Beaches & Beer: A Gulf Coast Beercation from Mobile to Gulf Shores
· By The Taproom Team
Drive south until the pines give way to salt marsh and you'll find Alabama's best kept secret: a Gulf Coast with thirty miles of sugar white beaches, a 300 year old port city, and a craft beer scene that stretches the whole length of Mobile Bay. Mobile: The Old Port City Start in Mobile, a city older than New Orleans with a Mardi Gras tradition to prove it. Braided River, opened in 2020 near the downtown historic blocks, brews for the delta — its award winning Tidewater Kölsch style ale is the definitive Gulf Coast boat beer. A few blocks away on Government Street, Serda Brewing pours German style lagers from a beer garden made for long port city evenings. Fairhope and the Eastern Shore Take the causeway across the bay — Fairhope Brewing even named an IPA for the drive — and land in one of the South's most charming towns. Fairhope's gallery lined streets and bluff top sunsets pair perfectly with the brewery's Everyday Ale, and the taproom's trivia nights are a Baldwin County institution. Gulf Shores: Toes in the Sand End at the beach. Big Beach Brewing pours a short bike ride from the Gulf Shores sand, with a lineup — crisp blondes, fruited wheats, balanced IPAs — engineered for beach heat. Between the Hangout, the Gulf State Park pier, and a cooler of local cans, Pleasure Island closes out an Alabama beer trail the way it should be closed: pint in hand, watching the sun drop into the Gulf. Planning the Trip The whole coast is an easy triangle: Mobile to Fairhope is twenty minutes across the bay, Fairhope to Gulf Shores about forty five more. Summer is high season; spring and fall bring the same beaches with smaller crowds and cooler taproom patios. However you time it, book a bay view room — the sunsets are part of the itinerary.