Beer

Five Ways To Celebrate American Craft Beer Week In (Or Near) OC

Next week is American Craft Beer Week, a celebration of brews made in the U.S. of A. Local breweries and restaurants are taking part in the national party. Here's where to go to grab a pint.

Lineup for SoCal Restaurant Show THIS SATURDAY on KLAA-AM 830: TAPS, Wing Lam, Bruxie and More!

As usual, we turn it over to the guys at KLAA-AM 830's SoCal Restaurant Show gives us the preview for their show tomorrow. Here you go, guys!

Diamond Knot Industrial IPA, Our Drink of the Week

When a Total Wine & More store PR rep first contacted me about displaying things I like to drink in their adult beverage stores, I balked because, let's face it, who cares what a news and film blogger consumes? But when I discovered my old pal Greer Wylder of the Greer's OC dining, fashion and t ... More >>

And a Special Shout-Out to Long Beach!

The city may not officially be part of Orange County, but we love its craft beer all the same

The Orange County Beer Trail

A map to all of our fine craft breweries, liquor stores and pubs pouring the good stuff!

Wendlandt Brewery, Ensenada B.C.- The Baja Craft Beer Scene Looks to the International Market

There are a couple of problems with Mexican craft beer at the moment: 1) It's difficult to find bars that have a selection beyond a few brands. 2) Many are talking about how great the beer is without telling you much about the beers(how do they taste?), and there's a lack of discernment among the re ... More >>

HopScotch, Downtown Fullerton's New Craft Beer And Whiskey Tavern, To Open This Sunday

Back in May, we told you about HopScotch, a new craft beer and whiskey tavern that would be opening within downtown Fullerton's original Pacific Railway Station. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, after months of watching every detail of the space be built, from the vinta ... More >>

Five OC Breweries Win Big At The Great American Beer Festival

Every year, thousands of brewers and beer enthusiasts convene in Denver for the Great American Beer Fest, which is basically the Olympics of beer. Breweries from across the country bring their best brews to be judged by panels consisting of 188 professionals from 11 countries. (By the way, how does ... More >>

Oktoberfest 2012: Where To Get Your Oom-Pah-Pah On In OC

There's so much to love about Oktoberfest--old men in cute little hats and suspenders, buxom beer babes, drunken sing-a-longs, sausages galore, the bicep workout you get while chugging out of steins. "Oans, zwoa, drei, Gsuffa!" (One, two, three, drink up!)     We're in the height of t ... More >>

Joy And Good Beer: OC Brew Ho Ho Holiday Ale Festival Comes To The Phoenix Club

Great news. Beer festival season isn't over yet. The organizers of the epic OC Brew Ha Ha Craft Beer Festival are making sure 2012 ends with--yippee!--more amazing ales. The inaugural OC Brew Ho Ho Holiday Ale Festival, happening from noon to 4 p.m. at Dec. 8 at Anaheim's Phoenix Club, will fea ... More >>

Top 5 OC Events For LA Beer Week, Which Starts Tomorrow!

On the first day of LA Beer Week, my true love gave to me: a schedule full of ways to drink beer for the next 10 days!  (Yeah, we're not exactly songwriters here.)   LA Beer Week is among us and it's packed with events throughout Southern California--beer crawls, a beer float showdown ... More >>

OC Brew Ha Ha

Oak Canyon Park

Haven Gastropub Finally Debuts Its House-Crafted Beer In OC

Back in May, Haven Gastropub released its first batches of house-crafted beer--a double IPA and a pale ale--but to our sadness, the restaurant was only pouring the brews at its Pasadena location, where the micro-production was taking place.   Finally, we'll get a taste. Haven Brewing will ... More >>

This Saturday: OC Brew Ha Ha To Preview 20 Craft Beers at Taste of Doheny

OC Brew Ha Ha is one of the greatest craft beer events in Southern California. With more than 70 breweries and 175 beers, it's like Disneyland for brewers, beer enthusiasts and everyone who likes to drink.   Unfortunately, it's not until September. (Sob!) But to quell our thirst for t ... More >>

The Bruery Goes Global: Bottles Spotted In Netherlands--Ishn't Dat Vierd?

We all know the Netherlands is the place in Europe to get great pot and decent-looking legal prostitutes, but bottles from Orange County's own craft beer creators (and subject of last year's cover story) The Bruery? Yup.

Haven Gastropub Celebrates American Craft Beer Week

Wait, what? It's American Craft Beer Week? Here I thought it was Bike to Work Week, and I could have been sucking down beers instead of pedaling to the office, uphill and into a stiff headwind both ways. Wil Dee, the Beverage Director at Haven Gastropub and enthusiastic road cyclist, can celebrate ... More >>

Belgian Classics

Total Wine

Belgian Beers Shine At The Copper Door Tasting Event

​The Copper Door brought the creations of nearly 50 craft breweries to downtown Santa Ana when it opened in 2010. The (literally) underground beer bar has approximately six beers on tap at a time but dozens upon dozens bottled delights. Their simple menu is broken down into categories (beer connoi ... More >>

3hree Things: BEER!!!

Watch out for 3hree Things every Tuesday, in which Riley Breckenridge, drummer of Orange County's favorite local alt-rock band Thrice, gives his take on life in Southern California as an OC native.​While we were on tour last summer, I combined my interest in craft beers and the traveling I w ... More >>

It's LA Beer Week--With Lots of OC Events!

