Your Essential Guide to the Best Breweries in Orange County

All the greatest IPAs, pilsners, sours, and stouts in the OC.

Though Angelenos like to imagine all of Orange County as one grouchy , pompous , conservative next - room access neighbour , the area is not a monolith . There are scoop of beauty , creativity , culture , and community in that gate suburban sprawl . There aregreat restaurantsincool neighborhood , modern nontextual matter , wetback , and there is also beer — so much wonderful beer .

The fantabulous OC breweries may even be better than theones in LA county , which establish an extremely compelling grounds for Angelenos to take a trip behind the Orange Curtain . To aid in that journey , we ’ve rounded up the best breweries in Orange County :

Green Cheek Beer Co.

Costa Mesa , Orange , Sunset BeachBest Beers : Anything hoppyIPAs have become all inextricable from the large craft beer movement . Pungent hop - driven beers are the most common style at almost every brewery in town , and IPAs are also the style that haters drop like a cudgel to make fun of beer nerds . That is to say , it ’s not hard to regain good hoppy beer in Orange County . But even in a crowded marketplace , Green Cheek ’s IPAs stand out . Whether you like the bright and biting West Coast style or the ample and jammy Hazy versions wear in New England , Green Cheek has a killer beer for you . They have three localisation dot around the county ; the Costa Mesa and Sunset Beach slur feel like modern brewpubswith TVs and solid food . The Orange location is in an industrial park in classic SoCal brewery style .

Everywhere

AnaheimBest Beers : Community Garden Shandy , Passion Fruit Mango Fuego SeltzerOne of the New brewery in Orange County is also one of the area ’s most stylish . Everywhere opened in August 2022 with a sunny ’ 60s psychedelic minimalist art style and a bright , airy space across the street from El Camino Real Park . That fun and place - back aesthetic carries through to the brewing , too , with a wide range of laconic sluttish beers and a special emphasis on heavily fruit severe seltzers that issue forth in a rainbow of colors from guava pink to spirulina blue . The requisite array of hoppy beer are here too , and they ’re quite ripe , if maybe less eye - catching than the electric blue carbonated water .

GameCraft Brewing

Laguna HillsBest Beers : pay up To Win IPA , There Is No moo-cow Level Coffee Milk Stout , GameCraft LeitBeer twin well with all sort of activity — watch over sports , tube down a river , G work , and , as GameCraft Brewing stimulate exonerated , board games . They have a whole library of games to play while you drink , from classics like Battleship and Boggle to modern hit like Azul , Munchkin , and Forbidden Island . They also host regular game - theme events like tabletop miniature painting night , game tournaments , trivia , magic , and an educational speaker series in quislingism with the OC chapter of theInternational Game Developers Association . All that , and the beers are excellent across the display panel , especially if you like crisp short lagers .

Monkish Brewing Co.

AnaheimBest Beers : Any Hazy IPA , Feminist TripelWhen Monkish open up in 2012 , its name was a reference to the beer brewed there — twists on Belgian monastery classic like Singles , Dubbels , and Tripels that founder Henry Nguyen instill with herbs , spices , and bloom petals . Monkish was stanchly anti - IPA , forfend the self-aggrandizing record hop turkey that were peculiarly stylish at the time . Then , in 2016 , the brewery pivoted — Hazy IPAs , a manner born in New England , had become all the rage among beer nerds nationwide , and the brewer at Monkish feel they had the Midas contact . They part knocking out some of the very right variation you could find on the West Coast , drawing long line for every can release and get off the brewery ’s internal repute soaring . Monkish is still making marvelous Hazy IPAs , both at the original Torrance localisation and the new Anaheim Packing District outstation , but do n’t leave out those former brewage . The delicate Belgian styles are absolutely worth your time .

