Latest reviews from Watsonville

“Finally got to sit down here. I visited here at the beginning of CoVid, but did not enter, as the experience is much better now. Flights of 5 x5oz beers for $12 is quite low for the Bay Area, but they are out of the way. Isolated in the middle many farm fields. A fantastic place to visit after pick yourself raspberries or apples nearby. Very nice cafe and farm stands a mile away. These brewers are quite skilled. Every beer was really well made. I should have got a crowler to go. Next time.“

wetherel 925 days ago

“Just like Slough Brewing collective next door, I really like the location. Today, the aroma is super thiol rich dank, not sure why, plus heavy wort brewing aroma. Cessa 152 trainers fly overhead every few minutes: “touch and go”. Awesome.“

wetherel 983 days ago

“I really like this brewery, though it is a little out of the way. Fairly large selection on tap of 17 beers and 10 cans. Tasters are a large 8oz at $3.50each. Next door to Santa Cruz Cidery for a bonus rate.“

wetherel 983 days ago

“Like brokensail mentioned, this place is only worth a tick, not gas or time. Some large microbrewery beers that you can find anywhere. Typical liquor store fare. Luckily for the tick-minded it is next door to Fruition.“

wetherel 983 days ago

“Thanks brokensail for entering this. I love the Staff of Life in Santa Cruz, and the Watsonville location does not disappoint. Easy rating next to Fruition and East Lake. Very good cider selection (got to enter a new Sonoma cider). Excellent selection pour-your-own grains, fruit, teas, spices etc. In the heart of the best growing climate in the world, the fruit and vegetable selection is fresh and diverse. Great place to visit if you are next door visiting Fruition.“

wetherel 983 days ago

“Really nice brewery and tasting room a bit off the beaten path and in a more agricultural area, which isn't that surprising in Watsonville. The building is quite nice and has sort of a big wooden cabin vibe to it, would fit quite well in the mountains, too. Parking in the lot is somewhat limited, but ample street parking. Pretty crowded on a weekend afternoon, but was able to find a spot to drink my beers. About a dozen taps on offer, but the tap list was pretty IPA heavy during my visit and I just went with a flight of a few different ones. Unfortunately, I didn't find the beers to be terribly enjoyable, which is a bummer since I had heard a lot of good things about these guys. The service and staff were very friendly and I liked the vibe of the place a lot. Given that so many others I know like their beer, I'll have to come back another time and give them another shot and hopefully it was just a bad day.“

brokensail 993 days ago

“Wasn't really intending on visiting this place, but as a happy accident, it's located right next door to The Slough Brewing Collective, so I figured I might as well make the most of the trip. Small warehouse space in a business park. They have a handful of barrel tables set up outside in a makeshift patio area. One orders from the small bar just inside the space. They have some barrels and equipment in the rest of the space. Eight ciders on tap as well as a slushee machine going. I went with the flight of 8 which I believe was $18, so not cheap, but a better deal than a flight of 4 for $12. Plus, more ticks...duh. I normally like drier ciders, but wasn't the biggest fan of theirs as they didn't really have much acidity or depth to them. The sweeter ones weren't bad, though. I probably wouldn't make a special visit down here just for the ciders again, but it's not a bad spot and you might as well hit this place if you're also going to Slough Brewing Collective and Fruition.“

brokensail 993 days ago

“Formerly Elkhorn Slough, this place has changed to be Slough Brewing Collective but has a lot of carry over in staff, from what I understand. They also happen to be right next door to Santa Cruz Cider, which I didn't realize. Makes this a two-for-one stop. A business park/warehouse brewery and tasting room. Like so many places still, no indoor service happening so they have set up a makeshift beer garden in the parking area out front of the tasting room with lots of different tables and barrels and such and some EZ Up tents for shade. Ordering is done at a counter near the entrance to the tasting room. Another place that does not do tasters/flights, but half pours are offered here. They do actually charge you exactly half of the full pour price, but it still gets expensive quickly paying $3 - 4 when you really just want to try a bunch of stuff. Given the circumstances, I didn't want to be a pain and ask them for a bunch of (free) small tastes of stuff, even though they did offer such. Grabbed a handful of different beers and while I wasn't blown away, I didn't really find anything to be completely awful either. The one double IPA I tried was certainly the worst of the stuff I ordered. Didn't make it through the whole menu because it would have cost me like $50 and I couldn't drink that much. This is a good spot to rack up a bunch of ticks since they make so many different beers, but bring some friends to share the load and don't expect Sante-level beer.“

