Seabright Brewery, Santa Cruz

Next brewery on the list: Seabright Brewery in Santa Cruz. I've heard about this place's Neighborhood Night for ages and wanted to go for the mere cheapness of it, but never got around to it. Until now.

I went on a Sunday afternoon, which is their nothing day, like most places. No deals, but there was an "important" football game on so it was still quite packed. This forced us onto the outdoor patio area, which was spacious and nice, but cold even with the outdoor heaters. Now, I don't really know what I was expecting, but this is what I was hoping: a new divey brewery in town where I can hang out by my onesie and do homework or read or write or chat with the barflies. This is what Seabright is: a large bar/restaurant that leans towards restaurant that happens to have its own specially brewed beer. That's vibe only. I mean, it pretty much feels like a sports bar filled with bros. I went tonight for neighborhood night and this fact was confirmed. But, this blog is less about ambiance and more about beer so let's get to it.

Above you can see my first beer of the day (and my second). It's called Johnny Bravo named after the Bravo hops used for the brew. It was a golden pale ale, nice and hoppy and citrusy, with crystal and munich malts to add a nice sweetness. It is heavy with a pleasant viscosity, a texture that lingers, you know. It's not dry and light like their Blur IPA. It's satisfying with a bangin' body.

This dark devil was their oatmeal stout. I used to love this variety of stout, but the last several oatmeal stouts I've tried have been meh. I'm not into the Firestone Velvet Merlin, nor the Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout. I guess the one I used to drink was by Votive Light and who knows if I would still find it tasty. This particular brew from Seabright was aight. It had the sort of stale sourness I typically find in this type of beer, but it was palatable.

Here's a happy Blur drinker.

This lady enjoyed her secret something or other (I'm sorry, I can't remember what it was, but it was a wheat beer specially served as a guest beer).

That little cup there is a Desmond. It comes in a 12oz cup with a 10.2% alcohol content if I remember correctly. It was actually quite tasty - a nice Barley Wine beer. If you really want to know about it, go here: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/seabright-desmond/116109/. These guys seem to have more to say about than I do.

But wait! They serve food! So much food! Such good food!

Below: Alison's Shroomer burger with garlic fries.

Below: Jessie's carrot soup with bread.

Below: My Cali burger and pesto fries.

The fries are great at their basic level, but you can get them with many variations. My pesto fries were a bit over-saturated, but still enjoyable. The garlic fries didn't seem to be combined enough in terms of flavors. It was like one bite was a fry, the next was raw garlic. My burger was delicious, but I really don't know if it was worth $13. I guess it was $13.50 for burger and pesto fries together, but still.

This brewery has a lot of deals and their neighborhood night is a great time to take advantage of them at night if you're not into the 3-6pm happy hour thing. Can't beat a $7 pitcher.

Overall I'd give this brewery a 7/10 for brewery food, a 6/10 for beer, an 8/10 for deals, and 3/10 for vibe. I'll be back.