Ocean Ave Brewing

No Longer In Business

Lunchtime visit on 12th May 2015. Square roomed place with a covered patio area at the front. Huge screen showing Bayern Munchen v Barcelona dominated the inside, bar to your left as you walk in. Four house beers on tap plus some guests: I had a flight of their four and then a pint of the best one (in my opinion). Decent enough but nothing outstanding. Food was good and fairly priced (for Laguna Beach). Neat and tidy out on the patio. Sound too loud on the footie match. One wall was devoted to modern art, cool vibe from there: otherwise a basic sort of half beach bar, half sophisticated pub feel to the place. Service was fine, fairly quiet with maybe 10 customers max during our hour long stay.

Visited around 6.30pm on Weds 17/04/14. The place was pretty quiet bearing in mind it was approaching peak eating time, although most of the dozen or so seats at the bar where I pulled up were taken as where the outdoor patio seats, just the main inside that was dead. Medium sized single room venue with low level table seating, live sports on screens behind the bar and a fuck off big size TV sceen at the end of the main dining area. 4 house beers on tap - all pretty mediocre inoffensive offerings - at least you can get a taster here now on the house beers 4 x 4oz pours for a rather expensive $10 when you compare this to the likes of Pizza Port, at least Dick Turpin wore a mask!!! (He’s an English Highwayman - go look up if this means nothing!!). 6 other taps included Chimay, a Leffe offering, and a Golden Road beer amongst others. Certainly nowhere you’d spend time seeking out but if you’re in Laguna Beach for the night then somewhere to get some mediocre ticks!

I’m probably due for a revisit especially considering how many rateable places are in Laguna Beach now but I’ve been avoiding this place as it’s kind of a crappy place. It’s in a nice enough area and the interior is fine, but the beers were terrible. There is a large bar (which is where I sat) and a long walkway that goes to the bathroom area where you can see some large brewing equipment and lots of fermenters. I kept asking myself why they only had 3 house beers on tap (the red, the pale, and the DIPA) when they have all this capacity. I suppose the answer is that the beer is terrible and no one buys it. When I was there they didn’t do flights. I asked to try all the house beers and the bartender was confused. I explained to him what a flight is and he then asked if I want to try the Coors / Anheuser beers that they had on tap as well. I didn’t particularly want another taste of Bud Light and of Blue Moon so I politely declined.

Then, at around 8 pm some music started up, very loudly in fact. It was at that point that I realized that there was a DJ in the corner and that he had been there the entire time, just hidden in the shadows. Over the course of about 5 minutes the place completely filled up with people. It was an interesting site to see. The moms with strollers coming in with their kids had me laughing. This is about the point that I decided to leave.

The service was nice enough but clearly this is not a beer destination, despite being a brewery. Prices were a bit high. Also, getting here from 5 sucks. I took the toll road not thinking about it and had to dig around under the seats for some change just to get off the road. Parking in this area can be a pain too.

Was wandering around the beach area and stumbled across this place. Four house beers on tap with a few other beers (Bud, Guinness, etc.). Nice bar area, friendly staff, and the food smelled good, but didn’t eat. The ambiance was strange. It felt as though it was about to turn into a dance club at any moment (I later found out it does). Beers were just mediocre for the most part. Not worth coming back to.

I used to think this place was ok....live and learn. 2 beers of their own on tap and crap for the.rest. 7 dollars for a fair IPA. Yikes. Service was a joke...brain dead blond. Can’t speak for the food but some local reviews sujest you take your life in your own hands if you eat there. I don’t recall it being anything but average.

This is a small place near Ocean & PCH in Laguna Beach. When I was there they had 3 of their own beers (a red, an IPA and an APA) on tap. The IPA was pretty good; the other two were OK, none was worth going out of your way for. The service was excellent; one woman, Mary, was the waitress/hostess/busboy/bartender and she was on top of everything and very pleasant. The food was pretty good too. AFA guest taps, they had Chimay Grand Reserve, Newcastle, Guiness and two different Lindeman’s fruit beers (peach and razz) They have music nightly, check the calendar on their website (otherwise, the website isn’t updated often).

They usually have 3 or 4 house brews on tap, but only the pale ale in late May 2008. The Brussels Bistro and a BJ’s are within a block or so and are much better than this place.

This places sucked.......they did not have any...repeat...any beers of their own.....a brewery that does not have any of their own beers? huh?

On the OC post SAF tour, while the location itself is nice and near the beach, the beer selection lacked and the best beer was guest beers. Only had two beers of their own on tap and both were not very good. Supposedly the brewer is having difficulty and is also the general manager. Do not bother with this place.

Only 3 beers brewed on site available, including a pale ale and IPA. Neither of these really fit the description. They weren’t exactly bad, but they were kind of bland. The atmosphere was okay, but nothing special. Outside seating. Not worth a special trip.