brokensail 993 days ago

“Was drinking my beers at Fruition and thought this place might be worth a stop to see if they had anything of interest beer-wise, or just to grab a snack for the road. Inside I guess you could compare this to a Whole Foods type of market, though certainly nowhere near as corporate. The beer and wine is kind of right in the middle of the store and it looked like pretty much all of the beer is kept in coolers, a big plus. Was really quite pleasantly surprised by the selection here. A bunch of ciders from different places in the Monterey and Santa Cruz areas as well as some stuff from further away and even some interesting imports. Beer selection is mostly focused on Monterey, Santa Cruz, and Bay Area breweries. If you want Discretion cans, this is the place for you... They also get Russian River, if that is a thing people still care about. Pricing on booze seemed to be fair. Food items were definitely more expensive than you might find at a Safeway, Lucky, etc. So, not sure I'd do all my grocery shopping here, but it's definitely a good beer stop.“

brokensail 993 days ago

“Was already going to Fruition and spotted this place, figured I would check it out. Turns out it was already on RateBeer, which I guess is a good thing for my place tick count because I certainly wouldn't have added it otherwise. This place may once have had a half decent selection of craft/micros, but that does not seem to be the case in 2021. During my visit, the beer selection was mostly macro lagers, seltzers, and various alco-pops. A few random offerings from Golden State Cider, Alvarado Street, and Dust Bowl (of all things). They did have the more usual suspect, large, regional/national brands like Lagunitas, New Belgium, Sierra, and Stone, but so does Safeway. Skip this one unless you just can't help yourself.“

brokensail 993 days ago

“Brewery in a strip mall not too far from downtown Watsonville. If you're feeling saucy, there are also some other place ticks in this shopping center (one that no longer seems to be worthwhile, and one that is). The brewery and tasting room has a nice big patio set up out front with a number of tables. Order inside at the bar where they have a really nice selection of 10 house beers (though it seemed like capacity for more), as well as some guest cider drafts, wine, and some non-alcoholic drinks. Service was prompt and friendly during my visit. They don't do flights, but you can get half pours of everything. It ends up being fairly expensive since their default pour size is 12 ounces and many of the beers are $7 or $8 for that size and the small pour pricing is basically half the full pour price plus $0.50. In any event, I ended up trying a bunch of different things, particularly their sour beers. The sour stuff I tried was all fruited and was pretty well done. Unfortunately some of the other beers like an IPA, double IPA, and oktoberfest were not as enjoyable. I would definitely like to try more stuff from these guys as they seem to be capable of making good beer, but Watsonville is a bit of a drive, so hopefully I'll be able to catch them at a festival or bar closer to me.“

brokensail 993 days ago

“Pretty awesome place. A ton of taps (40), and about 6 doors of fridges of cans. Large patio. Large inside seating area. Cool crowd. Right beside the Watsonville airport. I have a pilot’s license, but haven’t flown in years. This would be a great place to land and hang out, though you have stay for 24hrs after a beer before flying again.“

wetherel 996 days ago

“I have been meaning to visit for a long time, and I was finally afforded the chance with a bit of batchelor time. Its about 20 minutes from SARA, so not a major detour. Fairly close to Corralitos. In an industrial park, down at the end. farily small space with a rollup door and a food truck outside. A few random tables and cushy chairs around. Bar is strictly for ordering. They had 6 beers on tap when I was there, and offered flights of all six, which I took. Generally unimpressed - nothing bad, but a lot of mediocrity. The standout was the dark sour.“

bytemesis 2433 days ago

“Second time here, on a Saturday mid-afternoon. Place is in an industrial park, not too far off of Highway 1 in Watsonville, Airport Blvd exit, which is one of the main drags in town. Since our last visit, improvements! Things have been moved around, with a side door installed to an outside area. There was a food truck parked outside which smelled oh so good, but we were there just for the beer. Place was not to crowded, but the weather was sketchy and the media had been putting out there that this was the storm of the decade and here we are in drought stricken California! Started off with the IPA, Goose Blind, my wife had the DIPA, Love and Marriage, and our friend had the taster tray of all 6 beers on tap (for $10). Michael Enos, the owner and brewer is making some nice small batches here, and it is worth a stop, but remember, only Friday and Saturday currently. If you are in town on those days, check them out, about 20 minutes or so from SARA.“

