Oxnard Visit

Whole Foods.

 

Agree that whole foods is your best bet. Great selection at that one and solid bar. Santa Barbara's not too far and if you're really adventurous you could go to Firestone barrelworks in Buelton. Another option would be checking in on Casa Agria to see how those sours are coming.

 

Hour and a half if you are lucky... if you're not lucky... don't go haha

 

Definitely give Institution in Camarillo a try. Great IPAs/pale ales. Great people.

 

WF and Pat Holden's for bottles in Oxnard. Total Wine in Thousand Oaks. Barrelhouse 101 in Ventura as well as Ladyface Alehouse (near Thousand Oaks)

Plus there's these: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/ventura-in-july.297030/

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/ventura-oxnard-camarillo.187918/

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/ventura-county-options.182270/

You mentioned Smog City...if you can make it out there I would scrap everything I wrote above and take the time to go there and visit any other number of relatively nearby LA area breweries (whole other threads for those). I live 90 min north of Oxnard and drive right past Oxnard/Ventura/Thousand Oaks regularly to go to Smog City. But that's just me.

 

Bottle and Pint (http://www.bottleandpint.com/) and Stagecoach Liquor (make sure to check the walk-in) in Newbury Park

 

Check out restaurant Draughts in Thousand Oaks
http://draughtsrestaurant.com/craft-beers/

7.26 Firestone tap take over
7.29 Stone Ruination special beers on
and other good guest beers all the time. Decent pizza and pasta too. Happy hour 3-6pm M-F. $5 pizza. Can't go wrong.

Good place to meet up and also almost right next to Draughts (well next to Ross technically) is the bottle shop Total Wine with some decent beers you can take home.

 

If your going to head down to smog, might as well do down an extra 30 for Beachwood brewing. AND forsure go to Ladyface! Also close by Ladyface is a great hidden bottle shop called Wades Wines. they also have a legit tasting room with like 30 wines and 30 beers on tap.

 

Smog is worth trying, but probably easiest to swing by any Bevmo and just get a bottle of Coffee Porter and SabreTooth Squirrel. Those are the two flagship beers and both are excellent. Save you from going pretty far out of your way. Everything they make is excellent, and the tap room is worth going to to try everything they do. There really isn't a reliable way to get anything other than their two flagships anywhere else. I guess you could stumble upon a find, but good luck..

But if you do happen to go, give yourself a little extra time. Monkish is a block and a half away from Smog City and they make very excellent beer as well. Very doable to do both of them in a few hours. Probably about as easy as hitting any 2 breweries in the country. Phantom Carriage is really good if you like the sour and wild ales and also in the area. The Dude's is also close to Smog, but I am not the biggest fan, their line-up is very small and everyone else in the area makes better beer. Just is nearby if you want something else to try.

If you are going LAX, El Segundo Brewing is 5 minutes away from the airport. If you are a big fan of IPA, I think they have the best line up in Los Angeles. The other beers are solid, but the IPAs are killing it right now.

I see Total Wine in Thousand Oaks is mentioned. I think the Total Wine in Northridge has a better selection, but it is a bit out of the way.

 

I second this. Institution does some really great beers.

 

And if you're gonna do that you might as well get down to Pizza Port in San Clemente. Only another 60 min away.

 

My consensus (not sure I can do that) is have fun on the trip. Get some beers that you can't back east, and enjoy them. Everything that you can't get is rare for you, so enjoy some things you normally don't have a chance to drink. All the above advice is really sound (well except driving down to San Clemente, as that is 90 miles in the wrong direction).

 

Can't believe it hasn't been mentioned but you should hit up Wade's Wines in Agoura Hills (adjacent to Thousand Oaks). They have a decent bottle selection, and between Thursday-Sunday their Sundowner Tasting Room is open....where they have ~100 rotating beers on tap. Love that place!

Afterwards hit up Ladyface just down the block for a pint of Picture City Porter (a nitro coffee porter garnished with coffee grounds) and a burger Ladyface stlye....mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

 

It was mentioned by @WestCoastBeerDude . Agreed on the rec to hit up Ladyface.