Latest reviews from Soquel

“Conveniently located in south Santa Cruz near Discretion brewery. Wine flights for $15 and reserve wine for $20. I, instead, was there for mead, which wasn’t available in tasters, so I bought a bottle of raspberry mead. They only have 3 meads, regular and sparkling, which are available in Total Wine, and the raspberry, which I haven’t seen elsewhere.“

wetherel 1017 days ago

“Great place to visit in the Santa Cruz area. 12 beers on tap. 6 x 3oz taster set for $11. Great deal for raters. Some nice BA beers and sours on tap; also in bottles. Highly recommend.“

wetherel 1017 days ago

“The best place for rating in the Bay Area during Covid. 5oz pours for $3-4 from 30 taps all posted on the website. Tons of bottles, which are pretty expensive. Of course the price of gas to drive here from Silicon Valley wipes out your savings, unless you bike here, which is an awesome 2.5hr ride from Los Gatos via quiet roads in the redwoods.“

wetherel 1396 days ago

“I figured it was time to add this place, as I’ve been here more than a few times. Driving by it today on a nice sunny spring day, the place was packed and i remembered why I only go there on off times. Always a good selection of brews, and you can put together your own tasting of small pours (5 oz) for a decent price. Nice bottle selection in cold box and on shelves, but a bit on the pricey side. Food is available on certain days from Carpos Restaurant, which is right next door and has a window opening up to the beer garden or you can bring it in with you. Small inside space with tables, and a huge outside space, some covered, with game areas, heaters, dog area, etc...“

larryLSB 2581 days ago

“Nice little bottle shop/tap house - only discovered on the day we were leaving the area unfortunately (but they did give us good pointers of where to go in SF). Good range of taps and friendly knowledgeable staff. Would have liked to have discovered much earlier.“

MyBeerySelf 2763 days ago

“A nice and strange place for sure.Gas station, grocery store, bottle shop and restaurant, all in one. I picked some interesting bottles and enjoyed a really spicy falafel at the patio. (Visited with my family July 16th 2016)“

Bryne 2833 days ago

“Cool spot with a nice outdoor seating area. Food was a little pricey, but fantastic. Quick service. Beers ranged from ok With a few good’s“

slowrunner77 2852 days ago

“Visited on 02/02/15 to fill up with gas after Aptos BBQ. Gas station come grocery store with a solid range of beers at fair prices. Would love a gas station in the UK where I can just rock up and grab some bottles of Alpine ! A really good selection of beer on offer and I picked up half a dozen new ticks ... would probably have got more but for no Wi-Fi to check for rates! Good fast service at the tills. A solid option if in the area.“

Theydon_Bois 2927 days ago

“Visited after dinner at Aptos around 7pm on Tuesday 02/02/16. Modern place covered in glass with a mix of table and bench seating - the place was booming with locals largely eating dinner. I think Bytemisis had recommended this place for food but we had already eaten and admittedly the food looked pucker! Tasting flights and plenty of ticks on offer across the typical brew pub array of stiles but this is where the place falls down a little ... the beers were not great. Haven’t done my back log yet but they are going to be averaging in and perhaps below the 3.0 mark with a couple of real stinkers. Overall - go here and eat and get some cheap ticks via a tasting flight. Do not expect great beer!“

Theydon_Bois 2928 days ago

“Short detour on the way to SARA. Chaucers is a brand of Bargetto’s Winery, focused on flavored wine and a couple of meads, which is what motivated the visit. The place is off main street in Soquel, but it feels more rural than that, even though it is like a block past the school. Sizable parking lot, so no problems there. Fairly nice setup with a gift shop selling wines and other knick knacks and a tasting room in back. The tastings are obviously wine oriented, and I was a bit dismayed to find that neither flight choice includes the meads as pours. When I inquired about the meads, the bartender said that he was happy to pour me samples of both at no charge, however. He did seem a bit surprised that I was ONLY interested in the meads. The first pour was their straight mead, but it was spiced up with a teabag like spice satchel and served cold. It was not bad, but of course it was unrateable at that point. He did not have an "undoctored" bottle open to pour from, but I am guessing I could have convinced him to open one if I was really interested. He then poured me a sample of the Raspberry mead, which is better than its reviews IMO. All in all, this can’t score that well purely from a beer/mead standpoint since it only brought me one rateable mead sample, but its a nice place, and if you don’t mind mixing some wines into your alcohol budget, well worth the stop.“

