Local Breweries I Visit For Craft Beer Favorites In Los Angeles

Sitting outside and enjoying the warm sun with a cold drink in your hand and good friends around you is one of life's simplest pleasures. Luckily, in Los Angeles, this is an activity you can do pretty much any time of year at any of the city's best breweries (perhaps before or after enjoying some of Los Angeles' best Mexican food). Having lived in Los Angeles for a decade now, I've gotten to know the craft beer selection pretty well while collecting my regular-patron badge from breweries all over the city. Even before that, I had become somewhat of a craft beer expert from obtaining my bartender's license and working in several bars in historic Massachusetts in my early 20s (as a way to make rent while attending college in Boston).

I've spent a lot of time in great breweries around some of the best beers, but of all the places I've visited over the past 10 years in Los Angeles, three stick out when considering the beer selection, the atmosphere, and the value, and they remain spots I continue to go back to time and time again. 

For a while, I lived right across the street from All Season Brewing, a fairly new brewery that was once a Firestone Tire supplier. This mid-city hangout still features the facade of the old car service shop, including the large Firestone sign that stands well above the building's immense roof. The spacious indoor-outdoor bar is a great spot to hang out with some friends or dogs in the summer or those mildly warm Los Angeles winter months — it's truly a great brewery for "all seasons."

As a frequent flyer, one of my favorite parts of All Season is there's never a wait at the bar. The menu changes with the seasons, but some favorites, such as the Bird's Nest, are staples on the beer list. The La Brea Quarter Mile is a nod to the brewery's neighborhood, described as bittersweet chocolate and roasted coffee. This dark stout beer is one of All Season's heaviest. For something lighter, try the Pils (a classic American pilsner) or the All Season Light (a lager), which tastes of sugar cookie malt and berries.

The outdoor patio is lined with picnic benches and sometimes a booth or two selling anything from records to ceramics. Inside, you find even more tables along with a wall of arcade games, such as skee ball. The real hidden gem at All Season is the built-in taco shop in the back — Chicas Tacos — that makes perfect brewery bites, including crispy pizzas made out of short stacks of flour tortillas.

Angel City Brewery is a classic, and among the most popular breweries in all of Los Angeles. Despite its celebrity, though, the space never feels too crowded, with tons of valuable square footage right in the heart of the Downtown Arts District. It's one of my favorite spots for a semi-quiet night catching up with friends over great beers and a gently used set of Uno cards. 

The LA Blonde ale (a light, crisp beer with a bit of a tart aftertaste) is my usual order at the bar, but you can't go wrong with the Angel City Pilsner either, which is delightfully smooth and refreshing. For something with a little more character and flavor profile, the Look-a-Yonder orange honey blossom kolsch is sweet and memorable, something quite unlike any other beer you've tasted before. Even better, one of my favorite parts of Angel City is that you can bring in food from elsewhere. Located pretty close to one of Los Angeles' best Italian restaurants, try to follow my example and pick up a nice meal from Maccheroni Republic before meeting friends here for a cold beer.

The Los Angeles River admittedly isn't all that impressive, but Frogtown Brewery just a few steps away certainly is. This rustic space has exactly what you'd hope to find in any elite East Los Angeles watering hole — delicious and inventive craft beer, a dog-friendly policy, and entertainment industry insiders hanging out at all times of the week.

Frogtown Brewery has some of the best seasonal specials of all time, including the Peach and Desist — my summertime favorite peach-and-passionfruit-flavored beer with quite a sour finish. Broken Vessel, Frogtown's highly sought-after pumpkin ale, is one I frantically look for all year long. While the menu tends to change fairly often, regulars like myself find some steadfast staples on the menu. The Kinky is a light and tasty blonde ale that goes down a little too easy. For fans of a darker pour, the Prince George is incredibly rich and satisfying with an almost creamy finish. I've also never been disappointed by a flight (a generous sampling of four different beers of your choice) from Frogtown.

While Frogtown Brewery feels like an eastsider's secret with an inherently cool atmosphere, its line of canned beers are also sold in select stores around the Los Angeles area. During the times when I can't make the drive to the Elysian Valley neighborhood, lovingly nicknamed Frogtown, I'll certainly pick up a case of the Apollo 18 West Coast IPA at my local liquor store.