First time in LA. Need beer advice

are you staying in Newport Beach after Sat? Newport is Orange County. people like to lump them together but they are far apart

here's an old LA thread https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/los-angeles-recommendations.579428/

There aren't any good breweries in Santa Monica, but Father's Office is a good beer bar. Firestone Walker is in Venice, right next door. You won't be too far from Torrance, which has many LA favorites including Monkish

Should head to downtown and go to Modern Times and Mikkeller, then go to Highland Park Brewery in Chinatown. could easily take the metro from SM and then walk or lyft to said spots

have a good time in LA

 

west 4th and jane in santa monica is worth checking out

 

If youre around santa monica, Monkish is not horribly far and no one can touch their NE IPAs.

 

Depends what’s on tap but I wouldn’t go out of my way unless you happen to be near.

 

Missing Firestone

 

El Segundo then Monkish.

Then swing through Smog City, then a short drive to Yorkshire Square. On your way back down to Newport, you can hit Beachwood BBQ and Brewing for dinner, stop at the Blendery, and circle 'round to Ten Mile on the way to the 405 back to Newport.

 

Riip in sunset is also on the way, solid view

 

I keep forgetting them, and I drive by and stop in on occasion. /facepalm

 

I used to frequent the Library Alehouse that was near the border of Santa Monica/Venice. They were a high end craft bar but I haven't been in 7-8 years so I have no idea if its held up or not.

 

I know!

Also kinda ok with it because it's almost like a brewery that's lost in time. Except for maybe the recent s'mores beer, it's like a time portal into a decade ago haha (maybe not regarding hazies but in terms of atmosphere/west coast bangers).

 

Ever since Ian took over, I feel like it's a long lost cousin to Beachwood's WCIPA offerings. Somewhere in between the Ultra-series and early 00's SD fare, as far as taste goes. Which is awesome, absolutely so.

 

I’d recommend staying in LA as long as possible before hitting Newport. Newport is nice and all, but it’s a beer wasteland (unless you are into Taco Bell Cantina ). If you have to come to OC, you’ll want to hit up Beachwood, Riip, Bottle Logic, Noble Ale Works and Green Cheek. Cheers, brotha.

 

Ian "has" put RiiP back in it's place in the OC beer scene. For those who once visited RiiP when they first opened they were goooood to very good. Maybe it's time you come back and revisit them if you haven't yet. They took a step backwards for a little bit but they have become one of OC's better brewery's. Let's hope Ian found a new home with RiiP. At least for a while.

All the above mentioned...

 

David, your spot on with your assessment of RiiP, I find myself at RiiP more and more often since Ian has taken over, super solid from top to bottom and as someone has already pointed out, the view aint to shabby.

Cheers,

 

Ian's WCIPA/DIPAs take a back seat to no-one IMHO, Neltra, Super Cali, Dan K to name just a few are outstanding examples of the style. The last batch of Double Neltra was outstanding.

Cheers,

 

If you were recommending 1 or 2 breweries in the LA area to someone who could take or leave the hazy stuff and pastry stouts, where would you point them to?

I like good, west coast IPA's, stouts, lagers, and pale ales so I'm hoping I can track down a couple places that are doing the "classics" really well.

 

Beachwood (but it's a bit out of the way).

But, if you want them relatively close to each other, do a combo of Smog City (classic stuff) and Yorkshire Square (cask-specialists). THEN add Beachwood.

 

Reasonable request,
I'd recommend Highland Park (Chinatown) as the best fit to your specific beer line up. I'd also give a solid recommendation to Beer Belly Korea-town as its a beer bar with a nice diverse range of SoCal beer fitting to a range of the styles you mentioned.

Others to mention would be Beechwood BBQ, Smog , El Segundo, and Firestone (Venice). Long shot here as it would be a hell of drive in traffic but Green Cheek in Orange County makes excellent lager and classic west coast IPA but not likely worth it considering the Highland Park will hit all those marks easily.