Brewery X

AnaheimBest Beers : Dictionary Roulette , Huckleberry Hard Seltzer , Battlesnakes PilsnerIf you ’re doing a brewery tour of Southern California , you will drop an inordinate amount of time cruise through industrial parks . But even in a sea of big warehouses , Brewery X stands out . It is truly jumbo , with scores of dab handles , a short ton of TV , a selection of vintage cars inside the edifice itself , and a massive beer garden just outside . That huge brewing electrical capacity is put to expert use , too , churning out beers in all sorts of styles , from fruited tripping lagers to malty porters , with a whole section dedicated to international style like English - style bitters and a South African lager .

Radiant Beer Co.

AnaheimBest Beers : Second That Emotion , Dreams Never EndBecause of the vagary inherent to the brewing cognitive process , it can take a foresighted clip for unexampled breweries to dial their beers in . But Radiant suffered no such develop painfulness , hitting the ground running right from possible action in 2020 — even winningSmall Brewery of the Yearat Great American Beer Festival in 2021 . That was to be expect from a team with Andrew Bell as the Director of Brewing , though . He was an Experimental Brewer and the Innovation Manager at fabled far - out OC brewery The Bruery ( also on this list ) . The beers at Radiant are perhaps more intimate than some of the insanity at The Bruery , but they are all the better for it ; the IPAs and lagers are among the best around . And there ’s still plenty of wacky stuff , too , from sweet talker - style sours to big stouts aged in whiskey barrels with plenty of spice .

Beachwood Brewing

Huntington Beach , Garden GroveBest Beers : Amalgamator , Hef Leppard , any version of Coolship ChaosBeachwood Brewing ’s soul may be in its Long Beach brewery and tasting room , but most of its brewing is now in Orange County at its orotund Huntington Beach production facility . Like many local breweries , they are best known for owing West Coast IPAs , but Brewmaster Julian Shrago has a dexterous paw with various styles , from crushable laager to big chocolate stouts and everything in between . The Belgian - style sour side project Beachwood Blendery is still based in Long Beach , but the beer are often on tap at OC localisation and are more than worth a try .

Gunwhale Ales

Costa MesaBest Beers : Bent Branches , A Juicy TaleA extract of IPAs at a SoCal brewery is an absolute given , and think the ecumenical need for the style , most breweries would n’t pull round without them . Gunwhale ’s hoppy beer are solid , but the tangible reason to chat is to sample the barm - driven beer , especially the selection of modern Belgian - trend saisons and farmhouse ales . Some are inculcate with fruit like peach or prickly pear , and some are more straightforward old - world engage , but they are all crisp and interesting , a more than welcome variety of pace from all the grown bitter beer that master the landscape painting . It does n’t hurt that the tasting elbow room and branding gook understated coastal poise .

Artifex Brewing Company

San ClementeBest Beers : All of the IPAsArtifex Brewing opened in the summer of 2014 with a focusing on hoppy beer , but over the last eight long time or so , the brewery has expanded its range . While still best known for its IPAs , the lineup has grown to include all variety of panache , from lagers and straw beers to heavy pastry dough stouts . Artifex has even guess into the novelty game with a Hard Tea and a weekend - only beermosa . Eight years is a long time in the brewing industry , but Artifex continue a loyalist of the tiny but fast - knit South County brewing community .

Bootlegger’s Brewery

Fullerton and Costa MesaBest Beers : Golden Chaos , Knuckle SandwichBootlegger ’s was an former unveiling into OC ’s modern craft - beer roaring when it opened in 2008 as the brainchild of experient homebrewer Aaron Barkenhagen , who wrote the occupation plan while attending Cal State Fullerton . What commence as a small seven - barrel system of rules in an industrial park adjacent to the train tracks has grown into a massive brewery and tasting room with a second location in a brewery - dense pocket of Costa Mesa . More than 14 geezerhood later , the flagship beers Golden Chaos and Knuckle Sandwich still hit the spot .

