Hi Pacific forum, I just moved to this coast from Georgia and previously Indiana. Specifically, Riverside. I've vacationed in SF, LA and SD in the past, but this is my first time living in California and also my first time in the Inland Empire. I've been doing some research in this forum to get up to speed, but I do have a few general questions for you guys. First, does anyone have any recommendations for bars/breweries/bottle shops in the Inland Empire? The Places section of this site is great, but I've noticed there aren't a lot of reviews in the IE. That and there are a million different cities out here. I've discovered La Bodega as a bottle shop and have been very happy with it. I know there's Total Wine and BevMo as well, but I haven't been to an IE location yet. I'm in downtown Riverside so I've been to a few places that I can walk to (Heroes, Salted Pig) and to The State in Redlands. I've tried Ritual, Hanger24 and Wicks all from this area, and saw there is a nano opening up downtown called Brew Crew. Which leads me to my second question, what are some breweries I should check out? I'd love to find some cool stuff brewed in the IE, but I'm also interested in California breweries that don't get distributed out of state. I'm not necessarily looking for the rarest and most ridiculous beers (there are plenty of threads on those), but more interested in solid everyday beers. I've never met a style of beer I didn't like, so don't be shy with recommendations of whatever your favorite is. Finally, are there any weird beer laws here? Everything seems fairly relaxed, which is great. Indiana shifted from heavily regulated to relatively brewery-friendly in my time there, and Georgia is a complete mess. I would assume California would have its act together with the immense number of breweries here, but I might as well ask. Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can share. If you want to offer up recommendations or tips for things I didn't ask about, that would be great as well. I'm excited about this radical shift in landscape and beer offerings!
Off the top of my head...Hanger 24 & Ritual in Redlands. I'm in the OC. BAck a few years when there wasn't much going with craft in OC I would take a road trip up to H24.
bottle shops I frequent riverside - la bodega Redlands - gerrards colton - house of booze corona - el Cerrito rancho Cucamonga - red carpet, liquor paradise, Ramona, total wine upland - liquorama, liquor cabinet
Brew Crew has a location that is open by Wicks The concept is cool, so I want to support them, but I've been underwhelmed the last couple times I've gone. El Cerrito is as far as some distro gets. Noble and Beachwood are examples.
Hamilton Brewing in Rancho Cucamonga is a very nice choice with solid stuff. A little more west in Claremont is Dale Bros or Last Name Brewing now due to recent name change. There is also a place opening up soon in Rancho Cucamonga called Sour Cellar, brewing all sour beers I believe. I live in the IE as well, about 12 minutes from Downtown Riverside. Welcome to Southern California Welcome to the dry heat haha
Yeah. Invest in a good A/C. And for gods sake, don't get caught on the 91 fwy between, say, 1 pm and 7 pm.
@dcgunman - I think I've had 1 beer from each and will definitely check out more @taylordane - followed! @dirtyhalos - excellent list, looks like I'll have a stop no matter where I am @angelsfan27 - Brew Crew is in the process of opening The Brickwood downtown on Main. Supposed to be a beer bar with 24 taps for their beer and guest offerings. @Bigtimmyb - definitely curious about the all sour place and I'll add the other 2 to my list. I know I just got here, but it has at least been 90s/100s this week and based on that I can definitely say I'll take this over hot and humid. @Vanlingleipa - based on my limited experiences, the traffic is less cut-throat than the ATL traffic. Waze is my best friend. Thanks everyone!
There's place in DTR called The Brickwood now, it's ran by the brew crew guys, mostly all guest taps.
From what I've found... Salted Pig has your best chance of randomly finding Pliny on tap. They have a happy hour from 3-5 now. Wolfskill, their cocktail counterpart, also has a less varied but still craft draft list that's $5 from 5-8. Wolfskill hands down has the best atmosphere of any bar in Riverside and also has great cocktails. Heroes is the downtown brewpub, their pale ale is really solid and their food portion sizes are out of control. Brickwood is the newcomer downtown but they've got 24 taps of primarily California craft with a fe international and national offerings sprinkled in. Draft list changes quickly and is on BeerMenus. If you're going to just visit one place, this is where I'd suggest. Worthingtons is a divey place that turns into a club late at night but surprisingly has a decent number of local taps. Downside: $2 fee on credit cards. Romanos is a new Chicago-style pizza place with a good number of craft taps. Great place to watch a game, nice bar, but a bit pricey. Lake Alice has a couple craft taps but is more a party bar with live music, pinball, pool, TVs, and basically any other bar amenity that would be used to pull people in. My favorite local breweries would be Wicks and Packinghouse. Neither is near downtown but you could uber to them. Wicks is down toward Corona and Packinghouse is out by the airport.
The Beer Room in Grand Terrace has 12 taps... and a good amount of bottles/cans. Tap list is solid on the worst days. Breweries in the area are underwhelming. Anaheim isnt that far of a drive.
The distance isn't far, but it's typically 45+ minutes, with all the traffic between the 71 and the 55. All those improvements in Corona just moved the bottleneck farther down the line. No one is going to argue against the OC having better breweries, but the easiest option for @walterfredo is going to be walking across the pedestrian street to Brickwood where Noble, Bottle Logic, and The Bruery frequently show up on tap.
Im guessing most people can figure out the distance from Riverside to Anaheim. Point is, there isnt much to get excited about in terms of breweries. It stinks, actually. You'd think one or two above average places would pop up.
I'm located in the IE too so it's hard to find a great brewery, ever heard of Kings Brewing in Rancho. I've been wanting to hit that place up. hear great things.
I've heard of them but haven't been up there. Homage in Pomona is doing some pretty interesting stuff, I'd highly recommend them if you haven't been.
