Best Craft Brewery

LEONARD ORTIZ, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Friends gather in the outdoor area at the Salty Bear Brewing Co. in Costa Mesa to enjoy a cold beer after work. The Salty Bear Brewing Co. has been voted the Best Craft Brewery in the Orange County Register’s Best of Orange County.

1. Salty Bear Brewing Company

2948 Randolph Ave., Unit C, Costa Mesa; 714-486-2165; saltybearbrewing.com

This 4-year-old establishment prides itself on its California roots, while — at the same time — taking a Midwestern weather approach to its beer selections. That is, if you don’t like a certain day’s brew fare, wait a day and it will change.

A sample day’s offering included standards such as a milk stout, lager, a porter, a blonde ale and five IPAs. It also includes a guava Kolsch, toasted coconut pale ale, a red ale and a strawberry wheat beer. Riding shotgun with those in these times was a cherry lime hard seltzer. A wild bear white ale just joined the list.

Beer prices are reasonable for craft breweries: $4.50 for a half-pour, $7 for a full pour. Salty Bear also sells 32-ounce “crowlers” of your favorite beer: ranging from $11 to $13.

The Salty Bear offers outdoor seating and is pet-friendly. But seats fill up fast, especially on the weekends.

The place can get crowded and hard to navigate at times, so picking and choosing your spots goes handin-hand with picking and choosing the days your favorite beers are available.

As for the food half of the equation, Salty Bear doesn’t have a kitchen. But the brewery has an agreement with The Camp and five nearby local restaurants offering everything from pizza to pastries to Vietnamese food. Order food while enjoying your beer and it will be delivered to your table. — Brian Robin

2. Brewery X

3191 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim; brewery-x.com

“X” truly marks the spot of this independent craft brewery located on the La Palma Beer Trail. According to the website, the X “represents and is about crossing paths, coming to a juncture and ending up where you want to be.” That helps explain the brewery’s commitment to community service and the more than a dozen nonprofits it supports.

At Brewery X, you’ll find an expansive beer list, one putting the 37 beers into categories for easy reference. Want a triple IPA? The TIPA and its 9.5% alcohol content await you. A rice lager, the Panda Pool Party? Check. There’s also such eclectic choices as the S’Mores King John, an imperial coffee porter with marshmallows, the You’re Turning Violet, Violet, a Bavarian Hefeweizen with blueberries, and The Tour Time with Serrano Peppers, a dry-hopped German kolsch.

Its seltzer menu runs five deep, including a “hardest seltzer,” the 10% Jungle Juice.

3. BJ’s Restaurant Brewhouse

Multiple locations; bjsrestaurants.com

It started with pizza. In 1996, this pizza joint branched into brewing. Fast forward 25 years and this national chain has pulled in more than 220 awards for its various beers.

And when we say BJ’s branched into brewing, we mean the entire company. Led by Senior Vice President of Brewing Operations Alex Puchner, brewing is a separate and distinct department at BJ’s. It operates its own R&D facility in Boulder, Colorado, that experiments with more than 60 beers every year. Only a few make the cut into national release.

Those come from one of seven brewing facilities located in five states spread around the country. The breweries produce BJ’s 11 signature beers, along with seasonal selections.

Each BJ’s restaurant is staffed with what the company calls “a BJ’s Brew Genius.” That staffer is trained in all matters beer: from the brewing process of each BJ’s offering to what beers go with what food.