Laguna niguel, CA

If you're willing to drive up a little north to Orange County, you'll find lots of fantastic breweries and bottle shops. The Bruery is a must. Noble Ale Works and Bottle Logic in Anaheim are great spots too. They're all close enough that you can probably hit up all three in one trip. GL!

 

I live not far from there and in the immediate area, nothing really good is around. If you have a car, going up to the Anaheim area is your best bet if you want to hit up some breweries. The bruery is hands down the best spot in SoCal (IMO).

If you want to stay south, the best place to go would be Amazing Grapes in Rancho Santa Margarita. Its a bit of a drive still but they have a great tap list and a pretty good bottle shop.

You could also go down to San Clemente Pizza Port.

 

In South OC I'd recommend Pizza Port San Clemente and The BrewHouse in San Juan Capistrano. Stadium Brewing in Aliso Viejo makes pretty crappy beers themselves but sometimes have good stuff on tap.

 

Don't miss going to Whole Foods in Laguna Niguel too. http://oc.taphunter.com/location/Whole-Foods-Rock-it-Bar

 

Laguna Niguel Whole foods like above and Total Wine as well as Pacific park Market have good choices. Nothing good on tap out here except at Amazing Grapes or if you go down to Pizza Port San Clemente. Both are a bit of a drive though. As well as the north county stuff people mentioned. You are in kind of a beer waste land unless you want to drive 20+ min

Edit: oops you said bars and breweries. I mentioned bottle shops. Not much bars or breweries in Laguna

 

I live in Laguna niguel and there isn't much in the way of breweries and bars. Actually, there isn't a single brewery except my homebrew.

Bars:
Whole foods, recommend happy hour 4 - 6. You can also buy bottles in the grocery store and drink them in the bar.
Pizza lounge, solid selection
Signature sports bar, has over 20 taps with a pretty good selection


Close to Laguna niguel
Bad to the bone (great bbq too)
Pizza port (great pizza too)
PUBlic 74
The brewhouse (http://thebrewhousesjc.net/draft/. Their tap list, plus they have bottles)
Dublin 4

Closest brewery is artifex in San clemente but the best one IMO is noble ale works about 30 min north, they open at 4pm.

Any questions about Laguna niguel message me....cheers.

 

How is this place? I've been meaning to check it out based on the solid reviews for food ... didn't know they had a decent beer selection as well.

 

The food is the best part for sure. Their Irish stew with short ribs...mmmmmm. Their fish and chips as well as the lamb burger are both tasty. The bar is very small but usually has a few quality beers on tap and has a good vibe. They seem to also have a few Belgian beers like triple karmeliet on tap as well as beers from lost abbey, strands, the bruery and guinness of course. I wouldn't go just for the beer but combine it with the food or some appetizers and it's worth a try. They also have some good whiskey.

 

Good point on both Dublin 4 and PUBlic 74.

I agree that Dublin 4 is more for food (upscale-ish Irish gastropub fare). They have some decent beer offerings but nothing mind blowing.

Tried PUBlic 74 for the first time last week - food was great as was the beer selection. They make some great cocktails too. Nice thing about this place is you can hit up The Brewhouse first (no food) then PUBlic 74 afterward - they are about a mile apart.