What breweries or beers to try while in California?

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I will be leaving this weekend for a 10 day trip to California. My family and I will be in San Francisco (on Mission St.) and Paicines during our trip. If there are any breweries to check out that would be great, but I know I cannot hit all of them like Russian River. :( So with that being said, what breweries would you recommend to try and check out in those general areas? We will try make trips over to Salinas and Monterey too while we are in Paicines.

Also, what beers should I be on the look out for to purchase? I like mainly IPAs and Pale Ales, but I am up for anything! I am going to try to locate some Pliny and Blind Pig to try for sure!

Thanks guys! :mug:
 
I will be leaving this weekend for a 10 day trip to California. My family and I will be in San Francisco (on Mission St.) and Paicines during our trip. If there are any breweries to check out that would be great, but I know I cannot hit all of them like Russian River. :( So with that being said, what breweries would you recommend to try and check out in those general areas? We will try make trips over to Salinas and Monterey too while we are in Paicines.

Also, what beers should I be on the look out for to purchase? I like mainly IPAs and Pale Ales, but I am up for anything! I am going to try to locate some Pliny and Blind Pig to try for sure!

Thanks guys! :mug:

Most anything by Lost Abbey is good, they are down in the San Diego area, but they distribute all over. They specialize in big aged beers though, so I don't know if that's your thing.
 
Check this out. Tons of breweries and restaurants that brew their own beer. Some are well known, and others are not. It has been a while since I lived in that area, so sorry I couldn't be of more help in saying which are worth seeing and which aren't - might help those who live there remember some of these places though.
 
My favorite by far on my trip last fall was Faction Brewing. It's across the bay in Aledmeda The view is amazing and every beer was stellar. Obviously Roger Davis knows how to make hoppy beers, but there were some fabulous malty styles as well as belgian recipes.
 
Went out there a few months ago and managed to go to 24 breweries over the course of a week. Best ones IMO were Russian River, Cellarmaker, Fieldwork, Faction, Rare Barrel and Bear Republic.
 
If you're staying on Mission, do not miss Cellarmaker, City Beer Store, and Mikkeller Bar!
If you venture into the north bay (Marin/Sonoma counties), Lagunitas, Russian River, Cooperage, Henhouse, Bear Republic.
Looks like East Bay is covered, but don't miss Fieldwork in Berkeley!
When you're down around Monterey, try to make it to Sante Adairus!

Cheers, and enjoy the trip!
 
WOW thanks for the quick responses guys! Keep them coming if any more come to mind! I have compiled a list with the responses and there are a lot of good options! :)
 
If yoyre close to the town of Chico then you need to check out Sierra Nevada. Kind of the granddaddy of craft brewing in the state (nation?).
 
Check out Modern Times. They're based in San Diego but they're distributed through out Cali. I've tried many San Diego breweries in my travels and they have the the best tasting beer ,regardless of style, IMHO. Check out Fortunate Islands or their coffee infused stouts. So good! Even their Saison is on point.

If you ever make it to San Diego don't miss the white labs tasting room.

Cheers!
 
Check out Modern Times. They're based in San Diego but they're distributed through out Cali. I've tried many San Diego breweries in my travels and they have the the best tasting beer ,regardless of style, IMHO. Check out Fortunate Islands or their coffee infused stouts. So good! Even their Saison is on point.

If you ever make it to San Diego don't miss the white labs tasting room.

Cheers!

Fun fact about Modern Times... They put all of their beers online with scaled 5 gal homebrew recipes.

:off:
 
On your way from The City to Paicines (which I had to look up on google even though I've lived in the San Jose area since 1997), stop in at El Toro in Morgan Hill. Good stuff.

You can't go wrong with everyone's prior suggestions either.
 
Cellarmaker in SF. Fieldwork in Berkeley. Faction in Alameda. There are many more in the Bay Area, but those are my favorites.
 
Check out Modern Times. They're based in San Diego but they're distributed through out Cali. I've tried many San Diego breweries in my travels and they have the the best tasting beer ,regardless of style, IMHO. Check out Fortunate Islands or their coffee infused stouts. So good! Even their Saison is on point.