larryLSB 2699 days ago

“Quick place whore tick after stopping at Corralitos. This is your typical Liquor store in a shopping center area on 152, which makes parking a breeze. There is perhaps more craft beer than normal in such a place, but as B00by says, it is strangely spread out in several areas of the store, making browsing a pain in the butt. Nothing particularly exciting, but it might be worth a stop if you are in the area.“

bytemesis 3031 days ago

“Visited here on a Friday evening. It’s located on a stretch of country road outside Watsonvillle that I probably never would’ve seen if not for brewery searching. The parking lot is pretty small, but you can park in the dirt alongside the road across the street. Be careful making your way across though, as people go about 80 mph in this area. Inside there are some community tables in the center, maybe 5 or 6 seats at the bar and then a bunch of seats along the walls where they have a narrow shelf to set your taster tray. It’s pretty small, but there was enough space for a decent crowd to feel somewhat comfortable. The service was friendly and very fast. They do taster 5 beer taster trays for $8, so prices are ok. I didn’t ask about growlers. The beers themselves were all really nice. They were well made with no stinkers and a couple that were very enjoyable. Nice selection too. There seemed to be a lot of regulars there. A friendly crowd. One old dude in Giants gear told me I look like Matt Cain... never got that one before. Overall, I dig these guys mainly for the beer and not so much for the place, but I will definitely return for more, hopefully soon.“

joeneugs 3207 days ago

“Visited May 9, 2015.

Didn’t know about this place until recently. Kind of glad that I did though since it’s a nice place and they make some decent beers. It’s right in the middle of the farms. I didn’t realize that there was an agriculture in the Santa Cruz area (besides pot of course) but I guess this is kind of the edge of the Salinas area. I parked across on the street on the berm right next to what turned out to be a cilantro field. Smelled great. It inspired me to stop at some of the produce stands on the way down the hill into Gilroy afterwards. Anyway, it’s a nice area.

Inside they’ve got a bit of a rustic cabin feel. The paneling on the floor and the ceiling are nice. The place is open and seems to be popular. I was there early on in the afternoon and it was already somewhat busy. Despite that the bartenders were reasonably quick. Naturally I had tasters. They had two different pale ales that were decent, I wasn’t too impressed with the IPA, the ESB wasn’t bad, and the hibiscus saison was interesting if nothing else. I think they’re off to a good start but they do need some work. Since the new breweries keep popping up I’ll certainly be back in the area at some point.“

t0rin0 3306 days ago

“Fairly quick stop on a Saturday evening. The place was rocking, tons of people and a food truck outside. Staff was very friendly and helpful. They had taster flights of five samples for $7.50, pints and growlers of all their pours. Fairly simple ambiance, with a few tables and a row of bar seating around the outside. Beers were mostly pretty solid, actually. A place worth watching.“

bytemesis 3370 days ago

“The newest Santa Cruz County Brewery opens a tap room in Watsonville. This is located in the Pacific Firewood complex on Freedom Blvd, and its brand spanking new. Stopped by today, there were around 10 beers on tap, the place was packed, and the staff was hopping!. Had the Belgian IPA and the regular IPA, both very good. Cool new place in the South County. Taster flights are available also. The taproom is very well done, with nice wood tables and bars with stools. Will go back at a slower time and report.“

larryLSB 3399 days ago

“Visited December 1, 2013.

This is easy to find in a large shopping center along 152 / Main Street. The beer is spread out across the store on several aisles, end caps, and in several fridges. The selection is heavy on the Firestone, Stone, and Dogfish Head but there are plenty of other options as well. I spotted some Velvet Merkin and some of their new anniversary beer. There is also plenty of Rogue and Karl Strauss as well as some smaller breweries like some of the Santa Cruz breweries. The service was a bit weird. I didn’t have the same experience that the other reviewer had but I can understand being uneasy when the guy behind the bar looks at you but doesn’t say anything. Right before I left he finally asked if I needed anything rather than just staring. The selection isn’t bad and the prices aren’t terrible but I don’t know when I’ll ever be back in the area nor do I have the desire to head up just for this liquor store.“

t0rin0 3831 days ago

“This place is an average liquor store and might deserve a 50 or so if it weren’t for the blank to hostile stares from the people running the place and the lack of civil human contact. No hello. no thank you for your purchase, no please come back. Just stares like I’d wandered into Taliban turf wearing an American flag T-Shirt. Probably won’t ever go back.“

GIJOE 3910 days ago