Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing

Took a little trip down to SC last weekend to meet up with some buddies. We decided it would be fun to try out some sample beers at a brewery so we looked up some local spots and found SCMB. It was kind of hard for me to find at first, but if you’re more familiar with the area it shouldn’t be too bad.
It was PACKED when we arrived around 11:30. The actual lounge area where you sit is fairly small inside, but we still managed to grab a table by the window. They also have a good amount of seating outside, but that was all taken up when we arrived. I love the unique decoration that are thrown up on the walls here, it’s one of the things that stood out to me while I was looking around. We ordered four sample trays of beers for us to try and it was brought out to us on a cool wooden platter in only a few minutes. I’ll be brutally honest, since most of the beer here is brewed naturally I felt like a few of them were lacking something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on (similar to the gluten free beers which they probably were). That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy them though. They really do brew some fantastic styles of beer here.
I want to add that the people (not just the employees) are some of the nicest I’ve met around here. We probably started three or four different conversations with complete strangers in the hour or so we were there. Nothing like a cold beer to bring people together!
*side note* If you are more of a wine person, they have wine tasting and tours (I think) right next door. Not sure about the hours or anything, but it looked pretty cool.

Get the veggie burger. Best burger you’ll have this side of the Mississippi. I like the beer has organic ingredients as do a lot of there dishes. Service is friendly and they have ample outdoor seating. Dogs are welcome. I’ll be back!

Perfect place to stop after a MTB ride. Great atmosphere-​excellent beer & pretzel. Will be back!

We went there on a Saturday afternoon. Place was sparsely crowded. We had the samplers to try out. There was only one beer that we wanted to order a pint and that was also a seasonal.
We sat outside and tables were probably not cleaned for the whole day. Food stuff and stains all over. Mediocre beer, not a clean place, probably won’t go back.

I was treated to a trip here by my bff last night, and I was very impressed. This place kinda has it all… great ambiance, delicious food, tasty brews, great service. The area has a cool vibe, and I’m excited to go back. What more can I say? Check it out!

The ambiance and neighborhood vibes make it the best bar on the west side for sure. The IPA is solid, seasonal beers are a must. and its dog friendly/​nice to chill outside at when the weather’s good.

Just found this the other day, and it’s awesome.
This is a very popular brew pub ish place located westside santa cruz, just off the main drag. If you are driving on highway one going either north or south this is an easy stop to make. It’s especially good to retreat here after a west cliff drive sunset.
There is a super cozy inside area, but 90% percent of the seating is outside.
There are perhaps ten beer choices and because it’s california there’s about six wine choices, and about the same (6) number of cider choices. Also upon occasion, mead.
Be prepared to be sociable. The seating has tables, chairs and benches, but since this place is so popular it’s likely you’ll be sharing a space with somebody.
This place is both dog and bike friendly. in fact it’s got the largest bike parking area I’ve ever seen. It can accommodate easily 50 plus bicycles.
The food is outstanding if a bit sparse on variety-​there are only a handful of choices which don’t really change much, and the odds are they may run out of some popular items such as fries. This is especially true on Wednesday nights.
the beer doesn’t really stand out too much. It’s a good selection of honest beer. The ciders are where the creativity starts up, and the mead is exceptional. When in season.
Wednesday night is hands down the best time to do. Happy hour pricing includes five bucks for a liter, which is the best deal in town.
This is a super mellow place to chill and enjoy a pint or liter of beer with friends. Don’t know anyone? Come on down, you’ll find some here.

Very awesome, very chill spot to grab a beer with friends. Their sample is pretty cool which includes a variety of kinds of beer, and is served in a cool tray. Overall, their beers are fantastic, the seasonal flavor was probably my favorite, their double IPA. Didn’t get to try any of the food, but it was also cool to see that they had other drinks on tap like kombucha and root beer. The kombucha was pretty good. The servers here are also really friendly, and overall the place is very welcoming.

Got a flight of 8 beers and a pretzel– hot, fresh, and delicious. Very relaxed atmosphere.

Great variety of beers I think we’ve tried all of them the food is good, the atmosphere is very friendly great location and you can’t beat all day happy hour on Mondays and Tuesdays we are having a blast. .yup before 12 noon, …well 1155. it’s all good… already people drinking beer can’t beat that.

So the space here is amazing. I love the way they’ve converted the warehouse space into a great homey place to grab a nice beer or lounge outside in their outdoor seating. The bartender was super friendly. I had a great time here chilling with friends.
However, unfortunately, I have to give this place 3 stars. I was honestly not too impressed with the beer here. Perhaps I need to go and taste more of their beers, but for now, just know that the IPA here could use some work… not quite hoppy enough, with a slightly skunky finish. Bummer, because I really wanted to like this place… but honestly, I wouldn’t complain if I ended up here again haha. Just wouldn’t be my first choice.

Main issue is there is that despite the cool vibe I’m eating my food on a backless bench because they have very limited seating.

Nice place with good beer. Limited on indoor seating with a small area. There are benches and tables outside so it’s nice place to hang out if it is not too cold. They brew their own craft beer and have a pretty good selection. Out of the way from the popular SC spots but after your beers, you can walk a few blocks down swift to get to the beach. If you are coming from the freeway, head north on Hwy 1 past UCSC and turn left on Swift street. There are a few shops, wine tasting bars, great bakery and nice restaurant in the same shopping center. Plenty of parking in the back if the front lot is full and dog friendly.

