Ghost Town Brewing

Ghost Town doesn't hide what it is. The tagline is 'Brutal Beer Making' and the branding is heavy metal and undead from top to bottom. Founder Ryan Nosek told Square's The Bottom Line that he started the brewery partly to help pay for his band's rehearsal space.

The West Oakland brewery and taproom on Adeline Street, open since 2018, is the one on this route: two miles from the Maze, with a patio, food trucks, and dogs and kids welcome.

Hops come first. Mordant is a West Coast IPA hopped with Strata and Mosaic. Lecherous Haze is their Citra-and-Mosaic hazy. Chasmic Absorption through Whirlpools of Disarray, a 7% West Coast IPA, is a good test of whether you can order it with a straight face.

There's range past the IPAs. Pena Smrti is a Saaz-hopped Czech pils, and Witching Hour is a 12% barrel-aged imperial stout. The brewery's own site lists 2025 World Beer Cup golds for Mordant and three others, and a 2025 GABF silver for Pena Smrti.

Ghost Town also runs the Laurel Biergarten & Kitchen at 3506 MacArthur Boulevard, right by I-580 and about six miles from I-80. It's an outdoor beer garden with its own kitchen. Go there instead if you want a full meal with your beer. Richmondside reported in December 2025 that the seating is all outdoors, with extra tents in winter.