West Coast Brewery Tour required

Planning on a holiday, flying to and driving around cali and vegas this coming September. This is the planned route

I would love to include the Sierra Nevada Brewery but it's too far north off our route. How about the Stone Brewery in San Diego? Any other Suggestions?

Don't know many Cali Breweries. On another note, maybe i could do a homebrew swap with someone in the area?

I think stone would be a good one
green flash brewery is in Vista, CA. about 45 miles north of SD according to mapquest.

A homebrew swap sounds like fun...

Lots of options in San Diego. Stone Brewery is definitely recommended (actually in Escondido, about 25 mins drive) and Pizza Port in Carlsbad is one of my favorites. Some good beer bars (Hamiltons, O'Briens, Small Bar) if you want to try some really obscure micros. Could even meet up for a couple of cold ones, if you don't mind me asking 300 questions about how things are in that part of the world these days (I'm from the Isle of Man).

You will be passing by Hayward, just south of Oakland. Buffalo Bill's is just off the freeway a bit. http://www.buffalobillsbrewery.com/

list of every brewery, with average beer rating and location in CA: http://beeradvocate.com/beerfly/list?start=0&c_id=US&s_id=CA&brewery=Y&sort=name

Fixed that for you.
http://bit.ly/7OYMUb

In all seriousness, bummer that you won't be seeing Russian River. Do pick up their beers.

SF - Toronado in the Haight
LV- Freaking Frog
SD - Lost Abbey, Stone

Also check beermapping.com

Here's an awesome site that might help with the planning:

http://beermapping.com/

Starting in SF I would go to Anchor one of the originals for sure also a good tour. Lunch at the rogue ale house in SF could be interesting they have a great beer selection. Might swing by pyramid in Berkeley for the corporate tour if that is something of interest I am not a personal fan. Definitely go to Stone good tour and cool location. San Diego is now full of craft breweries lots of good options.

Swing around to Escondido, you gotta goto Stone Brewery, I went there last month, and its amazing!

Another great place is Lost Abbey/Port Brewery ... There about 2 miles away from Stone Brewery, they moved into Stone's old place ... I've been to both of them and both are great!

Lost Abbey/Port Brewery is mixed in with a lot of other businesses, but their garage is always open and they have a built in bar.

Another place is if you go up a little bit North of San Fransisco you can goto Russian River, they actually have some of the highest ranked beers on beeradvocate ... If your going in Feb, you might want to pick up Pliny the Younger, ranked #1 beer from beeradvocate in all of the US.

Thanks for the help guys. Awesome, maybe i can pick up some russian river stuff on tap in SF?

I've been to rogue brewery in oregon when i studied near there a few years ago. Their Shakespeare stout is pretty much the reason why i started homebrewing.

spiny_norman said:

Could even meet up for a couple of cold ones, if you don't mind me asking 300 questions about how things are in that part of the world these days (I'm from the Isle of Man).

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That sounds like a cool plan, how long have you been living away from home norman?

peterfuse said:

That sounds like a cool plan, how long have you been living away from home norman?

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10 years. I'll be back in the UK in a few weeks; the first time 'home' since 2002, and I'll be going back on an American passport which will be really weird. Anyway, off topic...

The Monk's Kettle in SF had some Russian River brews on tap the last time I was there. If you're in SF you have to go to the Toronado (we have one in San Diego now).

If i was you Id spend a long time in San Diego because there are so many good breweries down there. And +1 on Stone Brewery you can easily spend the whole day there.

On the way down to San Diego check out The Bruery in Orange County: http://www.thebruery.com/index2.html
They have this beer there and you have to try it: http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16866/51257

Both the Toronado and Monk's Kettle look like the business in SF. I'd love to spend a long time in San Diego but the SWMBO wouldn't be too pleased if based the entire trip visiting breweries and alehouses. She want's to go to San Diego zoo because it was in the movie anchorman.

Some suggestions for San Diego...

Some breweries / brew pubs:

http://www.stonebrew.com/
Huge selection of beers on tap, not just their own. Worth visiting just to see their purpose-built facility. It's awesome.

http://www.alpinebeerco.com/
Tiny, tiny brewery. Probably not worth the drive, but if you can find any of their brews they are all exceptional.

http://www.alesmith.com/
Outstanding beers and open to the public at weekends. They have a small bar for tasting.

http://www.pizzaport.com/
I personally like their Carlsbad and Solana Beach venues. They all brew on site. These guys have won countless medals.

http://www.lostabbey.com/
I haven't done this one yet. Open to the public at weekends. Belgian styles.

http://www.ballastpoint.com/
Their Linda Vista brewery is at the back of a homebrew shop. They have just re-done the tasting bar.

http://www.greenflashbrew.com/
I've not been to the brewery yet, but their beers are excellent.

