Discretion Brewing

Great flavors and beautiful food! Delicious! Unfortunately the music was bad and loud!

Hands down, this is my favorite brewery to visit. It’s got a great relaxed atmosphere with friendly attentive staff and fantastic beer! The food is the highest quality food in the area. Be prepared for small portions that aren’t cheap, but completely worth it and a delight for your pallet. You can’t go wrong with Uncle Dave’s rye IPA and the ploughmans lunch.

Our favorite brewery in Santa Cruz County. Great staff and a nice place to hang out with friends to enjoy great local brews. We like their ever changing brew selections, as well as favorite mainstays like Shimmer Pilsner, Oh Black Lager, & Uncle Dave’s IPA. On our most recent visit we enjoyed their Foggy Forest IPA-​hoppy but not too bitter. Their small kitchen offers a high quality and tasty menu. We have snacked on the Ploughmans Lunch and their pork sliders. You can sit out in their patio with your dog and meet fun folks.

Beer and pub food…**cue Homer Simpson drool scene**
Discretion consistently has amazing brew. Foggy Forest is my favorite currently because who doesn’t love an IPA. Shimmer Pils is light and thirst quenching. Any of their seasonal session’s are very good as well.
The food though?! It’s amazing! Recently I’ve had the Ploughman’s lunch and was presented this board of amazing. Pickles and a home made jam. Crispy bread and mustards! Traditional English food. –1 star for the massive piece of ginger that was sitting on my plate.
Chicken caesar salad is unique and quite tasty. Fried chicken and waffles were a bit of a miss. Not sure what it was, too sweet and too greasy?
Their menu changes quite a bit, so come back and check out the offerings.
Also a dog friendly patio outside with heaters is a plus!

Nice variety of beer somewhat can be a little noisy in there after all it’s a brewery with all the equipment making the beer so that’s pretty normal. Staff is fine atmospheres cool.

Craft brew and high quality food all at reasonable pricing.
We showed up right at opening and they were definitely surprised that we wanted all the beer at the first moment they were opened. Using a new app I’m reviewing each of the beers but the rock session IPA was very good even for me as a non-​IPA advocate. Also their good faith strong ale was very strong.
The food was surprisingly good. Truffle sea salted croutons make a Cesar salad way better. Amazing.
I’ll come back soon. We tried every beer on tap and they were all good.

Discretion Brewing is an amazing brewery and I am so happy to see it thriving as much as it is! All the beers I have had here are amazing, my favorites Uncle Dave’s Rye and the Glorioski, and Shimmer for the hotter days is super refreshing. Speaking of refreshing, they also offer a daily «refresher» that is a non-​alcoholic beverage they make with fruit, etc., which is a great alternative for the non-​beer drinkers out there. Five stars for the beer, the great customer service, and the shop! Everyone got gift bags from Discretion this year, and I continue to bring all visitors and beer lovers here to share their goodness.
Discretion also opened «The Kitchen at Discretion», which offers an interesting menu of items that changes regularly. I love the idea of a constantly changing menu, and honestly I have enjoyed most of what I’ve eaten here. The only criticism, and the reason for one less star (because otherwise, 5 stars all the way baby!) is that the food items feel kind of pricey for what you get, especially for a beer-​garden-​like setting where you pretty much serve yourself and pick up your food at a window. I have ordered the pork belly sliders here, at $ 12 for two tiny sliders and a heaping portion of pickled veg. The bun was freshly made in house (or so it tasted, yum!) and the pork belly cooked perfectly, the downside was that there wasn’t enough. Don’t get me wrong, I love pickled veg, but when I am eating way more pickles than sandwich, it feels a little disappointing. Maybe just one more slider on there for a couple bucks more? Everything on the entrée menu goes from like $ 12 – 28, give or take, depending. Otherwise, their tacos are delicious (2 for $ 11 – 12, no sides), and the ploughman’s platter is a great idea (though, then again, doesn’t give you very much to share, it is an extremely tiny «morsel»).
Go here and try some awesome beer, enjoy yourself on the patio, and maybe eat something tasty (if you don’t get easily irritated by pricey «tiny bites» and leaving hungry, like I do).
Thanks Discretion for being a great place to go with friends, I’ll continue to bring the beer lovers in my life here whenever possible!

Being from the bay, Santa Cruz has always been the place for an easy beach destination, impromptu hiking adventure, a stop by at Marianne’s or penny’s for ice cream, or somewhere to party for the night when visiting friends from UCSC. I pretty much laid out a typical Santa cruz day. Never has it been somewhere I thought to look into further and venture the town for the good eats and local gems.
Discretion brewing is a one of those cool little finds that more people should visit on their trips to Santa Cruz! It’s not exactly a full on restaurant with a bar, it’s more like its a bar with above average bar food. If that makes sense… LOL. Their menu changes a little due to season and availability. I’m the type of person who likes to plan where to go down to every detail, even picking out what I want to order ahead of time. You can’t really do that much here because they may not have what you were looking for! For example, Unilocal friend Angel K had a delicious looking corn soup and hot brown that had me itching to go but unfortunately they didn’t have when I went. They also didn’t have the pork belly pozole that my mouth was watering and tummy grumbling for, but it’s okay! It just means I have to keep coming back hehe.
Anyways, this place has an adorable patio to enjoy on a nice day! We ordered the chicken and waffles & beer flight, then sat outside to enjoy it all. The beer is great, needless to say. Uncle daves, song in your heart, and shimmer Pils were the favorites. For food, the chicken and waffles are unique in the sense that the way they make the chicken isn’t the breaded crispy kind people normally associate «chicken & waffles» with. It’s very different and pretty good! The skins very soft and sweet which compliments the waffle because it’s like eating waffles with syrup! Except you don’t need the syrup because the chicken and sauce it’s in is sweet! Mhmmmm. This place is worth a try if you’re in the SC area.

