Topa Topa Brewing - Ventura

They're ok, a lot of the breweries in Ventura County are a bit too ho-hum for my liking. It's as if they're years behind Orange County and Los Angeles, let alone San Diego.

I prefer going to Institution, not only are their beers more flavorful but parking is plentiful too!

 

Thanks for the kind words guys, I'll clarify/confirm a few things mentioned in this thread:

-Old space is obviously small, the city of Camarillo required us to cap the sq./ft. of the tasting room. Any larger and we would have needed even more parking than we had available. Camarillo is nuts about parking and it's not a coincidence that we are the only business to ever even start the permit process as a brewery in Camarillo. Our expansion has also been delayed by over a year for similar difficulties with the city. But Camarillo is our hometown and being here is important to us, so we'll deal with it.

-White Walls will be year round, already penciled in its first brew day at our new spot.

-Yes, new spot has a small menu. Quality over quantity, small menu of made from scratch pizzas and that's about it. Would have gone the food truck route, but Camarillo didn't allow us to host food trucks... don't get me started. Blessing in disguise, building a kitchen has been a fun experience and it's good to know we'll be able to hold our food to the same standard as our beer.

-Shaun

 

I used to come to your tap room every Friday when you opened at 1 for my lunch break for the first few months you were open. I changed my schedule a while back and can't take lunch that late anymore, will you guys be changing tap room hours to open earlier once the new brewery opens?

Also, will you ever fill blank growlers?

 

-We open at 11am 7 days a week at the new spot, come on by for lunch and a beer!

-Blank growlers, crowlers, they're are things we are discussing. Not sure how we are going to do it. Pros/cons to all the above, not only from a business standpoint but a quality standpoint as well.

-Shaun

 

Sweet, I for sure will. When is it opening?
Its the building being renovated right next to the Ranch House, right?

 

Yup, that's the building. Hoping to have it open in a few months.

 

There's a lot of old people in Camarillo, lots of old people who stay active on and in city council.

They restricted Bevmo from selling beer over 22 oz, they literally can't sell 750ml of beer even though Bevmo is nowhere near a neighborhood and is miles from where the cities handful of homeless people usually hang out.

 

Fixed that a little bit.

 

These guys are pumping out some tasty brews. Not to mention just good guys. Give them a try, I'd bet you'll enjoy. Cheers!

 

That's awesome - Topa Topa originally planned to open in Ojai but had nightmare of a time getting things sorted with the city and bailed for Ventura instead. Excited to see they're finally opening a spot closer to the mountains they're named after.

 

I've been to Topa Topa one time and enjoyed it. Pretty solid beers, nice environment for being in a funky spot pressed against the freeway. Nice folks.

 

I've been to Topa Topa twice, & thoroughly enjoyed the space & the beers both times. Institution is also great, and I enjoyed Poseidon brewing (also right next door to a coffee roaster/shop) as well while in town back in February of this year.

 

Great beers, they recently released bottles of a bourbon barrel aged imperial milk stout with vanilla and coconut that is really tasty for all the adjunct BA stout lovers.