bytemesis 2948 days ago

“I found 7 beers new to me - bombers. Some local to the store, some from the NW and my own area. These guys aren’t foolin’ around. It’s right off Highway 1. No reason not to take the exit!“

bhensonb 2950 days ago

“Unpretentious gas station store with a pretty solid beer selection. Very much self serve, but the choice is there and the prices are decent. Not worth going out of your way, but definitely worthy.“

JulienHuxley 2992 days ago

“Very nice pub not too far from Sante Adairius. Ambiance is good, nice clean place. Food looks delicious, didn’t try any because we had just eaten but would definitely try it out if I returned. I probably won’t though because the beer was quite awful. Oh well.“

JulienHuxley 2992 days ago

“Unfortunately, the beer here was not very good, so I would struggle to recommend it. Many/most of the beers we had were held back by flaws. The flight, thankfully, was relatively inexpensive. The food looked good although we weren’t eating on our visit. The ambiance is a little funny, certainly a bit industrial, which seems somewhat incongruous given they are also effectively a restaurant; but overall, it’s a pleasant location to have a beer. Not a place I am in a rush to visit again.“

Leighton 3000 days ago

“Stopped in here for gas and, naturally, to pick up some beers. The selection is quite solid, with a strong showing of CA breweries, along with other US stuff and some imports. I thought the pricing was fair. Good service - one guy offered to give me any help with the beers, and I asked him if he wouldn’t mind breaking a six-pack so I could just buy a single bottle; he obliged and priced the single for me, which I thought was awesome. Overall, not a must-visit destination, but a great option if you want to get gas and beer in one go.“

Leighton 3000 days ago

“Spacious, airy interior with an industrial feel. Cheap flights, which however were served on muffin tins, which felt cheap and unprofessional. Beer went from awful to almost mediocre. Very low quality with the same flaws in every one of them. The food did look great though, saw some solid ramen bowls. I might go by for food if I’m in the area again, but order water instead of beer.“

VsXsV 3024 days ago

“For a place called Discretion, the building doesn’t fit. It’s a tall, bright red aluminum building with neon signs and big windows. It has a very metal, industrial feel on the inside. The flight was pretty cheap, and served in a muffin tin. The beer wasn’t great. The Thursday evening crowd was large, but everyone had a spot. The food that went by looked amazing, and the word is that it’s all excellent. They would be well served to bring the beer up to match it.“

phaleslu 3025 days ago

“Nice little market attached to a gas station in the Santa Cruz-Aptos-Capitola-Soquel corridor, just off 101. Some nice food aisles and a beer aisle at the end, crowded but full of good stuff. Prices aren’t too bad for the area, and there are some good finds to be had. Of course, my group didn’t need any bottles because of the hundreds we had back in the hotel room, but that didn’t stop the rest of them from loading up. The checkout line gets long but they keep it moving fast. Good place.“

phaleslu 3025 days ago

“Surprisingly little spot attached to a gas station. Selection is not huge, but what they have is impressive with lots of imports and fun stuff. Pricing is OK and being a convenience store help wasn’t really an option. A neat spot that gave us some good beers for the evening.“

Ferris 3027 days ago

“A nice working brewery with an open airy feel and nice patio. Service is counter and seems OK if a little slow. Beer is pretty bad, but there are lots of cheap ticks to be had. The food looked amazing though and people around us were very pleased. I would go back for the food.“

