Artifex Brewing Company

Visited on Wed 10th Jan 2018 with the wife, daughter, grand daughter and son-in-law. Fairly quiet at 16:00 but began to fill soon after. Pleasant chap serving, we shared a Flight before ordering pints. Open plan with an outside drinking area too. 10 taps behind the small bar, enough inside seating for 6 groups, easy access to the brewing equipment. Laid back sort of place, pizza from the guy out front was good, as were the beers.

Visited around dinner time on a Friday. Just up the hill from Lost Winds. Not that well marked at night, turn at the Allsize storage sign then it’s right in front of you. Smaller tasting room, small bar right as you enter, then high top tables spaced throughout the brewery. I have never seen access to brewing equipment quite like this - people were literally leaning up against the equipment. Beer selection is 10 beers in a decent assortment styles. Available as 5 oz, 10 oz, pints and growlers. Had some bottles in the cooler to go. Locally, fun crowd. Food truck out front. Service was slammed, but still was fun, knowledgeable and happy.

76 = ★★★ (Worth the visit, must for locals, and visitors with time)

I only use the total score, not the component parts.

This and commander in Co were the top 2 places I went to in the US. Small tap room in the industrial area of San Clemente. Good vibe to the place. Small snacks and no food trucks when I visited. Good attentive staff and easy to talk to. Beers were very spot on and easy to drink. Very cheap tasters and a lot fo different styles. Will be back when in San Clemente later this year.

We came here on 19.2.2016. Small brewery in an industrial estate location. Food truck with very nicely looking burgers in front of the tap room. Service was great, gave us some beers for free. Brewers are coming from Stones and Pizza Port. No surprise beers were quite good. We had a few IPA’s, a Schwarzbeer and a Wheetbeer, all had great quality. Liked the place a lot and we will come back.

This is a pretty chill tasting room in San Clemente, with 10-12 draft offerings, a nice outdoor seating area, and pretty solid beers. Cheap tasters are available for ticking, and it looks like they have a food truck parked right outside most evening. We visited on a Friday night, and it was busy but not packed. Service was great, never an issue waiting too long at the bar, and the bartender was chatty, but not overbearing. Worth stopping in if you’re driving up this way or if you’re doing the San Clemente beer tour.

Small tap room in industrial building. Nice little patio decent ipa.

We visited this brewery tasting room on a sunny CA Sunday afternoon and enjoyed ourselves on the patio. The house beers are good and display nice variety. There is some food but only chips/salsa/guacamole mainly. The service was prompt and pleasant each time I ordered a new beer at the bar.

Cool tasting room, inland from San Clemente. Decent to pretty good house beers in a west coast/hoppy fashion. Quite small tasting room and parking can get quite full. Fun place with friendly service. Worth a stop after Pizza Port.

Date. . . . . . . . . . ..2.7.15
Type. . . . . . . . . . ..Brewery Tasting Room
Location. . . . . . . .Strip Mall east of Interstate 5, 5min from downtown San Clemente
Prices. . . . . . . . . ..$2 Tasters
Tap Selection. . . .11 House Beers + Cask
Bottle Selection. .None
Full Bar. . . . . . . . .No
Samplers. . . . . . ..Yes
Full Pours. . . . . . .Yes
Beer Level. . . . . ..Excellent
Food Level. . . . ...None, Food Truck Possibility
Staff. . . . . . . . . . ..Extremely Outgoing
Growlers. . . . . . ...Yes
Noise Level. . . . ..Lively
Décor. . . . . . . . . ..Modern Wood Panel
Good for Kids. . ..No
Parking. . . . . . . ...Private Lot
Cash Only. . . . . ..No
Recommended. ..Yes
Comments: Artifex is in a similar boat to Bagby. This is a Pizza Port trained brewer going solo and doing things right. Whereas Bagby has an incredible location, interior space, food, and full wait staff; Artifex is your normal brewery tasting room secluded from the town center’s main drag. However, Artifex’s beer quality is top notch whereas Bagby’s is still going through some growing pains. Practically every beer on tap here was superb with some absolute knockouts including my highest rated Irish Red Ale and Brown Ale to date; and some incredible hoppy pale beers. Styles ranged from Schwarzbier to cask Belgian blonde. Attenuation, hopping, carbonation, etc. were all flawless. In a way, it seems like all the best lessons learned from Pizza Port can be found ingrained in the Artifex recipes minus the silly styles that Pizza Port makes to cater to the lowest common denominator like California Honey and Chronic. The staff here was incredibly outgoing and friendly..my wife and I had more fun here than at any other brewery in recent memory. We will be back and now when I see Artifex on tap in my neck of the woods, I won’t hesitate.

Visited December 6, 2014.

I had to stop in San Clemente anyway so this was a logical next stop (after Mexican food). It’s right down the hill from the Left Coast facility, so it makes a convenient 1-2 combo. They have a smallish tasting room but it’s a nice place. Actually the building and brewing setup are fairly large but the tasting area is really just the one corner of the building. There is some patio seating outside too. The major downside was the skunk spray that really stunk the place up. Can’t really hold that against them but it was definitely distracting. As it turns out the brewer here used to brew for Pizza Port Solana Beach. He was our bartender and was very friendly.

They had nine different beers pouring and a nitro version of the Bog Trotter Irish red ale. The Hoppy Colada was probably the best. The No Name IPA and Rye-Diculous weren’t bad either. I got a kick out of the imperial oatmeal stout called Dave. I can now I say I’ve had the elusive Dave on tap, but not really. There’s also a Spaceballs reference on the menu: Dark Helmet. All around decent lineup.

Since I’m in San Clemente a few times a year I’ll stop back in at some point. Nice area and decent beer scene when you include Pizza Port.