Napa Valley runs on wine, but the beer scene here is better than most visitors expect. Downtown Napa has a rotating-tap taproom, a two-address brewery with its own beer garden, and a brewpub that’s been pouring pints since long before craft beer got trendy. St. Helena hides one of the more unusual breweries in California. If you’re mapping out the best breweries in Napa Valley for an upcoming trip, or you’re just the one person in your group who taps out on Cabernet by 2pm, here’s where to go, what’s closed since the last time this list made the rounds, and how to fit it into a weekend that still leaves room for wine.
The Best Napa Valley Breweries Right Now
Five spots make up the current lineup worth building a stop around. Three sit in downtown Napa within walking distance of each other, one is a short detour into St. Helena, and one is more beer garden than brewery but earns its place on any beer-focused itinerary. If you’re not driving yourself between stops, it’s worth checking our guide to getting around Napa Valley before you commit to a route.
- Fieldwork Brewing Co. (Downtown Napa) — rotating taps inside Oxbow Public Market
- Tannery Bend Beerworks (Downtown Napa) — a production brewery on Action Ave and a separate beer garden, The Garden, in the West End
- Downtown Joe’s Brewery & Restaurant (Downtown Napa) — full kitchen, house beer, and live music most weekends
- Mad Fritz (St. Helena) — small-batch, reservation-only, and unlike anything else in the valley
- Napa Yard (Downtown Napa) — beer garden, distillery, and river-side hangout for groups who can’t agree on wine, beer, or cocktails
A few names that used to anchor this list — Trade Brewing, Napa Smith, and Stone Brewing — are no longer pouring in Napa. More on where they went and what happened below.
Fieldwork Brewing Co. — Downtown Napa’s Easiest Stop
Fieldwork sits inside Oxbow Public Market at 1046 McKinstry Street, which makes it one of the simplest breweries to fold into a downtown day — grab lunch at the market, browse the river walk, then post up for a flight. The taproom pours more than 20 rotating beers at any given time, so the lineup you find in spring won’t be the one you find in fall.
Hours run Monday through Thursday from noon to 9pm, Friday from noon to 10pm, and weekends from 11am to 10pm (9pm on Sunday). It’s a good first stop if your group is still deciding what it’s in the mood for, since the flight format makes it easy to sample four or five styles before committing to a pint.
Tannery Bend Beerworks — Two Locations, One Brewery
This is the one that trips people up, because Tannery Bend isn’t a single address anymore. The Garage at Action, on Action Avenue, is where the beer is actually brewed, and it functions as a working taproom attached to the production facility. The Garden, which opened in the West End in December 2023, is the more social version — a beer garden with morning coffee and pastries, a full food menu, and live music, all served in a restored brick building downtown.
Which one you pick depends on what you’re after. Go to The Garage if you want to see the equipment and drink beer close to where it’s made. Go to The Garden if you want a table, a menu, and an evening that can stretch past a couple of pints. Either way, it’s brewed by the same team, so you’re not choosing between quality — just atmosphere.
Downtown Joe’s Brewery & Restaurant — Beer, Food, and Live Music
Downtown Joe’s has been a Main Street fixture for a long time, and it plays the brewpub role about as well as it can be played: house beer, a full kitchen, sports on the TVs, and live music or events most weeks. The kitchen runs from 8am to 10pm Sunday through Thursday and 8am to 11pm Friday and Saturday, with the bar staying open until 1am every night — useful to know if your group wants a late stop after dinner elsewhere.
It’s also one of the better answers if half your table wants beer and the other half wants an actual meal instead of bar snacks. Pair it with a stop at one of the spots in our guide to where to eat in Napa if you want to build out a full food-and-beer evening downtown.
Mad Fritz — Wine Country’s Most Unusual Beer
Mad Fritz, in St. Helena, is the stop for people who want something that doesn’t taste like a generic taproom pour. The brewery makes its own malt and uses distinct water sources for different beers, which is a level of production most breweries don’t bother with — it’s closer to how a small winery thinks about terroir than how most breweries think about beer.
