They are an OC brewer with amazing Belgian-style ales. Also, anything by Firestone Walker (seriously, anything) and some of the SD-area breweries like Pizza Port.

+1 on The Bruery!! Had some of their beers for the first time this weekend. Outstanding!

Bootleggers is also close to The Bruery in Fullerton and excellent. And if you're in that area anyway you might check out Hollingshead's Deli in Orange, although you have to be sure to go during the week because they are closed weekends.

Further South around SD there's Alesmith, Ballast Point, Lost Abbey, Pizza Port Carlsbad and/or Ocean Beach, Alpine, Karl Strauss, and many more.

Really though in that area there's so many awesome breweries that you almost can't go wrong.

I grew up on Orange County and now call San Diego my home.

Head down to Pizza Port in San Clemente, it's about 20 mins south of Laguna and still in Orange County.

If you plan on hitting Stone, consider:
Lost Abbey
Green Flash

Heading farther south, you could hit Ballast Point and Alesmith, both not to be missed

Heading farther south and east and really like IPAs, head out to Alpine Beer Co. It's a very long haul from Laguna but they make possibly one of the best IPAs you can get. You can barely get the beer in San Diego, they have a brewpub for food. Just to be warned, Alpine isn't much and the brewery is tiny.

If you are pressed for time, just head to O'Briens pub in San Diego, you can get most of the local brews on tap.

What do you have for transportation?
How much "beer time" you have?

WOW! Thats alot of suggestions. Thank you. Not sure how many I can hit. My wife supports my addiction even though she drinks strickly wine . We are there for 5 days. I guess if I can hit two or three of those suggestions I would be happy. I'll most likely have a rental car. Probably check out The Bruery (been a while since I had a good belgian) and I see Pizza Port mentioned twice. If I cant get out/away are some of these available at local party stores? I think I'm gonna need to do some research/planning

The Pizza Port in San Clemente is more or less a leisurely drive down the coast highway. Ya gotta eat dinner anyway, might as well do it there, right?

If you want to go to a store to buy a bunch, Total Wine & More is a good bet, and also Hollingshead's Deli has a fantastic bottle selection that you can buy there.

Belmont is nice

stocktires said:

Belmont is nice

Click to expand...

If you mean Belmont Brewing, I disagree.

My wife got served a pint of their blonde that had zero carbonation or head, wasn't even the right color, and had the worst diacetyl I have ever tasted in my life. I mean it was like a textbook example of diacetyl. They should have been ashamed to serve that beer. The brewer should have tasted it and pulled the tap. The bartender and/or server should have noticed they were serving a beer that had no head or carbonation whatsoever at the very least.


If you are referring to their beers that are sold in bombers, I will point out that those are not brewed at Belmont. They are made by a contract brewery and they just stick the Belmont label on there.


Their "Long Beach Crude" is decent but it's not worth going there just to drink that one beer.

wow... things have changed in that area since last I was there... there wasn't anything like that back in the '60s..... (used to live in Dana Point).

Ok, so today is our second to last day in Laguna Beach and I am officially in love with the beer here!! I took the advice to try The Bruery (our hosts had never heard of it) and I was floored. i bought some to send home, but I might need to buy more as I think I might open one tonight (Loakal Red is calling my name Everything there was incredible. We went to Stone yesterday but because it was a weekend it was crazy busy so we ended up spending almost 4 hrs. there (is that a bad thing?) Food was amazing, beer more so, but the tour was kind of useless. We weren't able to get to Lost Abbey, Green Flash, or Pizza Port. I did get to try some Lost Abbey and Green Flash at Stone, as well as an Alesmith IPA. We just got home from the Long Beach Aquarium and we had lunch at The Ship Yard. 200 beers on tap is truly impressive (I had a Maredsous 8 draft!! unbelievable) Southern Cali beer lovers are spoiled!! Anyways, I would like to thank everyone for their suggestions (I've been to Total Wine twice in 4 days lol) and for helping me enjoy this "kidless" vacation with a cloudy head

Pliney the Elder?

The Long Beach Aquarium is badvss.

Yes, Pliny the Elder. I had it in a flight I got at stone. I've got to say that it was very good, but I think the Alesmith IPA is better. I was corrected, it was the "Yard House" not the shipyard.

We are Saltwater fish dorks and the people we are staying with are also. The husband is an author who has written many books/articles on the industry and is very well connected. We were able to see the wholesalers down on 104th ave. and the aquarium for free.

I opened 2 of the Bruery bottles tonight at dinner (Loakel Red and Mischief) and they both loved them and said they were gonna buy more. Even accross the country I'm trying to expand the craft beer customer base

My favorite brewery was Bells when I lived in Kalamazoo until I transferred to Laguna Beach and found the Bruery

Obviously this thread is a bit obsolete, but since it was just revived, there's a relatively new place called Bru Grill & Market, just up the 133 & El Toro Rd from Laguna Beach. Good food, great tap list (~25 taps -- not a massive list, but well curated), and good wine and cocktails if you're bringing non-beer folks.