Ferris 3028 days ago

“This is an update, as the food portion of this operation has changed, for the better: "The Kitchen at Discretion is under the ownership and direction of Head Chef Santos Majano. The Kitchen at Discretion serves beer-focused, farm-to-table comfort food made in-house" The head brewer continues to put out new brews, I’d say with the food availability, it is a must stop in the county and being kid and dog friendly (on the patio) is a big plus. “

larryLSB 3336 days ago

“Wow, hard to imagine this place has no reviews yet. I stopped in on a Saturday afternoon after SARA, and it was pretty busy. Large outdoor seating area, beer garden style with long picnic tables. Also a fenced off dog area. Smallish bar inside with, as the place name implies, 30 beers on tap. Emphasis was on West coast when I was there at least, with a pretty good selection. Everything available in a full or 5 oz pour. I did not ask about flights.They are also a bottle shop, and have a row of coolers as well as a row of shelves, with a pretty good selection of beers. Lots of Cascade, including things like Sang Rouge that aren’t actually distributed her to my knowledge. They also had Stickee Monkee, which is the first I have seen of it. Prices were pretty high; a buck or two above other places, but the selection was good. Service was prompt and friendly. Seems like a quality place.“

bytemesis 3659 days ago

“First off - it’s overshadowed by SARA just to the south in beer quality. Just about any brewery would be. It’s got some very nice beers, a nice, sunny, open, pleasant tap room, nice staff, good food and reasonable prices. “

HughConway 3778 days ago

“good sized tasting room in the back of the lot. a small patio, a few seats at the bar, and some tables to sit at as well. they had 7 beers on tap and they were all half decent at least. not a great brewery, but serviceable. pretty convenient stop if you’re on your way south to sante adairius.“

brokensail 3819 days ago

“pretty small little convenience store type place but a solid selection. noticed a lot of Mikkeller beers, some local stuff, 3 Fonteinen, and lots of hoppy beers. Didn’t seem to be anything to crazy as far as pricing goes, all pretty normal. definitely worth a stop if you’re in the area.“

brokensail 3819 days ago

“Visited June 8, 2013.

I wasnt expecting much from a gas station convenience store and I was pleasantly surprised. We stopped in for gas and snacks mostly after leaving Sante Adairius. I found some neat beers there including a bunch of Mikkeller and some Anchorage beers in addition to the rest of the usuals. Prices were about "right" for the expensive brands like Mikkeller. I was tempted to pick up a few things that hadnt made it to LA yet but I didn’t want these hoppy beers to sit in the car all day.“

t0rin0 3961 days ago

“Visited June 8, 2013.

This is a new brewery and they’ve certainly put some money into it. The building is pretty big and they have a smaller patio outside that is very nice. Lots of plants, picnic tables, and a few benches with a few hop plant scattered around the property.

We tried seven house beers and got a glass of the saison. The hoppy beers were decent and the saison was nice. It’s a convenient stop on the way to Sante Adairius and it’s on the same street as a number of liquor stores.

I’ll have to give it another try in a year to see if the beer has gotten better.“

t0rin0 3961 days ago

“Stopped in prior to a visit to SARA. Nice little place with indoor and outdoor seating. Six taps running when I was there (but one was blown). Food menu is a bit sparse, but interesting. I enjoyed my chili. Beers are decent to good, no real standouts, but nothing sucked either. Great and knowledgable staff were friendly and happy to help. Prices decent as well. Definitely will go again.“

bytemesis 3969 days ago

“Stopped in here while visiting the beach with the family. Nice place! It’s tucked away on a side street off the main drag right across the street from a shopping center. They have a nice porch area with some tables so you can enjoy your beers in the sun. Inside they have a bar that faces the brewhouse. The wall is see-through so you can check out whats going on. Pretty cool. The decor was pretty simple with lots of natural light coming through. The service was very friendly and prompt. I didn’t try any food, just got a sampler of all the house brews. They were all pretty good, with none standing out as exceptional. The Rye IPA and English Brown Ale stood out to me as very nice beers. Overall, this is a nice stop for some tic’s in a beautiful area.“

joeneugs 3991 days ago

“This place its a real hidden gem. Not a huge selection, but very high impact value, and the prices are amazing - we are talking city beer good; better than anything in the south bay. Golden blend for $21? Awesome.“

bytemesis 4086 days ago

“It’s a gas station convenience store that has one of the better - and arguably the freshest - selection of beers in greater Santa Cruz. Tilted towards the IPA side of the fence, a few belgians and others. Some better food, but it’s a convenience store. With nerd beer.“

HughConway 4467 days ago

“Great store, have difficulty choosing between health food or convenient store food. Best concept ever. A convenient store that has practically everything u need.“

dougmaher434 4477 days ago