Ah, Long Beach. The southernmost point of Los Angeles County. Home to Snoop Dogg and Billie Jean King. And also one of the most reliable places in Southern California to drink beer, with (perhaps) more great breweries per square mile than any other part of the county. These are our nine favorites.
Beachwood Brewing
210 E 3rd St | Long Beach
More InfoNo brewery reps the classic West Coast IPA better than Beachwood Brewing, led by brewmaster and co-owner Julian Shrago. They make complex, well-balanced beers of all styles, from their long-running New England IPA 28 Haze Later, to Udder Love, their milk stout, and Mocha Machine, their double coffee porter. But where they excel the most is in their wildly diverse WC IPAs. From flagships Citraholic and Amalgamator, to their one-off experimental creations, they each have a unique balance of bitterness, floral notes, and bold hop aroma. Since opening their original brewpub in 2011, they’ve expanded into a mini-empire, with locations in downtown Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Garden Grove, and an upcoming location at 2nd and PCH.
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More InfoAmbitious Ales
4019 Atlantic Ave | Long Beach
More InfoOn Atlantic Ave in Bixby Knolls, Ambitious Ales opened in 2019. Founded by five friends who just loved craft beer, this brewery is a great place to gather with your own friends – they have a ton of outdoor seating, with a front patio and a back parking lot beer garden, and an upscale industrial indoor tasting room. Of their core beers, Central Perk, a blonde with coffee beans, and Fleurs, a fruited table beer, are the winners.
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More InfoFicklewood Ciderworks
720 E Broadway | Long Beach
More InfoLong Beach’s first – and only – cidery was founded in January 2020, and fans of craft cider – and beer – will find a lot to love at Ficklewood. Two LBC locals, Stefan Enjem and Joe Farrier, opened this East Broadway spot just before the pandemic hit. Ficklewood’s ciders are all naturally fermented and beautifully dry. They don’t make just apple ciders, either – they’ve got a blackberry cider, a beet and date cider, and a dry-hopped cider made with Mosaic hops grown on their roof.
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More InfoTrademark Brewing
233 E Anaheim St | Long Beach
More InfoNow a Long Beach classic, this brewery located in a former auto repair shop on Anaheim Blvd really nails crushable beers. Generally, they don’t try to knock your palate out with huge flavors, but instead focus on perfecting subtle, classic beers – Common Core, for example, is a malty, mild, and very drinkable pale ale. Their fruited sours are also highly worth your time – check out the blueberry-loaded Violet Smash, made with local fruit and Meyer lemon zest.
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More InfoTen Mile Brewing
1136 E Willow St | Signal Hill
More InfoFounded by father-son team Dan and Jesse Sundstrom, Ten Mile is a true family operation. This Signal Hill spot covers a lot of ground, with everything from beers for hop heads – like the Trail Marker, their Citra, Amarillo, and Centennial hopped West Coast – to all kinds of crispy beers. One especially notable thing about Ten Mile is their commitment to brewing historical styles of beer. Hidden Hollow is a pre-Prohibition style called a Kentucky Common, brewed with the same ingredients it would have been more than 100 years ago.
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More InfoBrouwerij West
110 E 22nd St | San Pedro
More InfoThough not technically in Long Beach, tiny San Pedro’s Brouwerij West is close enough to warrant a visit for anyone in LBC looking for great beer. With excellent distribution throughout LA County, chances are that you’ve tasted Brouwerij West more than a few times at your local beer bar. But if you haven’t been to their San Pedro Harbor taproom and brewery, it’s high time for a visit. Serving out of a WWII-era warehouse, these beer magicians have more than 21 beers on tap, including hazy IPAs, a märzen, multiple pastry stouts, and their own line of hard seltzers. Along with their tap room, they have plenty of covered outdoor seating, and weekend food pop-ups.
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More InfoBeachwood Blendery
247 Long Beach Blvd | Long Beach
More InfoThough technically an offshoot of Beachwood, the Blendery deserves separate recognition for its tremendous commitment to the lambic style. All of the barrel-aged sours here are made from the same mixed fermentation base beer, with unmalted wheat and aged hops. Their blends are too numerous to count, but any true sour nerd will be in heaven at their downtown Long Beach location. They’re currently closed for the pandemic, but you can get their beers on draft or by the bottle at the Beachwood Brewpub around the corner.
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More InfoLong Beach Beer Lab
518 W Willow St | Long Beach
More InfoRun by husband and wife team Levi Fried and Harmony Sage, Long Beach Beer Lab is a brewery, a bakery, and a pizza joint all rolled into one. Their four-year-old North Wrigley tasting room has 21 beers on tap, all of which will go extremely well with one of their wood-fired pies. Recently, the West Coast-style IPA program here has been especially excellent. They’ve also started up a barrel-aged program that goes toe-to-toe with any in the city.
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More InfoNow It's Your Turn
Have you hit up the Long Beach beer scene recently? Let us know your favorites here in the comments or over on Instagram at @hoppedla.
2 thoughts on “The Best Breweries in Long Beach, CA”
I was curious how the LB best brewery of 2021 didn’t make the list?
Which brewery are you referring to, Dennis?