We tried the flight and were pleasantly surprised! It was great to be able to try all the different beers the had to offer. All of the flavors were pretty good, but my boyfriend and I didn’t really enjoy either of the seasonal beers they had (the two double IPAs). The outdoor seating is super clutch for a warm day. I would definitely come back for any of the darker beers (the brown and the porter were so good!) if I was ever in Santa Cruz again!

Love love love how dog friendly this place is. Came in on a Saturday and yes, it is quite busy in here. Found a seat after a little looking and hung out drinking brews with our pup. Parking is plentiful and close by. They often times have live music or games playing on the T. V’s. We’ll come back when we are in the area.

Was introduced to this beer at the Santa Cruz bridal expo. We were like, hey lets check this place out and see if we want to serve their beer at our wedding. Made a date night out of it. Let’s start off with the location. I like how it’s in a hidden area, where the locals hang out. Get away from all the Boardwalk traffic. Very hip environment. Love the inside of the shop, really cool vibe. Super dog friendly, got to pet some dogs. Yay!!! They only take Ca$h only as payment, and there is an ATM inside in case you forgot?
With that said, we ordered the sampler @ $ 7. Out of all the beers, we liked 2. Not out of this world great tasting beer. Kind of sad, because we wanted to make this happen, but plan on not choosing this place for our wedding. I still think we will go back, and order the 2 beers that did call our taste buds attention.

This is bar has a lot of locals. It’s definitely more for the punk/​alt culture local but you get people of all sorts. Older folk, local biotech workers, skaters, punks, grad students, families, college students. The food, well… it’s just bad. It’s not their fault though, it’s provided by the bakery next door. I had some fancy hotdog that was pretty bad. Get a hotdog from the guy selling at the cart outside instead (if he’s there). This place needs some greasy bar food (bangers and mash, shepherd’s pie, carne asada fries, super greasy nachos, jalapeño poppers, some good fries, sriracha ketchup… etc). The brewery has a lot of character. It’s a place where you can go have a beer with a friend or two or just on your own.
Yes it’s cash only, but they have an ATM. So stop by an ATM or use their ATM. My father taught me to always carry $ 40 bucks in my wallet. I now impart that advice to you all. I know it’s super stressful to have to deal with the lack of a credit card.

The staff is always really friendly and the place has a good vibe. I like the people’s porter but wanted to try something different. The bartender recommended the seasonal oatmeal breakfast stout and it was delicious! It had me at hello.
The outdoor patio is growing but it’s a shame that it doesn’t get late day sun. Either way, I stop as often as I can when I’m passing through Santa Cruz.

I used to work at a brewery back in Illinois and this place reminded me a lot of their brews in that they appeal mostly to the over 40 crowd with a lot of very safe beers.
And that’s A-​Ok, 100% fine.
There isn’t a huge sprawl in terms of flavor (which is pretty apparent if you get the sampler) and nothing all that bold or super memorable, at least not last weekend when we came. They’re not trying to rock the boat with these beers and it’s clear that’s earned them a considerable fan-​base amongst the older area residents/​regulars and I think that’s great.
They’re the kind of beers that are mild enough in flavor and style to go with any kind of food, but necessarily anything I’d be hankering to drink without any edible accompaniment. Sort of the ambient music of beers.
We were hoping that they’d have the seasonal Chocolate Pumpkin Porter on tap, but it was still a bit too early in the season for that and it wasn’t until after we’d ordered (Cash only btw) that we saw there was an additional seasonal beer that looked interesting on printed note just off from the regular and seasonal chalkboard menu listing. Too bad we’d already gotten the seasonal brown just before we realized they already offer a year-​round brown ale offering… which was very different since most places who serve a brown have just one offering, but maybe the good people of Santa Cruz are more into browns (hehe) than other places and myself are.
Inside is pretty tiny, but absolutely in a cozy sort of way. You stand in a very orderly line to order and if you need help there’s no shortage of local regulars to offer you advice. Prices are very reasonable and I liked that they offered a nice selection of ciders as well as Revive Kombucha (my favorite), of which I chose to partake in a pint over any pints of SCMB’s own brews. I was really excited to see the kombucha option, but a little less excited when I saw that it was just poured out of the jug and not actually on tap, causing it to lack a bit of the effervescence you might be used to.
You can watch «the game» here or play a game on their single table-​top Pac Man game. There’s not a ton of seating inside but they’ve got a great make-​shift patio area outside with plenty more seating and places to chillax.

Luci N. & I had heard about another brewery on the west end, and our dogs were game (but not in a bad way). Off we went.
SCMB is in a classy industrial park (did I just say «classy industrial park») near the UC. Clustered in a group of buildings housing wineries, a bakery and the West End Tap & Kitchen (an immediate bookmark!), it has enough going on around it to make it a destination stop.
The setup is a bit broken up, with a tiny tasting room just up the stairs from the casual front patio. On the Saturday night we visited, the tap room was abuzz and a few brave souls layered up with their pooches outside.
$ 7 for 7×2 oz. tastings. We enjoyed the brews, the funky-​artsy ambiance and the vintage Ms. Pac-​man gaming table. Next time we’ll try a few more tap selections!
The down & dirty:
Food: 4 — Good selection of really good yeast bombs.
Setting: 4 — Casual, earthy and friendly.
Service: 4 — Knowledgeable and attentive.
Value: 4 — $ 7 tasting flight, $ 3.50 HH pours!
Date worthy: 5 — Wear flannel and hiking boots!
Bring your dog: Your dogs will howl for more!
Wow factor: 4 — Wine tasting, bakery and a tap room/​restaurant all within stumbling distance.