AleSmith took home nine medals, five of which were gold, at the World Beer Cup. Knuckle sandwiches by Bootlegger’s Brewery are well-known. At the Great American Beer Festival, Black Market Brewing Company has received nine medals since 2012. Beachwood has consistently distinguished itself among Southern California breweries. The Bruery’s Belgian-style ales are well-known all over the world. The Ballast Point Brewing Company is San Diego County’s third largest craft brewery, with a brewery in La Mesa.
Most of these beers are available for purchase at BevMo, TotalWine, and your local bottle shop. In addition to medals at the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup, many of these breweries have received national recognition. The region is home to some of the best breweries in the country.
With so many options to choose from, there’s something for everyone to enjoy from the many breweries in Southern California. SoCal is now home to some of the most renowned breweries in the world, and the number of new breweries opening up each year shows no signs of slowing down. This number has been growing steadily in recent years, as the craft beer scene in the region has exploded in popularity. All show off the character of the hops and don’t bombard the tongue into a bitterness submission.įind more of Sean Inman’s writing on his blog, Beer Search Party.As of 2018, there were approximately 300 breweries in Southern California. Thrillseeker, Hopular Mechanics or Citraholic would fit the bill just as well. Julian Shrago has a seemingly endless stream of IPAs on tap in Long Beach. Even the hop uninitiated can discern the two hops that are working in concert here.ġ. So I have ranked this one here in the sole effort to get more of this tremendous beer up here in Los Angeles. Alpine has signed an agreement to have some of their line brewed at the much larger Green Flash facility in San Diego. Their “plain” old regular IPA is Outstanding. Their Double, Citra, is a world class beer but hard to acquire unless you trek north to the brewery. And not only because you don’t have to stand in line and wait for a 4oz pour.ģ. Not only because you can find it (usually at Blue Palms Brewhouse). The beer snobs may sing rapturous praise over Pliny the Younger but for my money, Blind Pig is the better pick. Very much in the vein of the AleSmith IPA (and also a screaming deal at Trader Joe’s).Ĥ. You could make a case for Double Jack but the “single” is simple and classic and on shelves throughout the year. This floral and peppery IPA is good any time of day.ĥ. And you can find it at Trader Joe’s for a killer price. A strong IPA that is at the edge of wrecking the palate but pulls up at the edge of that cliff.Ħ. I keep seeing this around town in the distinctive bottle shape and the classy beach tower label. Now, it is in cans and bottles and may even have jalapeños in it. A mere few years ago this San Diego IPA was in such high demand that you would only have rare sightings. A well balanced beer that delivers the hops.Ĩ. Porter won Great American Beer Festival gold for his Groundworks Coffee Porter and Little Bo Pils has quite a fan base, but his Amarillo hopped IPA is their equal in my eyes. Technically, yes, it is not an IPA but any Top 10 list must include the Bruery and this hoppy lager is the antidote, aperitif, appetizer for the wide range of big and barrel aged beers that this Orange County brewer has in its arsenal.ĩ. I will leave you to guess which it is in the comments.ġ0. Sadly, this list does not include my absolute favorite Cali IPA because it is a seasonal. I won’t expand the list past ten choices, but I will say that by next year (or even in the next month or two), I will probably have a slightly different list with additions from Ohana Brewing and Haven Brewing on them. Beer Blast to select 10 brewed in California IPA’s that are readily available (or will be soon, in one instance) on tap or in bottles across L.A. I have combed through my personal beer ratings, the RateBeer Top 50 as well as what keeps popping up on the lists for the L.A. To the point where IPAs from Colorado or Oregon seem practically British in their moderate hop usage. Luckily for hopheads, California is ground zero for this hop explosion. Then there are the new hop varieties, one year Nelson, another Citra, and this year it’s Mosaic. There are single hop, white or black, Imperial, Double and Belgian to name just a few of the variants available.
It appears that the IPA (India Pale Ale) bubble refuses to burst, unless you count beers bursting with more and more bitterness with each passing year.
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