If you ever make it to San Diego don't miss the white labs tasting room.

Cheers!

Co-sign. Modern Times is my current favorite micro brewery. :rockin:
 
So many amazing breweries in California. Stone, Modern Times, Pizza Port, Lost Abbey, Rare Barrel, Russian River, 21st Amendment, Sierra Nevada, Drake's, The Bruery, Speakeasy, Almanac, and I'm sure I could keep going, but I'm a bit drunk at the moment and those are the only ones I have on mind.
 
If you head up interstate 80 towards the Sierras stop in Auburn and have a Knee Deep, Auburn Ale House, Moonraker Brewery, and soon Crooked Lane Brewery...
 
Cellarmaker and Magnolia (small gastropub in Haight and a larger facility with restaurant in Dogpatch) are my favorites in the city itself. As mentioned above if you can get to the East bay Rare Barrel, Faction, and Drakes are worth visiting. For bars I'd try to hit Mikkeller and Monk's Kettle (this one is pretty tiny, in person walk in list only so you may want to try for off prime hours). Of course we should include Toronado if no one has mentioned it.
 
Awesome, thanks again guys! It will give me something to do on the flight out there to figure out which ones I can visit and what not. But also, for beers I can find in the stores!
 
Just keep in mind CA is a big darn state to travel around. Many of the suggestions in this thread while worthy are many many hours away by car. Factor in the crap traffic and you'd spend all day in the car for one brewery.
 
I find it funny that while you are going to be in NorCal, people keep bringing up San Diego beers. I grew up in the Bay Area, but before the craft brew revolution. There were microbreweries there back then but they were few and far between and since my favorites aren't mentioned yet I figure they are not as good as the others being suggested.

About 7 years ago I took my wife to Point Reyes and we toured Point Reyes Blue Cheese. Then hit Lagunitas for a very cool tour and tasting. The tour guide kept telling stories about her uncle who she was visiting for the summer. He sounded like a very cool guy who had worked really hard to build his business but was not enjoying the fruits of his labor by road tripping that summer. She turned out to be the Lagunitas founder's niece. While in Marin Russian River is right up the street. I can't remember which beer it was but i had something from Drake Brewing that was really good.

The problem I am seeing with going to the Bay Area for a beer tour is the distance between all the places suggested. If you really want a beer vacation you need to come to San Diego.... Damn now I'm doing it.

While you're up there you could also visit More Beer and Williams Brewing if they still have a retail outlet.
 
If you really want a beer vacation you need to come to San Diego.... Damn now I'm doing it.

My brother opened Burger Bench in Escondido featuring only San Diego craft beers and gourmet burgers. No trip is complete without this stop to the old town district of Escondido. You might even meet up with a classic car show. They're there like all the time.

:mug:
 
If yoyre close to the town of Chico then you need to check out Sierra Nevada. Kind of the granddaddy of craft brewing in the state (nation?).

Beat me to it!!! LOL...About a 2 hour drive from the bay area..Well worth the trip IMHO, but, then again I AM a bit biased as I grew up in Chico!LMAO Definitely go do a brewery tour if you get a chance! And the food at the pub is really good as well with some 'one off' brews on tap! ;)

BTW, the brewery is on the south side of town..20th Street exit off of CA99...
 
My brother opened Burger Bench in Escondido featuring only San Diego craft beers and gourmet burgers. No trip is complete without this stop to the old town district of Escondido. You might even meet up with a classic car show. They're there like all the time.

:mug:

I'll have to check it out. This thread got me thinking about just how many breweries are near me and I stopped counting at 20 within a 15 mile radius of my home. Escondido is just outside that radius.

I see you're from Waveland, were you there before Katrina?
 
I'll have to check it out. This thread got me thinking about just how many breweries are near me and I stopped counting at 20 within a 15 mile radius of my home. Escondido is just outside that radius.

I see you're from Waveland, were you there before Katrina?

Indeed.

:drunk:
 
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