Great food & beer — definitely the best pub food around. Only criticisms are:
They close too early-​9 pm! And No wines or burgers. But otherwise, the menu is superb

Finally made it after hearing good things about Discretion. We have a had a few of their beers from the bottle and really like em. So we were really looking forward to getting a few pints straight from the keg and they didn’t disappoint.
We ordered the 16oz Rye and the house IPA both very good. The choice of pour size is very cool as well.
The one odd thing about the tap room was the seating, it just felt a little odd and cafeteria-​ish.
Small groups sharing large tables. Felt little like forced socialization.
One of the things I enjoyed the most was the lack of TVs! Well done! Not everyone wants a TV on every wall blasting the game of the day. Just this alone will encourage me to return.
Over all very mellow laid back place with the same type of staff and patrons.
We will defiantly be back to try more brews and relax on the patio.

–Great atmosphere
–DOG friendly
–every Monday they have a fundraiser for a local non profit
–Foods farm to table
–hidden in the center of chaotic 41^st ave
–Nice destination for locals in the area
–beer is decent
–Bring ur dog between 2 – 4, sit outside, bring a book, sip on a beer, and relax with some carnitas :).

My boyfriend and I shared a flight. We both really enjoyed the strong ales. In fact we left with a growler to enjoy (which we promptly emptied). They are in the process of barrel aging their stout, but it won’t be available for another month or so.
They have a little kitchen which serves «beer inspired foods». Unfortunately we didn’t have the time to try it, but I’m sure we will in the future. Other than the bar, there are a few small tables inside or you can sit on the outdoor patio (when the weather is nice enough).
We’ll be back to try the barrel aged brews and tasty snacks.

We came to Santa Cruz for a friend’s wedding, and we read good things about this brewery so we decided to visit. It hit the mark on all counts: The ambience was laid-​back and comfortable; the beer was on-​point (especially the Rock Skip IPA, my husband’s favorite, and the Good Faith, which was mine — I gravitate towards trippels, and this is described as a «strong ale»); and the food was rich and delicious («Ploughman’s Lunch» and pork belly sliders). Long story short, Discretion didn’t disappoint. Next time we’re in the area, we’ll be back!

Best food in Santa Cruz right now. Hands down. Was there last night and had a pork jowl dish that knocked my socks off. I live nearby and go regularly and have never been disappointed — the menu is always changing except for a few staples and it always is interesting and adventurous with flavors that compliment each other well. They work magic in that tiny kitchen.
Beer here is great too. Shimmer pilsner is one of the best american-​made pilsners I have tried. Pilsner is hard to make, they do a good job. I wish they had the Mickey Malone Stout year round.

Save room for dessert. But also come here hungry because the food is beyond filling and not for the faint of heart (I mean health conscious). Nevertheless, the food tastes amazing (very flavorful) and the beautiful plating just adds to the whole atmosphere of a hipster-​but-​not-​too-​hipster restaurant. For all your food photographers, you will LOVE this place — open windows for perfect lighting and the detailed plating is perfect!
I would recommend the bread pudding, lemonade (a bit too sweet for me though so I watered it down quite a bit but still very unique with an extra twist of a special fruit that I can’t remember haha), and the fried chicken & waffles (my first time having it here and oh my their bacon sauce. SOO good!!). Their grits were a bit too buttery for me (also a first time trying this for me) but their pulled pork is delicious!
Note that you’re expected to get your own dishware and clean up for yourself also. The food does take a little while to make but that just shows it’s fresh!

A step above the typical «garage» brewery is an actual building with a bar, an inside eating area, and a patio. Like a restaurant. They serve food. Dogs and kids welcome.
They had a good 12 beers on tap, the flight I had was 6 pours. The outdoor area has a cool log bench area in gravel.

This is my buddy’s favorite brewery and we met up for a couple beers and to refill his growler. I enjoyed sampling some of the brews before we ordered. I liked 2 of the 3 sampled and we got the Uncle Dave’s Rye IPA and the Glorioski american ale, my buddy got the rock skip. It was our last gathering before my buddy got his knee surgery.
After we finished our pints outside where there was plenty of seating and fun conversation, we picked up the growler and headed to my buddy’s place where we all shared another pint and some chips and salsa. My only ding against Discretion is there menu is a bit overpriced for my tastes.

Great food, and some decent beers. I recommend the uncle daves IPA, think that was the highlight of all the beers we tried.
Food was really high quality too, you can tell they prepare with passion. A bit on the pricey side, but worth it I think.
More casual than fancy, and sitting outside on patio is really enjoyable.

Discretion is wonderful.
Not a bad seat in the house. Dog and family friendly with amazing food and service.
Make sure to get the pork belly and grits, i still dream about it.

Probably the best bar food I ever had! I came with a group of friends (and a doggie) and we had a seat on the patio. The patio is a really cool place to chill out. We ordered inside and for a bunch of food and beer. My absolute favorite dish of the day was the corn soup. It was amazing! So good that I came back on another day around 3 pm for more, but they sold out! So if there’s something you like, come early to make sure they don’t run out! The ploughman’s lunch was just okay, I’ve heard it changes every once in a while and his time it was just okay. Same with the grits. Pork belly sliders were pretty tasty. The carnitas had a good sauce, but meat was super dry.
The beer is really good! The 11^th conversation (hibiscus wit) was my favorite.
It’s a really nice place for a casual hang out. Doggie friendly, great food, great beer, what’s not to like?