"Sure, you can find Ballast Point IPAs at any grocery store these days—and the atmosphere at their harborside brewpub can sometimes feel like a tailgate party—but once you walk upstairs to their dockside patio, none of that matters. With panoramic views of the Long Beach shoreline, this is what drinking beer in California is all about. There’s more than enough room to spread out, drink one of the 30-plus options on tap, and claim your very own fire pit. The food is what you’d expect on a brewery menu: burgers, fish tacos, and flatbreads. Everything is solid and once you lay eyes on the Pacific off in the distance, you’ll probably forget what you ordered anyway." - brant cox, sylvio martins, nikko duren, garrett snyder