​LA Beer Week begins today, and this year, it's two whole weeks of craft beer mayhem. Beer crawls! Beer dinners! Beer workshops! The lineup is extensive with things to do for drinkers of every budget and neighborhood. Here's a sampling of the beer events happening in Orange County and Long Be ... More >>

OC Brew Ha Ha

Hidden Valley Park

The Bruery Collaborates with Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione on Japanese-Inspired Beer

From left: Bruery head brewer Tyler King, Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione and Bruery CEO Patrick RueThe Bruery Facebook page​Some big news from The Bruery. Founder Patrick Rue, who we recently profiled in a Weekly cover story, is teaming up with Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery on a specialty br ... More >>

Patrick Rue Is the Brue-master

From a Placentia industrial park, Patrick Rue and his Bruery have revolutionized craft-beermaking in Southern California

Brewing With the Barley Bandits, OC's Oldest Homebrewers Club

Kate Kohl Fancher/OC WeeklyBarley Bandits John Edwards (left) and Spencer Colman enjoy a brew. ​Call them chefs, artists, craftsmen. Or simply call them guys (and some gals) who love good beer.  It's Brew Day for the Barley Bandits, Orange County's oldest homebrewers club. Standing beside a ... More >>

Coors Light Exec: "Budweiser is Going Down, Baby"

​As I always point out, I'm not a beer drinker, but that doesn't mean I don't taste it. And I've never understood why anyone would bother with either Budweiser or Coors, or their Light derivatives--it all smells like piss to me, and tastes barely better. But that obviously means nothing to America ... More >>

German Beer Culture Dying; Will the United States Save It?

Flickr user InfrogmationThe saviors of Oktoberfest?​The big food story going around the Internet right now is Slate's piece on the decline in Germany's beer culture. It's a relatively well-written piece, with a lot of history and anecdotes thrown in, but something nagged throughout--hadn't I read ... More >>

21st Amendment Beer Now at Taco Asylum

​Hopheads rejoice! Beer from San Francisco's 21st Amendment Brewery hasn't been sold in Southern California--until today. Starting at tonight's dinner service, they'll have it at Taco Asylum in Costa Mesa.Yesterday, in a happy bit of synchronicity, I happened to e-mail Taco Asylum and Haven Gastro ... More >>

World's Oldest Drinkable Beer to Return From the Dead

Photo by Das UbergeekA selection of beers from Cistmontane--if the Big One ever hits, and we all go to kingdom come, will the next race of humanoids reconstitute their exquisite brews?​You know, you gotta love humanity and its pleasure/curiosity impulse. When British archeologists found pornograph ... More >>

Bootlegger's Brewery Wins TheFullPint.com's Best Craft Beer

​Knuckle Sandwich Double IPA from Bootlegger's Brewery has won TheFullPint.com's 2010 craft beer contest, with 879 votes of 5,048 cast.Bootlegger's does an excellent job balancing hops; while there's no shortage of bitterness in Knuckle Sandwich (or its great Rustic Rye IPA), it's balanced with ... More >>

Haven Gastropub Expanding to Pasadena

​OC's own Haven Gastropub is opening a second, Pasadena location in late 2011. It's not just a clone of the Old Towne Orange restaurant, but an ambitious expansion into their own, on-site beer brewing operation.

Gettin' Made: BAM Fest Tomorrow in Santa Monica

Looking for something to do this weekend? How about an event that combines your love of booze, paintings and tunes? You're in luck--the first Beer, Art and Music Festival takes place tomorrow to bring you three great tastes that taste great together! ​ After the jump, details on ho ... More >>

OC Brew Ha Ha

Hidden Valley Ranch

OC Craft Beer Update: Expanded Hours, Moving News

Flickr user sleepydisco​Our never-sated appetite for great craft beer is expanding, and OC's craft brewers are expanding with it. Read on for good news for beer drinkers in la naranja.

Drunk After Work: Brussels Bistro

Spencer Kornhaber / OC WeeklyBeer: Way more civilized in stemmed glasses.​The Place: Brussels Bistro, 222 Forest Ave, Laguna Beach; (949) 376-7955.The Hours: 4 to 7 p.m. dailyThe Deal: Draft Stella Artois, Hoegaarden and Leffe Blonde, and house Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, each yours for $4 ... More >>

Bruery Provisions to Open In Orange, Not Placentia

The Bruery​Three months ago, Edwin broke the news that the Bruery, the popular craft cervesería that operates out of an ugly warehouse in a forgotten corner of Placentia, would be opening a brewpub in Placentia's Placita Santa Fe district.Well, that's all correct, except for the brewpub part and ... More >>

Wheat Beer Showdown

cogdog / CC BY 2.0Mothership Wit​With the masses of craft beers now widely available--many coming out of our southerly neighbors in San Diego County--American beer doesn't have quite the same stigma as it once did. There is certainly still the watery, cheap swill to uphold that stereotype, but wit ... More >>

The Hot, Beery Beerness of OC Beer Fest

​First, look at that picture to the right. See that hat? About half of the attendants at the Orange County Beer Festival on Sunday were wearing one of those. Singha Beer realized what this event was: A chance to promote their brand to people willing to pay $40 for three hours of unlimited beer.[[F ... More >>

OC Beer Fest

Irvine Lake

Liquid Aloha Fest

Sutra

!Ask a Mexican!

Special Food Edicion

There Stands the Glass

Its always beer oclock at the Abbey

Driving Miss Boozey

Taps Doesnt Blow

Actually, its quite good

Reinheitsgebot!

God bless you, and pass the garlic fries

Summer-Rama!

39 of the best things about the next 104 days

The Future of Beer

We call it 'urination fermentation'

Taps Dancing

Stop calling North County Ethiopiav

Meaty Byproducts

Pondering the German festival and knee-high socks

A Guide to Our Advertisers

Summer Beach & Beer Guide