We are a couple of Aussies home brewers and certified BJCP judges coming over to good old USA in September/October 2025 for the Yakima valley hop harvest and GABF and a bit of touring around mainly West coast seriously looking forward to wrapping my laughing gear around some of the IPA’s over there and hopefully some home brewed ones too. We will be visiting Russian river, Sierra Nevada, and many more.
We are heading to Seattle, yakima Valley, Portland, Oregon, then driving down to San Francisco, from there flying to Memphis, then New Orleans, Houston and Austin, Denver, Colorado for GABF then flying to San Diego and driving back up to LA. Would love to hear of any must do breweries and some of those places.
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- Trinity Brewing in Colorado Springs.
- St. Arnold in Houston.
- While you’re in Texas, try to grab a few bottles from Jester King. I’m a big fan of their Petit Prince.
- New Orleans has had a number of craft breweries over the years. I don’t really know enough about any of them to recommend one over the others.
- Abita Brewing Co. in Abita Springs on the north shore across from New Orleans doesn’t get a lot of attention, but they’re one of the older (est. 1986) craft breweries in the US.
- It’s probably too far from N.O. to visit the brewery, but try to grab something from Parish Brewing while you’re in Louisiana.
- Ditto for Lazy Magnolia (based in Mississippi).
- Also in La., it’s not beer, but if you like whisk(e)y, try J.T. Meleck 100% rice whiskey.
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I don’t know much about the beer in teh places you are visiting but I know a little more about GABF and Denver in general in terms of beer. Feel free to hit me up if you have any questions
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There is no shortage of breweries in any of those locations! I think some of it is a personal preference thing, and a time thing. I am in SoCal, and still haven’t visited anywhere near to a majority of the breweries in LA and San Diego. I have some favorites, of course.
Some of it will be do you want to focus on big names, hidden gems, some combo?
For San Diego, you will get a lot of opinions, and probably different recommendations from different folks. I was down there a few months back, and had a wonderful experience at Deft Brewing (lots of great European style ales and lagers); Eppig Brewing is on the waterfront and has both great beer and great views of the harbor. There are the classics like Stone and others, of course. I had a good time at White Labs, which has a taproom with lots of cool split wort beers brewed with multiple kinds of yeast. San Diego is overwhelming, because it’s just got so much going on.
In Los Angeles, I really enjoy visiting Homage Brewing, and it is close to Highland Park Brewery (both are an easy walk from the Chinatown Metro Station).
For Denver, I give a hearty recommendation for Cohesion Brewing - excellent Czech lagers! Hogshead Brewery is another fun one (lots of cask ales - one of the few if only in the area - definitely unique pale ales and IPAs). Bierstadt has excellent beer across the board. And there are 10,000 other breweries (roughly) - another overwhelming beer town!
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My question from an LA perspective is - how much are you willing to drive and what do you like to drink?
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Enjoy all different craft beers eg IPAs, stouts, Belgians, wild spon beers, British, sours enjoy them all not fussy we will be driving all over the place miles aren’t to much of a problem
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Oh it’s not the miles that get you in LA, it’s the years on the road. 
Off the top of my head - if distance doesn’t matter (and double check the map: https://labrewersguild.org/)
- El Segundo Brewing Company for your all around hoppy stuff
- Monkish (Torrance) for the hazy stuff
- Smog City (Torrance) for the all around craft beer experience, plus they have a cohab partner in Cellador making mixed culture beers.
- Enegren (Moorpark) - for everything and anything Germanic.
- Highland Park Brewing (DTLA) - for the hopper side of things and they make one of the best West Coast Pilsners out there in Timbo
- Homage (DTLA) - right around the corner from HPB and they specialize in a lot of things, but got their start in Saisons
- Angeleno Wine Company (DTLA) - right around the corner from HPB and Homage and they make wines exclusively out of grapes growin in LA County. Lots of throwback varieties that survive our heat
- Macleods Ale (Van Nuys - “The Valley”) - originally focused on cask ales but they still draw one of the few cask pints you’ll find in LA.
