Craft Beer in Cebu (2026): Turning Wheels & Local Brews

TL;DR: Cebu’s craft beer scene centers on Turning Wheels Craft Brewery in Mabolo, the city’s first (and still best) local brewery, brewing its own IPAs, ambers, and stouts on-site. You can also catch Turning Wheels on tap at Irie Gastropubliko in IT Park and Drip and Draft in Banilad, or drink a wider rotating tap list with live music at Draft Punk Craft Cafe near Mango Avenue. Budget ₱500–1,000 (US$8.60–17) per person for a session with food. Skip anything mentioning The Cebruery in Mandaue — it’s permanently closed. Verified July 2026.

Cebu isn’t a craft beer capital the way Manila or, further afield, Bangkok are — but it does have a real, homegrown scene, anchored by one brewery that’s been quietly making good beer for over a decade. If you’re the kind of traveler who seeks out the local taproom in every city, or you just want a break from San Miguel and Red Horse, this guide covers the handful of Cebu spots where the beer is actually brewed locally or poured with intent, what it costs, and which places are worth going out of your way for. It’s a short list on purpose — Cebu’s scene is small, and padding it with bars that just happen to stock one imported IPA wouldn’t do you any favors.

Where to Drink Craft Beer in Cebu

Spot	Area	Notes
Turning Wheels Craft Brewery	Mabolo, Cebu City	The original taproom — brews its own beer on-site; open Tue–Sat from noon, Sun–Mon from 3:30 PM
Irie Gastropubliko	IT Park (Skyrise 4), Lahug	Long-running gastropub rotating Turning Wheels kegs (amber, IPA, double IPA, porter) with pub food
Draft Punk Craft Cafe	Mango Square, Juana Osmeña St	Rotating craft tap list, skewers and comfort food, live bands most nights after 9 PM
Drip and Draft	Streetscape Mall, Banilad	Specialty coffee shop by day, craft beer bar by night — pours Turning Wheels and other Cebu-brewed labels

Verified July 2026.

What Is Turning Wheels Craft Brewery?

Turning Wheels is Cebu’s first craft brewery, and it’s still the one place in the province where you’re drinking beer actually brewed on the premises. The taproom sits on P. Almendras Street in Mabolo, an open-air, al fresco setup that’s been going since the mid-2010s, long before “craft beer” was a phrase anyone in Cebu used. It’s open Tuesday through Saturday from noon and Sunday–Monday from 3:30 PM, both running to midnight.

The tap list rotates rather than sticking to a fixed menu — expect something in the Golden Ale or Amber Ale range for an easy drink, a West Coast-leaning IPA (their Mountain King has been a recurring name), a bigger Backbone Double IPA if you want more punch, and darker options like a porter or an Imperial Stout when the weather cools down (relatively speaking). Food comes from an on-site partner kitchen — burgers, tacos, a chili cheese dog, and a braised pork belly bun have all shown up on the menu — so you can turn a beer stop into an actual dinner.

Expect to spend roughly ₱500–1,000 (US$8.60–17) per person for a couple of beers and food, based on how the venue is typically priced by review aggregators. That’s a reasonable range for planning, but confirm the current board when you sit down — a rotating tap list means pricing shifts with what’s pouring.

Where Else Can You Drink Local Craft Beer?

You don’t have to go to Mabolo to try Turning Wheels — a few bars and cafes around the city pour it too, alongside their own rotating taps.

Irie Gastropubliko, on the ground floor of Skyrise 4 in IT Park, was Cebu’s first gastropub and has long kept Turning Wheels kegs on rotation — typically an amber ale, an IPA, a double IPA, and a porter, four variants at a time. It’s a straightforward American-and-European pub food menu (burgers, wings, that kind of thing), and it’s the most convenient option if you’re already staying or working around IT Park and don’t want to cross town to Mabolo. Confirm current hours before you head over, since gastropub hours in Cebu tend to shift.

Draft Punk Craft Cafe (sometimes billed as Draft Punk: Brewers and Skewers), tucked into the Mango Square carpark on Juana Osmeña Street, runs a broader rotating tap list alongside a Southeast Asian comfort-food menu — think skewers, sizzling plates, and a smash burger. It’s open daily from mid-afternoon into the early hours, and most nights after 9 PM there’s a live band, which makes it as much a nightlife stop as a beer bar. If you’re already doing a Mango Avenue night out, this is an easy add-on.

