Mountain Rambler Brewery — Restaurant in Bishop

Award-winning beer, hearty alpine fare, and a grounded Sierra soul

Over the past decade, Mountain Rambler Brewery has become one of Bishop’s key alpine gathering places—a rare mix of gourmet ambition and mountain-town ease. Beneath high ceilings and warm wood tones, its atmosphere reflects three overlapping communities: PCT and JMT hikers refueling on calories and camaraderie, backcountry skiers comparing snowpack and couloirs, and Bishop’s local climbing and trekking circles recounting granite traverses and off-trail bushwhacks in the canyons of the National Parks and Forests just beyond the edge of town. But Rambler draws more than just mountain folk. Road-trippers find shade and rest. Local families drop in after work. Leaf-peepers and festival-goers drift in with the seasons. Seasonal workers from faraway cities treat it like a home base.

At the helm is chief brewer, operator and owner Joe Lane—a lifelong Sierra rambler whose deep local roots and alpine experience are evident in every detail. The brewery’s tanks, custom-built in nearby Nevada, gleam behind the bar. The spotless commercial kitchen is unusually well-equipped for a town of this size. The result is consistent, clean, fast execution.

The beer is exceptional by any measure, and the bar is reliably populated by the thirsty. Seven Gables Scottish Ale—malty, rounded, and faintly smoky—has taken gold at both the 2023 California Craft Brewers Cup and the 2021 Great American Beer Festival. The crisp, balanced Venusian Blonde Ale won gold in 2019, while the toasty Singing Coyote Amber Ale earned silver in 2023. There is nowhere south of June Lake with a comparable tap list or brewing pedigree.

The food rises to the same standard. The burgers—made with thick, flavorful beef—are the best in Bishop. Salads are fresh and substantial. Weekend pizzas arrive crisp and satisfying, timed to meet the Friday and Saturday crowd. The energy is “casual gourmet.”

Mountain Rambler thrives because it reflects Bishop itself—rooted, hardworking, unpretentious. It’s polished just enough, but still a place where boots, bikes, and bivy stories feel at home. Whether you’re climbing, driving, leaf-peeping, or just hungry, this is the...

While probably the best place in Bishop, this place suffers from severe inconsistency. We've eaten there about a dozen times over the past year. Sometimes the food is great. Other times the food is truly awful. But the beer is consistently good, so it all averages out to 2.5 stars, which google can't handle. I'm rounding up to three stars mainly because of their beer.

Here are two recent bad-food examples:

I ordered the fish tacos, which I've heard are really good. There's no gentle way to put this: they served me rotten salmon. And worse yet, I suspect they knew it had turned because they tried to grill it excessively to hide it, which of course turned it into charcoal. Absolutely disgusting.

Next time, we ordered the grilled brussel sprouts, which we had ordered before and were excellent (although a good year previously). What was delivered was oil-soaked, soggy brussel sprouts that were burnt and gross on the outside. Inedible. Sent them back. The waiter came back and said the chef said "that how they are supposed to be". Unbelievable. This was August 24, 2019. Attention management: that chef needs to be fired. Today.

The take away: the beer is good, so go for it. The food is truly hit-or-miss. If you gamble on the food, do everyone a favor and liberally return anything that's slightly off. Maybe that will finally make them realize how inconsistent (and sometimes awful, bordering on health-dept-alerting) their food has become. (Again: Management,...

God, I love me a good mountain brewery, and this is as good as it gets. If you find yourself passing through Bishop, take a stop here for a random night of fun.

We came here just before Memorial Day/Mule Days, and the Sextones were randomly playing. $6 entry tickets gets you in for a lovely, chill, fun night. We jammed and swayed to the mountain funk as the kitchen brought us out heaps of food.

The food was good -- salmon was a little undercooked for our taste, but still very good. They apologized for it not being wild caught, a sign of a good chef knowing where his food comes from and how it's caught. The thai meatballs were divine with their spicy peanut sauce. The fries were also good, and if anyone knows me, they know that I judge a place on their fries. The crispiness was perfect, and the dipping sauces provided were delicious.

The atmosphere, with communal picnic tables and dim overhead string lights, was perfect. Outdoor/indoor, just like a mountain pub should be. All eating together, like we're at camp. We got to know everyone else at our tables, something that doesn't happen that often anymore. And the music, if it was any indication of the kinds of bands they book, could not have fit the mood more perfectly.

The beers were great. I had an oatmeal stout that was perfect after a long day hiking and bouldering.

I fell in love with the vibe at this little slice of mountain Saturdays, and I couldn't be happier to come back and...