Visits are by appointment and limited to specific days, so this isn’t a walk-in stop — plan ahead if you want to see the malt house and hop kiln in person. Regular hours run Monday through Saturday from 9:30am to 5:30pm, closed Sundays, and the brewery recommends emailing ahead to lock in a tasting slot rather than showing up and hoping.
Napa Yard — The Best Beer Garden for Mixed Groups
Napa Yard isn’t technically a brewery, but it solves a real problem: what to do when your group is split between beer people, wine people, and cocktail people. It’s an outdoor restaurant and beer garden along the Napa River with a rotating craft beer list, wine flights, and garden-to-glass cocktails from its on-site distillery, Concordia Spirits.
Beyond the drink list, Napa Yard runs a full events calendar — craft markets on Fridays and Sundays, a Friday movie night with free popcorn, Taco Tuesdays, and trivia on Wednesday evenings. If you’re organizing a bachelorette weekend or a girls’ trip where nobody can agree on one drink category, it’s one of the easier venues to land on.
What’s Changed: Breweries That Closed or Moved
If you’ve read an older version of this list, a few names are missing now, and it’s worth explaining why rather than just quietly dropping them.
Trade Brewing, long considered one of Napa’s best breweries and named the city’s top brewery by the Napa Valley Register in 2023, closed its downtown Napa location in November 2025 and relocated to Winters, in Yolo County. It’s still operating — just not in Napa anymore, so don’t plan a downtown stop around it.
Napa Smith Brewery is a more complicated case. Both its former Napa taproom and its Vallejo location are currently closed, and as of mid-2026 there’s no confirmed date for a return. The brand hasn’t announced a permanent shutdown, but for trip-planning purposes, treat it as unavailable until there’s news of a reopening.
Stone Brewing’s Napa brewpub is the oldest closure on this list — it shut down in October 2021 after a rent dispute with its landlord during the pandemic, and the company never reopened a Napa location. Stone is still a major name in American craft beer, just not one you can visit locally anymore.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Trade Brewing still open in Napa?
No. Trade Brewing closed its downtown Napa location in November 2025 and relocated to Winters, California, in Yolo County. The brewery is still operating, just no longer in Napa Valley.
What happened to Napa Smith Brewery?
Both of Napa Smith’s locations — the original Napa taproom and its later Vallejo site — are currently closed. There’s no confirmed reopening date as of mid-2026, so it shouldn’t be part of a current Napa Valley itinerary.
Which Napa breweries also serve food?
Downtown Joe’s has a full kitchen and restaurant menu, The Garden by Tannery Bend serves food alongside its beer list, and Fieldwork offers a food menu at its Oxbow taproom. Napa Yard, while not a brewery, also has a full restaurant menu alongside its beer and cocktail list.
Can you walk between breweries in downtown Napa?
Yes, for the most part. Fieldwork, Downtown Joe’s, and The Garden by Tannery Bend are all within a short walk of each other in downtown Napa, making it easy to do two or three stops without needing a car or rideshare between each one.
How do you taste beer like a pro without overthinking it?
Look at the color and the head first, then give the glass a gentle swirl to release aroma before you smell it — most beers lean hop-forward, malt-forward, or yeast-forward. Take a small sip before a full one and pay attention to mouthfeel, carbonation, and how the flavor changes from first sip to finish. Taproom staff are usually happy to help you find a style you’ll actually like, so don’t be afraid to ask.
Napa’s beer scene has shifted more in the past couple of years than most visitors realize, and it’ll probably keep shifting — that’s what happens in a region this small with this much turnover. Check this list again before you lock in a beer-focused day, and pair it with a stop or two from our Napa Valley 3-day itinerary so nobody leaves feeling like they missed the point of the trip.