Valiant Brewing Company

This week, I would like to continue this short trend of sharing my brewery tours. In this post, we'll take a look at one of the several local breweries in Orange County. Finally, a decent amount of establishments seem to be popping up all around. I love having more choices, and every one of them, to me, seem to be decent choices.

I attended the grand opening of Valiant Brewing Company on February 9th. From all the buzz I had heard, this place was going to specialize in high gravity beers. High gravity beers are the ones with the higher alcohol percentage. This seemed like an interesting concept because high gravity beers tend to be more of the special flavored drinks. 

The front office window. Most breweries seem to be based out of industrial parks. They were very easy to find.

When you walk in for the first time, you see what I saw in the next picture below. I was thoroughly impressed. I had never been to a grand opening of a brewery before. I had no clue what to think. They had a fairly decent setup. Unfortunately, you end up comparing these new guys with places you've gone to in the past. I've been to other places that were not as well equipped, like Packinghouse in Riverside  

Off in the back corner of the tasting room, they had a couple of racks full of barrels. I love seeing them because it makes me think that they have something cooking for the future.

On launch they only had three of their products on tap. Unfortunately, the state regulations in California prevented Valiant from making any batches until all of the inspection process was complete. It was a major bummer on all sides.

The beers that they opened with were 31 Kings (India Pale Ale) , Maverick's Mighty Ale (American Brown Ale?), and Veranda (French Ale)

Stairs leading to the top of the brewhouse.

Fermentation containers. Very cool to see that they had several. Makes it much easier to brew several batches at one time.

Their merch shelf. They had various T-shirts and hats as well.

It was a bummer that I couldn't get many more shots than this. It was incredibly busy. There was a long wait just to get drinks for awhile. I'll be heading back at some point soon to get some more pictures and give it another go. From what I could see on their website, they have several different styles on tap now as opposed to only three.

If you would like to check out Valiant Brewing, thier address is 

2294 N. Batavia St., Unit C, Orange Ca 92865

Phone Number 714-408-2825.

Their open ever Saturday from 12 Noon to 9 PM.

Valiant Brewing's Website

Figueroa Mountain

Strange brews, after paying all of my dues, were awaiting me on my return drive towards the King's Road in Buelton, CA from my short and prosperous, and non haunted but kinda creepy, trip to La Purisima Concepcion.

I was turned on to this brewery in my travels in the upper reaches of California, when I stopped in Pismo Beach. I was searching for a taste of what the locals were offering. After a long and difficult choice of about three or four brands, I picked up a Hoppy Poppy IPA. The most important deciding factor was the label design. A good label can make or break a product, and it did for me that night.

Figueroa Mountain Brewery, a short drive off the main path, was an odd looking establishment. From the images below, one would believe that it is snug and deep in the middle of the wild, but in actuality, its smack in the middle of a suburban commercial center. The exterior was most reminiscent of Stone Brewery As was their seating area of their beer garden. Much more impressive than the winery right around the corner. Many changes have taken place since the most recent street views on Google Maps.

The inside  of the tasting room was incredible. It seemed to resemble a lodge of sorts. The bar area was designed to look like a building inside of a building.with galvanized corrugated steel sheeting and all. I was thoroughly impressed with the design of the interior. 

Here are the flights I tried from them. From left to right: Red Rock ESB, Danish Red Lager, Hurricane Deck DIPA, Stagecoach Stout.

They had a great lineup, and for the most part, they all tasted great. Some I liked more than others, and others I might have had my hopes set a bit too high. If you are ever in the Santa Barbara/San Luis Obispo area, I highly recommend a stop by this great establishment. They have great prices and Its incredibly easy to get to on your way to or from Solvang. Unless you happen to live in the area, then I imagine, you've been there a few times.

Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. Website

Thanks for stopping by, and look for a continuation on my adventures on the El Camino Real.