Swell Zone: Breweries and the Beach | Imbibe Magazine

Photo: Pelican Brewing

For Imbibe’s summer issue, I tackle an issue very close to the sand beneath my toes: beer and the beach.

They’ve always been good buddies. As the sun casts rays, a crisp sip of beer removes salt from parched lips, refreshment served in a koozie. You don’t think much of beach beer until it’s missing, the cooler barren and your mind topped off with a thought: Where’s the beer? Restocking once meant running to the closest grocery or convenience store and buying Mexican imports (remember the limes!) or light lagers, likely made by some distant industrial brewery. Now, beachgoers can take in the crashing waves while crushing cold ones brewed near their preferred patch of sand.

A brewery near a beach is a different beast than one planted in an old factory or industrial park. Brewery owners must balance the breakneck production demands of high season’s fun in the sun with the doldrums of winter and drizzly afternoons, keeping anxious eyes on the Weather Channel for hurricanes that could wash business away. Some breweries embrace the coastal abundance to brew beer with local sea salt, beach plums and seaweed, while others seek inspiration from their beach surroundings.

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