Editorial
The Los Angeles craft beer scene is California's deepest. The list below shows why.
Beachwood brews some of California's most decorated beer out of Long Beach, where the brewpub pairs its own IPAs and the well known Hop Saint with smoked meat plates. The Seal Beach original is long gone, but the Long Beach taproom carries the name. It is a beer first room with proper food. Go hungry, order fresh off the board, sit in.
Father's Office is Sang Yoon's Santa Monica institution, a no substitutions gastropub with around three dozen taps and the Office Burger that built its reputation. The downtown branch shut in 2025, but Montana Avenue and Culver City keep the flame. The burger rules are strict and there is no ketchup. Go for the burger and a West Coast IPA, and follow the house rules.
Common Space pours award winning beer from its Hawthorne taproom, a family and dog friendly warehouse with a pizza kitchen and a wide, fresh board. Founded in 2018, it expands to Highland Park in 2026. The beer is the point and the room is easy. Go for a fresh hazy off the tanks, bring the kids and the dog, stay for a slice.
Highland Park Brewery started behind a bar in 2014 and now runs a proper taproom and kitchen near Chinatown, turning out hop forward beer and crisp lagers that win serious respect. It draws a beer nerd crowd without the attitude, and the food holds its own. Go for whatever lager or IPA is freshest, and settle in for a few.
The Surly Goat has been West Hollywood's beer geek den since 2009, a dark bar only room with a rotating wall of taps and rare bottles and no kitchen to distract. It opens evenings, stays late and keeps the focus on the glass. Bring an appetite for beer, not food. Go late, order something obscure and let the bartender steer.
The Glendale Tap keeps an old school beer bar on San Fernando Road with 52 rotating taps, cask ales, bar games and a planted beer garden. Food trucks park up most nights and outside food is welcome, so the night runs long. It is unpretentious and beer led. Go for the tap wall, the garden and a truck taco on the side.
Beachwood and Father's Office are essential. Most peak between 8 and 11 PM.
Tom Callahan covers craft beer, pubs and live music. Value conscious, suspicious of anything overpriced, always one eye on the match.