Beer, Wine & Spirits in Newport Beach

Cozy candlelight and flickering lanterns cast soft shadows in 55 Degree Wine’s cellar, where waiters eagerly pair customers’ palates with weekly rotating wines. Featured on Best of LA Weekly in 2012 for its wine program, the winery stocks more than 2,000 labels, of which up to 60 are spotlighted in the cellar’s monthly lineup of pours. Though most vintages are Italian, ambrosias from Europe, South America, and other far-flung climes find homes in the shop after being tasted and approved by store owners. The thermostat, appropriately set to 55 degrees, helps keep elixirs fresh and patrons comfortable, but guests may wish to bring a sweater or particularly affectionate bear.

Since the first vines began to climb across Hamilton Oaks Vineyard in 1989, Ron and Connie Tamez have worked with a dedication to craft a selection of fine wines. Having sworn off pesticides and herbicides, the two collaborate with ladybugs and red-tailed hawks that thrive by devouring crop-threatening pests. After picking, sorting, and crushing the naturally grown harvest, Ron and Connie complete the Old World process by aging the wines in French oak barrels for 20 to 34 months, or until each grape sees its own shadow.

Visitors are welcome to sample varietals such as chardonnay, zinfandel, and cabernet sauvignon during tastings and tours of the Trabuco Canyon vineyard made by appointment. Tastings last between 45 and 60 minutes and provide guests with the opportunity to picnic with a packed lunch on the sun-dappled outdoor deck and purchase bottles for favored mailmen.

Having grown up on a farm in central Canada, Marlowe Huber already knew about crop harvesting and soil when he began making wine in the early 1980s. He refined his skills still further by studying oenology in Vancouver before embarking on his first wine-business venture with his brother, Darren. Together they ran two wineries in British Columbia for 15 years before opening Laguna Canyon Winery in 2003.

Today, staffers pour out a diverse selection of Laguna Canyon wines at two tasting rooms in downtown Laguna Beach and at the winery itself. Marlowe and Darren also collaborated with marine artist Wyland to create his Wyland Cellars label, whose bottles he adorns with colorful undersea scenes. Grapes for these wines are sourced from low-yield growers in Napa and Sonoma valleys, who cultivate subtle flavors by hand-picking and home-schooling their fruits.

La Jolla Brew House fills four to seven of its taps with its own craft beers, brewed in the 30-barrel microbrewery located on site. Within the spacious confines of the sports bar or outside on a patio, friends can gather to cheer their favorite teams, chow on pub food, and sip plenty of distinctive beers. In addition to rotating house brews—which have included IPAs and stouts—bartenders crack open bottles of specialty beers from Belgian breweries, where the machines are not made of waffles—they're made of crepes.

Twenty flat-screen TVs broadcast games of football throughout the interior of the bar, and the comfortable patio has one 55-inch widescreen TV as well as a fire pit. All of the eatery and drinkery's seating accommodates dining on burgers—including one topped with house-made guacamole and jalapeños—and slices of hand-tossed pizza. At select times, The Brew House offers tours of their brewery. The Brew House also prides itself on being pet friendly; in addition to a menu of "canine cuisine," which dogs can enjoy on the patio, the staff holds regular "yappy hours" that often promote local animal organizations.

When Robb MacLeod's home ran out of room for his hundreds of batches of home brews—and the award ribbons they amassed—he turned to the casks of professional breweries. Now the head brewmaster at Alcatraz Brewing Company, MacLeod crafts signature and seasonal beers, such as Weiss Guy Wheat, Penitentiary Pilsner, and the caramel-laced Big House Red, which patrons can confidently imbibe as indignant wolves attempt to blow it down. In the brewery kitchen, chefs slather burgers with garlic puree, sage stuffing, and roasted peppers, smoke pork with dark ale, and hand-toss thin-crust pizza. Amiable waitstaff ferry plates and beer flights to Alcatraz's patio and around the San Francisco–themed dining room, which includes a to-scale replica of the Golden Gate Bridge and a stray wisp of ever-lingering fog.

Though their shop stocks a selection of more than 300 wines, owners Bob and Heidi Fisher maintain their commitment to personally selecting vintages from boutique wineries. Inside the earth-toned walls of Salt Creek Wine Company's tasting room, visitors peruse the stacks of obsidian bottles or sidle up to the bar to sample the selection of wine flights, which, like the second hand on a tortoise’s watch, rotates weekly. The bar also stocks pairing bites such as charcuterie, artisan cheeses, and desserts.