Got Time for a Beer? Where to Get One in Orange County, CA

At one time beer was considered a manly drink, to be had while watching sporting events. Didn't matter if you were watching them in a stadium, in a bar or in someone's rec room-that was the stereotypical view of beer. These days beer is thought to be almost on the same plane as wine! Many venues have beer and meal pairings, classes to enhance your knowledge, the best of the micro-brews, etc..

In Orange County-home of several universities and community colleges beer is quite popular. Just about as popular as wine in Napa. My son, a former college student who also enjoyed the Greek life was more than happy to come along with me and his father and provide us with some of our areas better places to go for a meal with a beer chaser. In no particular order-these were some of the ones we thought were that notch above the ordinary:

The Alcatraz Brewing Company at the Block in Orange is a fun family friendly place. Lots of burgers and fries, but plenty of other goodies on the menu-all done in, what else? A San Francisco theme. Rather noisy, but what restaurant with "brewing" in it's name isn't. We had a great time and while my husband and son had one of the tap mugs-I stuck with some iced decaf coffee and I still went home happy.

The Yard House in the Irvine Spectrum in Irvine. This one has a wall (behind glass) of huge vats. Interesting-okay, I'm not a drinker, so I probably thought the look was cooler than most people there. In fact, most of the very noisy crowd didn't seem to notice them! Cement floors, lots of plasma TV's, and a 1/2 price appetizer menu from 3-6 p.m.. I mention the appetizers because they have some very unusual ones that are really quite tasty. My husband and I split the spicy tuna roll. It was like none other and definitely out of the ordinary. Our son explained it to us, since he and his girlfriend had already enjoyed it. Edamame on the bottom, mashed avocado and then the spicy chopped up sushi grade tuna on the top. It was molded into the roll shape. They also have three types of wings. My favorites were the grilled Jamaican with a spicy plum glaze. The best bet on the two types of sliders, both served with thin cut fries. They're only $5.95! I'm going on a bit here, mainly because the choices were different, tasty and gave plenty to share-except for the crab cakes.

The Pizza Port in San Clemente has been a fixture in this seaside community for the last 20 years they not only have the homemade micro-brews, but homemade root beer, ice cream and sorbets. Plus they have their own specialized appetizer called a Portzel. It's basically a giant pretzel with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, herbs and feta cheese. Gotta love a place that takes the time to make homemade soda and micro-beers.

My son-a former Anteater-wanted me to mention The Steelhead that resides close to his alma mater, UC Irvine. It's pretty fancy for a university brewery-featuring 15 state of the art barrels. My son had to admit, he and his fraternity didn't congregate there very much. But he did like the looks-sleek and lots of screens.

If you're into an evening of upscale food and beer-head out to Tustin. The Tustin Brewing Company has quite the fancy menu and some very intriguing sounding brews. And that's saying something-coming from a woman who really doesn't even like smelling the stuff.

If you enjoy good salads, burgers, pasta dishes and pizzas, plus a great tap beer to wash it down and have the kids with you-try any of the BJ's Restaurant and Breweries. There are three-Laguna Beach (summertime, you'll have to think about the tight parking availability), Laguna Hills near the Laguna Hills Mall and then Huntington Beach. Like the Alcatraz Brewing Company chain, this one is also very family friendly.

And since I mentioned Huntington Beach....

The Huntington Beach Beer Company. Besides the expected, this place has an 100" TV screen, live music (call ahead to know what kind, times and days) and for whatever reason-they boast having "fresh" beer.

Hopefully, that would be the case at all of the aforementioned venues!