- Shadow Grove Brewing (San Fernando) - tee tiny place, but I absolutely adore their stuff and the whole place feels like someone crossed woodcuts, edward gorey and Alice in Wonderland (a scary non-technicolor version)
- Hop Saint (Torrance) - great all around and still actually a brew pub. The beers I’ve had from them have been fantastic.
- Long Beach Lab (Long Beach oddly) - fantastic playful beers and grand bread
- Beachwood Brewing - an LA stalwart - be curious to see how they get on now that Julian Shrago, their founding brew master has moved up north
- ISM Brewing (Long Beach) - long time Beachwood brewery took over their old brewpub space in Long Beach. More hops than you can shake a bine at.
- Paperback Brewing (Glendale) - real success story of the last few years. Great beers with some fantastic marketing and art and the location is a classic LA WW2 Quonset hut
- Wild Parrot Brewing (Pasadena) - it’s my local, I have to stump for them, plus they make good beer.
Ok that should keep you busy. I’ve not include anything from Orange County, Riverside, Ventura, etc.
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You’ll get lots of great recs for Seattle and Portland, but there are some great breweries between those two beer Meccas. In Tacoma, you’ll find 7 Seas, E9, Sig, and Black Fleet close together in the Brewery District. If you only have time for one, I recommend E9.
Another 35 miles south is the state capital, Olympia, home to more great brewers. Downtown is host to Well 80, Three Magnets, and Ilk Lodge. For a single beer, I’d go with Well 80.
Now for your drive from Portland to San Francisco. It’s off the freeway, but if you’re really looking for the top Pacific Northwest IPA brewer, you must stop at Block 15 in Corvallis, OR. Sticky Hands is my favorite. Next up is Eugene, another place you’ll likely get some recommendations for. Perhaps Denny Conn, who lives not too far from there has some thoughts.
Happy and Safe Travels to you!
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Portland has a lot of great beer, but make sure to go to Great Notion for HazyIPAs and sours. In No. Cal. stop at Fieldwork. There is a hidden gem in an out of the way place (Suisun City, CA) - True Symmetry Brewing Company. On the way to San Diego, stop in OC or Oceanside at Green Cheek.
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If you do go to Abita, you might want to stop at the Abita Mystery House. Is a very quirky roadside attraction.
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Im in Austin and lived in LA .
Austin
Pinthouse pizza Burnet location. Development Brewery. Great Hazy and WC IPA.
Meanwhile Brewing. Great outdoor location. Amazing Hazy Ipa, WCIpa and Pilsner.
ABGB . Lagers, Helles, Pilsner
Jester King for wild Ales. Its farther out of town
LA
GREEN CHEEK BREWING for best WCIPA
Beechwood Brewing
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Hoping you have a wonderful trip through the US!
In Memphis area you’ll find several good options beginning with Wiseacre, then several others including Ghost River, Memphis Made, Flyway, Crosstown, and Meddlesome. If you’re hungry for pizza try Rock’n Dough Pizza & Brewery….their craft beer is great - made by HubCity Brewing in Jackson, TN……
Best of luck!
Good Austin list, but Live Oak is a must stop for me. Many more places there, Holdout Ybrewing has some good variety. No shortage of Texas BBQ places in Austin.
Oh, Yakima has Bale Breaker out by Moxee, the family has a hop farm, it’s surrounded by hop fields.
On the way back to Portland from Yakima hit Hood River as you go through the gorge. Options are Double Mountain, pFriem, Full Sail and many more.
Two I liked in the Eugene area are Coldfire in town and Alesong a ways out to the south.
Pelikan Pub on the coast is such a great location.
If you like hefes, German and Czech style beers then Live Oak is a must. They make great award winning beer.They also have a Frisbee golf course.
I personally don’t like wheat beers or most German dark style beers as a regular drink.
Cheers,
Duane Keel
The birthplace of Texas smoked brisket barbecue is very close to Austin. Lockhart, TX. The link below has information about Lockhart barbecue.
I’ve been going to Texas and eating BBQ for more than 30 years as we have family there. Lockhart has been eclipsed by the BBQ in Austin.
Look up the Texas Monthly top 50 BBQ places.
A trip to Austin would not be complete without a stop at Franklin’s. Is there still a line before it opens?
Interstellar BBQ is much better than Franklins with a shorter line.