Bottle Logic Brewing

AnaheimBest Beers : Fundamental Observation , RedEye November , RecursionThe local honour for best brewery branding might go to Bottle Logic , which concocted an detailed steampunk - from - the - retro - future tense aesthetic that expand from the decommission wall - sized 1940s computers that line the sample way to the nursing bottle labels for core beer , like She Shot First , which features a drawing of an adventuresome heroine appoint Eve , one of three characters initially produce to recount the Bottle Logic tarradiddle . as luck would have it , the beer is bold enough to back up the alluring design , with outer space - old age foundation and prize win as its constant . Bottle Logic has gained particular ill fame for the cask - aged pastry stout , which are part of the on-going serial call the Stasis Project .

Pizza Port Brewing Co.

San ClementeBest Beers : El Camino , Abbey Mae , Dusk Til DawnFor over a decade , San Clemente has ply Orange County with a taste of some serious San Diego beer finish . The iconic brewpub chain Pizza Port has outposts in several of San Diego County ’s beach cities , and it ’s become a well - known local pit stop for house - made hoppy beer , which have gain a pile of award and help put San Diego on the international beer map all those years ago . But what hit each Pizza Port singular is that the psyche beer maker at each emplacement dream up their own beer formula , mean most of what ’s on potation in San Clemente never entrust the house .

Riip Brewing Co.

good beers : Anything hoppyWhen pitted surfboarder - skaters decide to reach the brewing equipment rather of the sick swells , you get Riip , an all - hop - everything operation that references the waves as much as the dope . Though they have a beach - side savoring room on PCH and Warner , the brewery started as a contract operation , and beers were only available through an improper system of pre - gild and delivery . The original vintage Milk River motortruck that used to turn tail deliveries still seat outside the tasting way , which doubles as a growler fill station , bottle shop , local Browning automatic rifle , and miniature home brew store .

TAPS Fish House & Brewery

BreaBest Beers : Anything old - universe styleYou might not expect a fine - dining fish house to be one of the area ’s best breweries , but for over a decade , TAPS in Brea won more regional , national , and international awards than any other OC brewery . The brewer behind many of the trade name ’s original wins , Victor Novak , leave in 2014 , but the calibre remains world - class , especially in old - school and old - public style like Irish red ale , Scotch ales , and German - style wheat beer .

The Bruery

PlacentiaBest Beers : Whatever ’s weirdestWhen most of America ’s beer geeks suppose of brewery in Orange County , they inevitably think first of The Bruery , which has long been known for its off - the - wall , Belgian - style , mixed - fermentation , and barrel - older experiment as well as its various rank “ societies , ” which permit you to purchase one - off and rare beer unavailable to the world . The Bruery changed the secret plan not just in OC or SoCal , but in the US , which , when it afford in 2008 , was only set out to develop a palate for complex Belgian - style beer . These days , The Bruery is so prolific it ’s separate its “ clean-living ” beers from the “ infected ” I with a disjoined facility for sour and raging ale nearby call Bruery Terreux and a third sliver squall Offshoot Beer Co. , which makes the IPAs that The Bruery ’s owner Patrick Rue swore he ’d never make under the original recording label .

Tustin Brewing Co.

TustinBest Beers : Old Town IPA , Lemon Heights HefeweizenTustin Brewing Co. is a subsister of the ’ 90s brewpub days that ’s managed to keep time with today ’s craft - beer Renascence . sure as shooting , there are the accessible workhorses like Golden Spike Light Ale and a lemony Hefeweizen , but the brewery keeps thing interesting with a revolution of new IPAs , barrel - aged inviolable ales , and more .

Unsung Brewing Co.

AnaheimBest Beers : Shatterspike , AnthiaIf there ’s one thing beer maker love , it ’s a composition , and few beer maker have gone so hard into a topic as Unsung ’s Mike Crea . Crea is a superhero enthusiast , a mirthful Christian Bible devotee , and a huge Spider - Man fan , and each of his beers has its own highly elaborated origin story . There is Anthia , the alien scout ; Citrique , the mutated chemist ; Lumino , the pitcher who shed fireballs ; and more . Unsung ’s graphics lean into the musical theme , too , with flowery recording label , heroic baptismal font , comic book - manner art , and superhero memorabilia around the tasting room . And never reverence — the beers also live up to their heroic namesake , too .

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Beachwood Brewing