Drip and Draft, on the ground floor of Streetscape Mall in Banilad, is a specialty coffee roastery that doubles as a craft beer bar once the sun goes down. It pours Turning Wheels alongside other Cebu-brewed labels like Engkanto (a Luzon-based Filipino craft brand with a cult following) on a rotating basis — worth asking what’s currently on tap, since the lineup changes. It’s a solid pick if you want to start with a coffee and single-origin pour-over in the afternoon and slide into a beer or two once evening hits, without changing venues.

What Should You Order?

If it’s your first Cebu craft beer, start with whatever amber ale or golden ale Turning Wheels has on that day — it’s the easiest introduction and rarely disappoints. From there, work up to the IPA or double IPA if you like hops, or the porter and stout if you want something darker and heavier for an evening session. Because none of these venues run a fixed, printed beer menu — the whole point of craft brewing is that the batch changes — ask your server what’s currently pouring rather than ordering off an old blog post or a photo you saw online. That’s true at every spot on this list, including Turning Wheels itself.

How Much Should You Budget?

Plan on ₱500–1,000 (US$8.60–17) per person for a proper session — a few beers plus food — at Turning Wheels or a comparable evening at Irie, Draft Punk, or Drip and Draft. That’s noticeably more than a round of San Miguel at a sari-sari store, but it’s in line with what a craft pint costs anywhere in Southeast Asia, and cheaper than most imported bottled beers on a hotel bar menu. None of these venues publish a fixed per-glass price list online, so treat the range above as a planning number and check the actual menu board once you’re seated.

The Honest Take

Cebu’s craft beer scene is real, but it’s small, and it’s easy to over-romanticize it based on old blog posts. The Cebruery, a well-reviewed taproom that used to operate in Mandaue with a nice open-air, plant-filled setup, is permanently closed — you’ll still find it recommended on Tripadvisor and older “best of Cebu” roundups, so don’t plan a trip out to Mandaue expecting to find it running. Similarly, some online lists mention bars that either don’t have a verifiable current address or have quietly closed since being written up; if a venue doesn’t show up on recent reviews or an active social media page, assume it might not be there anymore and call ahead.

What’s actually reliable right now is Turning Wheels itself — it’s been around the longest, it brews on-site, and it’s the one place you can be reasonably confident is still pouring what this guide describes. Irie, Draft Punk, and Drip and Draft are all easier to combine with a normal night out since they sit inside IT Park, Mango Avenue, and Banilad respectively, areas you’re likely passing through anyway. If beer isn’t really your thing, don’t go out of your way — Cebu’s food scene and its Italian and Western restaurants are a stronger draw on their own, and a taproom visit works best as one stop on a bigger night, not the whole itinerary.

Combine It With the Rest of Cebu

A Turning Wheels session pairs naturally with an evening up in the Busay hills — plenty of visitors catch sunset at Tops Lookout or wander Temple of Leah, then head back down toward Mabolo or IT Park for dinner and a round of local beer once the light’s gone. If you’re basing your night around IT Park anyway, check our IT Park nightlife guide or the broader Cebu nightlife overview for what else is nearby, and see the best bars in Cebu City if you want options beyond craft beer for the rest of the night.

Booking a hotel near IT Park or Cebu Business Park puts you within a short ride of most of the spots on this list — compare Cebu City hotels on Agoda if you’re still deciding where to stay. And if you’d rather build your evening around a guided food-and-drink crawl instead of hopping between venues yourself, it’s worth searching current Cebu food and nightlife tours on Klook before you land, since small-group options come and go.

Sources

• Turning Wheels Brewery — official site (beer lineup, brewery background)
• Turning Wheels Craft Brewery — restaurant listing (hours, price range, menu items)
• Irie Gastropubliko — Travel Up (Turning Wheels on tap, background)
• Draft Punk Craft Cafe — official site (location, hours)
• Drip and Draft — Cebu’s coffee and beer hangout (beer selection, location)
• The Cebruery — Craft Beer Taproom, Tripadvisor (confirms permanent closure)
• Prices and hours cross-checked against aggregator listings and current Tripadvisor/Yelp data. Verified July 2026.