The craft brewery scene can be intimidating. How do you know what to order if you aren’t totally sure what the difference between an IPA and a stout is?
OC Local Taproom is not only trying to make craft beers more approachable, it’s trying to do so by putting local beers under one roof.
The 4,000-square foot space (plus an almost 2,000 square foot patio) tucked next to a Pilates studio in Laguna Niguel hosts 80 taps, with as many as 35 beers a week being rotated in and out. Sometimes they’re one-off beers that a local brewery will craft in small batches, but the majority of it is just the sheer amount of local craft beer available. And with that, comes educating customers who may not know a lot about what they like in a craft beer.
“We point people in the direction of beers they would enjoy,” OC Local Taproom owner and founder Patrick Thomas said.
But it’s not just beers that Thomas is bringing in. Wines are sourced from California wineries and all distilled spirits are also from California (with the exception of their tequila selection, which are from Mexico). Craft cocktails are made in five gallon batches in-house and if a customer is not feeling alcohol, cold brew coffee can also be found on tap.
Thomas has spent years thinking of owning his own bar and storing away ideas he would implement while gaining more than 20 years of experience in restaurant operations for other companies.
When the time came to be his own boss, he sold his house, worked on a business plan, and found the Laguna Niguel space to house his vision.
“We had to overcome a 20-year stigma of being two dive bars [in this location],” Thomas came. The renovations, which ended up costing roughly $750,000, took less than six months.
Branded tables, custom high tops cut out in the shape of California, a four-panel sliding door and a stool-less bar are just some of the features put in to radically open up the space from its previous tenant.
Thomas even thought of including a…
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