Backshore Brewing

Your checklist for summer vacation: sun, surf and serious suds. These bars have all three.

REDONDO BEACH, CALIF. | Naja’s Place

THE DETAILS: Just north of the shore lies this boardwalk beer haven whose divey digs belie its 88 impressive taps. If you can hang with the hop-heads, go in August for the annual IPA Festival, when 70 handles and a couple casks pour only the best of the bitter stuff. DRINK: Whatever’s on tap from nearby newbie Absolution Brewing. SHORE THING: Take a spin on the Redondo Pier’s Tilt-a-Whirl—before your beer!

GALVESTON ISLAND, TEXAS | Beerfoot Beach Bar 

THE DETAILS: Texas stars like Karbach, 512 and Saint Arnold join this brewpub’s house taps just south of Galveston Island’s Pleasure Pier (rides, etc.). Once a month, a homebrewer steps up to the tanks to see if they’ve got pro chops—and the results are delicious. DRINK: The brewery’s own Sandy Crotch Pale Ale, just to say you did. SHORE THING: Head all the way down the shore to the gigantic East Beach, where you can legally kick back on the sand with a (canned) beer.

HOLLYWOOD, FLA. | Organic Brewery 

THE DETAILS: This all-organic brewery and restaurant has one of the best views in beer: the postcard-perfect, aqua-shored, palm-treed Hollywood Beach, bordered by a beloved brick thoroughfare you could stroll all day. When your feet get tired, pop in for a pint. DRINK: The snappy, German-style pilsner—organic, of course. SHORE THING: Follow the sand till you hit the Hollywood Beach Theater, a pastel bandshell with live jazz, blues and beyond nearly every night, and weekly “ballroom” dancing.

OCEAN CITY, MD. | Backshore Brewing

THE DETAILS: Roll over to this surf- shack-style boardwalk brewery—the preferred modes of transportation are bicycle and skateboard—and kick back with a beachy Four-Ten Kölsch or sessionable Sun’s Out Guns Stout. DRINK: A four-beer sampler, wheeled out on a mini skateboard. SHORE THING: Bring your board: At least two Ocean City beaches allow surfing every day through summer.