Mad River Brewery Taproom

10 taps: 8 house plus 2 guest ciders. Great barbecue. Smells great. About 5 miles out of town. Dropped by after trying to visit Powers Creek brewery, which just a casino bar pretending to be a brewery to bring in customers.

Visited February 2018 as part of a birthday trip up to the Redwoods. Small tasting room with a handful of bar seats and some tables as well. They had a separate area as well, but we had seats at the bar so didn't really check that out. They do food here, typical pub food, and got an order of fries to eat while we tried some beers. Having mostly only ever tried random stuff from BevMo or whatever, I wasn't sure what to expect, but I thought they had some pretty solid beers. Definitely worth a visit if you're up in Humboldt.

They have taken over the parking lot for Covid, but don't think they should ever reverse ground on it...it makes it feel like an awesome outdoor beirgarten. Staff was friendly, but the new guy taking my order was more worried about learning the POS system than giving me beer suggestions. Cool selection of stuff at the taproom you can't find anywhere else from them, so definitely worth a stop if you're in coastal Humboldt county.

Stopped in last summer on the way down the coast. Small town feel with pretty plain decor. Service was friendly and prices where good. Nothing too crazy on tap but had some samples of various things. It was a quick stop but was worth the drive off the 101 for a quick visit.

Great brewery tour! They are using the old equipment from Sierra Nevada, process looks still being very manual. Also the tap room is quite nice and the beers are ok. Due to the equipment a must place to visit.

Visited this place during my vacation, I am really not a big fan of Mad River, but I am glad I stopped by. The place is rather uninteresting and clean. They had some experimental beers, which I was glad to try, the bar tender was really nice, and a fellow beer nerd. I would recommend visiting if you are in the area.

Stopped in here the afternoon of 8/5/10. Cool looking place with about 10 brews on tap. The guy pouring was really cool and told us where we could score some good bottles in the area. Solid beers all around with the Le Peche, an experimental sour beer with peaches, as the standout. Very laid back place to the point that we even got an impromptu brewery tour with a brewer. Refreshing to see a brewery that has distribution still has some 5 gallon glass carboys in the brewery for their experimental stuff. They haven’t lost the love for the craft.

This newly refurbished tasting room was pleasant for a few brews, but maybe a tad sterile because of its unworn furniture, walls, etc. The house beers are often potent and flavorful, although the Belgian attempts don’t really please me. This is out of the way, even for Blue Lake, but if I were to drive by the area once more, I would stop by again to get a few pints. There simply is nothing else in the area with brews as solid as Mad River’s.