Island Brewing Company

September 6, 2008
Good prices on a sampler of their beers, all in all they were pretty good, very relaxed place, I felt that it was a hidden gem for regulars, it was off the road and kinda hard to find without an address. Service was friendly and the guy pouring definitely knew his stuff. Definitely worth going to considering the fact that I haven’t seen any of their beers elsewhere on my travels.

July 17, 2008
I didn’t experience much of this place. I came in through a breezy back entrance, arriving upon a casual open air beer cafe. I tried the sampler, which was reasonably priced, and allowed you to select 5 of the six taps to try. All were interesting and very drinkable. What I liked: the accessibility (the owner was very friendly!) What I didn’t like: the darkest beer they had on tap was a (light) brown ale. I would go again if in the area.

February 19, 2008
Visited on Monday afternoon, 02/18/08. A little hard to find in an industrial/warehouse area, the Island Brewing Company is a small-ish operation (15 barrles) with a modest tap room. They had six of their taps available when we stopped in. There’s no music or TV in this place (a welcome change), but there’s no lack of ambiance. Locals with their dogs, couples hanging out, dudes who look like hackeysack champions: all hang out and mingle in the friendly low stress environment. Paul, the owner/brewmaster, came to our table and chatted us up at length about beer and the industry in general. They don’t serve food, but they have a notebook of menus from local places that will deliver to the tap room. Very thoughtful! I have to weigh the overall coolness of this place, against their reason to exist: their beer. Despite all the positives, I just wasn’t into any of their beers!

August 17, 2005
Brewery located in the small town of Carpinteria. They have a tasting room attached. Although they weren’t open, the owner came outside to greet me when he saw my Pizza Port shirt. Got a quick tour and talk about what they were up to and future plans. Sat down at the bar and got a 5 beer taster (will be 6). They just moved to this location a couple of days before my visit. Very friendly and personable, worth stopping by for a chat and to get a better understanding of a small brewer. Jubilee and IPA were very good, blonde had a nice yeasty fruitiness to it.