{"id":81902,"date":"2025-12-04T22:37:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T22:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/81902\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T22:37:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T22:37:08","slug":"the-east-bays-favorite-beer-garden-does-it-all-with-a-death-motif","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/81902\/","title":{"rendered":"The East Bay’s favorite beer garden does it all with a death motif"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beneath Ghost Town\u2019s morbid exterior, behind the ubiquitous skeleton and demon imagery and beers named \u201cSpeed of Death,\u201d \u201cDetestable,\u201d \u201cSour Violence,\u201d and \u201cTorture Garden,\u201d is a crowd-pleasing brewery that has crafted a beer garden the East Bay flocks to for award-winning brews, a creative, options-for-everyone menu, and \u201cimpeccable vibes,\u201d as one Nosh Awards voter put it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Nosh readers cast their votes prior to Thanksgiving, and the results of the\u00a02025 Nosh Awards\u00a0are in. Visit Nosh every day from now until Dec. 12 to see a new award announced each day. Congratulations to all the winners!<\/p>\n

Ghost Town Brewing has established a sizable trophy case since its founding in 2012. Most significantly, it took home Brewery and Brewer of the Year (5,001-15,000 barrel production category) at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival. At the World Beer Cup in May, Ghost Town was one of just two breweries to win five medals, four of which were gold.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, Nosh Awards voters have tapped Ghost Town\u2019s Laurel location for yet another trophy, the East Bay\u2019s Best Beer Garden\/Taproom in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Nosh Awards voters, Ghost Town\u2019s \u201camazing food,\u201d \u201cgreat rotating beer list,\u201d and family- and dog-friendly atmosphere were cited again and again as reasons for its favored status.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGhost Town Laurel not only has great beer (and lots of varieties to choose from) but they have delicious food with so many healthy options made with love, and a super-friendly staff. Honestly, the great food gets me there and the beer makes me stay. Nice outdoor dining area to bring the pups and hang out with friends,\u201d one voter commented.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Ghost Town\u2019s Laurel menu includes big salads and veggie bowls in addition to beer garden staples like soft pretzels. Credit: Risa Nye for East Bay Nosh<\/p>\n

Ghost Town\u2019s Laurel beer garden boasts a menu offering a good range of dishes that will please most palates and dietary restrictions, from giant salads and a veggie bowl built on a bed of couscous, to fish tacos, jalape\u00f1o poppers, bratwurst, soft pretzels, and a cheeseburger that pairs perfectly with a hoppy brew. The beer menu is similarly varied, with porters, sours, IPAs, ciders, pilsners and cream stouts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fish n chips are just absolutely bonkers,\u201d commented a voter. \u201cCoolest people, chillest vibes, best beers, and that burger!!!\u201d wrote another.<\/p>\n

Ghost Town Brewing started as a way for four band mates to pay for rehearsal space<\/a>. The four co-founders, Ryan Nosek, Sam Carr-Prindle, Jason Gehman and Adam Hill, were a metal band that got together to home brew on weekends. Then, the beer took off. They opened a West Oakland brewery and taproom in 2018 and expanded with the Laurel location in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since the beginning, the Ghost Town founders have expressed affordability as a priority, and Nosh voters noticed.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat choice of beers on tap and always a great and inexpensive menu of choices for everyone,\u201d commented one awards voter.<\/p>\n

3506 MacArthur Blvd. (at 35th Avenue), Oakland; www.ghosttownbrewing.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hours: Monday 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday 12 p.m. to 10 p.m.<\/p>\n

The Laurel location, unlike West Oakland, has no indoor seating with a spacious outdoor area with picnic tables shaded with umbrellas. During the winter months, the beer garden adds extra tenting to better handle inclement weather.<\/p>\n

\u201cFriendly staff who loves dogs, great open air seating, my favorite and well priced food in Oakland,\u201d summed up a Nosh voter.<\/p>\n

The other finalists in the Best Beer Garden\/Taproom were Two Pitchers, Fieldwork, Brix Factory Brewing, Headlands Brewing in Westbrae, and Temescal Brewing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Know the hot spots before they\u2019re hot.<\/p>\n

“*” indicates required fields<\/p>\n

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“*” indicates required fields<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beneath Ghost Town\u2019s morbid exterior, behind the ubiquitous skeleton and demon imagery and beers named \u201cSpeed of Death,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[44561,46674,143,145,144,2593],"class_list":["post-81902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-2025-nosh-awards","tag-laurel","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-oakland-restaurants-and-bars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}