Some beer bars:

http://smallbarsd.com/
http://www.hamiltonstavern.com/
http://www.obrienspub.net/
http://www.neighborhoodsd.com/
http://www.downtownjohnnybrowns.com/
http://www.sandiegobrewing.com/
http://www.coronadobrewingcompany.com/

Now I remember why I love this town so much.

Another good spot for finding Russian River would be The Trappist in Oakland. It's a tiny little bar downtown that specializes in Belgian styles, so they usually have at least one of the RR Belgians on tap.

The Pyramid alehouse in Berkeley is one of the more convenient Bay Area breweries to visit, with plenty of parking nearby (which, you should be warned, is very scarce in northern California, particularly in SF). They're pretty huge these days and definitely a bit corporate feeling, but it's not bad. If you want a brewpub with a bit more character in Berkeley, Triple Rock Brewery has been putting out some excellent beers in the last year. They got a new brewmaster who has definitely been pushing things forward, so if you read older reviews, they might not be up to date with the current status. Unfortunately, they actually do the brewing in a warehouse to the south in San Leandro, so there isn't a tour available.

If you can take a little bit of a swing north of the Bay, Lagunitas has an excellent tasting room and brewery tour these days in Petaluma, which is about a 45 minute drive north of either SF or Oakland. Plus, if you make it this far, you'd only be another half hour or so from Russian River..

Don't overlook the central coast area ie: San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, etc. The Firestone Walker Brewery is located in Paso Robles and well worth a visit.

+1 on Stone. They have tours of the brewery and give you some free tastings afterwards. Check their website for tour times. Their restaurant also features a good selection of good beers.

+1 on Pizza Port as well. In addition to some good pizza and their own beers, they have a lot of local beers on tap. You can taster size glasses of any beers you want. Might work out well if you don't have the time to hit up all the San Diego breweries. I've been to the one in Carlsbad a few times.

Also a few pubs you might want to check out if you have time:
Naja's place, Redondo Beach, http://www.najasplace.com/
The 5th Ammendment Alehouse, Santa Monica, http://www.pleadfifth.com/
Father's Office, Culver City, http://www.fathersoffice.com/

Have fun! sounds like a good trip!

johnnybob said:

Don't overlook the central coast area ie: San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, etc. The Firestone Walker Brewery is located in Paso Robles and well worth a visit.

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ive lived within 60 miles of FW my entire life.. now 20 miles away and have yet to tour it. i'm a bad resident!

johnnybob said:

Don't overlook the central coast area ie: San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, etc. The Firestone Walker Brewery is located in Paso Robles and well worth a visit.

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If you do head up the central coast, you can also check out

Island Brewing, Carpinteria, http://www.islandbrewingcompany.com
Telegraph, Santa Barbara, http://www.telegraphbrewing.com/

Oh, and Paso Robles has a few wineries too if you're interested.

you'll love stone brewery, their magnificent gardens, their food and their spectacular beer

If you're in SF, I really like Speakeasy, although I don't know if they have tours outside of their Friday happy hour. Definitely check out Magnolia in the Haight, it's a wonderful restaurant as well as pub. Really really great place and they have a Tuesday happy hour that's unstoppable. Trappist in Oakland is good too.

Don't waste your time with Pyramid in Berkeley, it feels like a TGI Friday's in there. You've had their beer and their food is nothing to write about.

Do consider taking a day to loop up through Sonoma County though. Add Bear Republic in Healdsburg. I've never been to their brewery but I'd like to.

peterfuse said:

Planning on a holiday, flying to and driving around cali and vegas this coming September. This is the planned route

I would love to include the Sierra Nevada Brewery but it's too far north off our route. How about the Stone Brewery in San Diego? Any other Suggestions?

Don't know many Cali Breweries. On another note, maybe i could do a homebrew swap with someone in the area?

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Stone, green flash, call Karl Strauss to see if you can get one, hit up Hess Brewing (great nano but I dunno about a tour you kind of get it by walking in lol). I dunno if you can get a tour at these places but if.you can: Mission and Coronado would be two places to see. I'm going to go to manzanita tomorrow and let you know.

Edit: I just saw your route and none of what I mentioned I'd in your route, I'd definitely suggested checking out the san diego being scene. I forgot a few breweries on there so check this out if you go down to SD: http://www.sandiegobrewersguild.org/brewery.php

Hey guys...I don't know if you noticed the OP date... it was early 2010. He was going to be here in September 2010. Me thinks you are a tad too late.

Phunhog said:

Hey guys...I don't know if you noticed the OP date... it was early 2010. He was going to be here in September 2010. Me thinks you are a tad too late.

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Touche sir....touche