mrk_d
Well-Known Member
If you're visiting/passing through Santa Barbara, here's a (by no means comprehensive) list of good stuff to check out. While Santa Barbara beer culture is a little behind when compared to LA/SF/SD, things have improved significantly in 2016. Feel free to ask questions in this thread or PM me if you're going to be visiting.
Breweries/Brewpubs
Bars/Restaurants.
Unfortunately Santa Barbara gets skipped over a bit when it comes to distro, so if you're from LA or SF nothing will be that exciting in comparison. Nonetheless, here are the best places for beer to-go:
Breweries/Brewpubs
- Telegraph: Has improved markedly in recent years. Definitely worth a stop, some great wild ales usually available on tap and their clean beers are consistently good.
- Third Window: Similar to Telegraph, and probably my favorite downtown SB brewery. Has ties to the Bruery. Some great clean beers, and their barrel/sour program is just getting started. Some of the Belgian-inspired beers can be a touch boring but their lineup is usually great.
- Topa Topa: Ventura-based brewery that just opened a tasting room in Santa Barbara adjacent to Lama Dog. They are making my favorite IPAs in SB.
- Draughtsman: Super solid brewery in Goleta, everything is well executed and the atmosphere is very relaxed.
- Firestone Walker Barrelworks: ~45 minutes outside of Santa Barbara but by far the best beer destination nearby. Located next to the FW restaurant in Buellton, Barrelworks does primarily small-batch barrel aged beers. Definitely worth the trip if you're able to get here.
Bars/Restaurants.
- Lama Dog: The best beer bar in town, with a rotating selection of taps and an extensive bottle selection with low prices and reasonable corkage (~$2 IIRC). The adjacent Nook restaurant is good but not cheap.
- Wine + Beer: Similar concept to Lama Dog, with a much heavier wine focus; Lama Dog is definitely the better beer spot of the two overall. You can get food to go from any of the surrounding restaurants and eat it at the bar.
- American Ale: Good beer selection in downtown SB, though they serve everything out of small-ass mason jars and charge too much for it. Prepare yourself for flannel, mustaches, and 1920's-era music blaring from the speakers.
- Eureka Burger: High-end burger chain, pretty good food and a decent beer selection (watch the prices/serving sizes though). They have rare bourbon at crazy markups if you're into that...
- Mercury Lounge: Located in Goleta. Awesome dive bar vibes with a selection that ranges from decent to fantastic. Outstanding bottle prices as well, and free pool on Tuesdays. Worth the trip out of downtown SB if you're looking for somewhere low-key to hang out for a night.
- Elsie's: Dive bar in Santa Barbara. Worth it for the vibe, second-rate in terms of beer selection but they usually have some decent CA locals on tap.
- Dutch Gardens: No website - Yelp is linked. Cool out of the way German spot with some interesting old-school beers on tap. Probably one of my favorite restaurants in town since they serve very simple, classic food in a setting that will make you think you're not in the States.
- Yellow Belly: Laid-back local spot. Good food, reasonable prices, consistently decent beer selection.
- Woodstocks: Located in Isla Vista, the college down adjacent to UCSB. Worth mentioning for their great rotating taplist.
- Blue Owl: Not really a beer destination (their beer selection is fine), but their food is awesome. Plus they're open until ~2am on weekend nights which can be useful.
Unfortunately Santa Barbara gets skipped over a bit when it comes to distro, so if you're from LA or SF nothing will be that exciting in comparison. Nonetheless, here are the best places for beer to-go:
- Lama Dog: The best bottle shop in town, bar none.
- Bevmo: There are two Bevmo locations in the Santa Barbara area: one in downtown Santa Barbara and one in Goleta. They have a pretty solid shelfturd inventory and occasionally get good limited distribution west coast beers. Good prices.
- Whole Foods: A good option as well. Everything is refrigerated, and they have a good local mix in addition to regional/national beers.
- Keg and Bottle: Located in Isla Vista. Really weird spot - look out for under- or over-priced beers, 2+ year old unrefrigerated IPAs, and awesome limited beers that have no business being on the shelf in a college town.
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