Homebrew San Francisco!

[IPYay]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum, but I've been brewing for a few years. Love all the great info on the site.

Wondering how many of you all are from San Francisco?

Good Fermentations, Ladies and Gents.

 

[bruin_ale]

Welcome IPYay.. I'm in the south bay area. There are a number of NorCal folks here, I feel like we're outnumbered by Eastern and Texas folks.

 

[Emc]

I'm north of the bridge in sonoma county, so chalk up one more for norcal.

 

[Palefire]

Yepsters. Lots of us here!

 

[Scoobs95407]

I'm in Santa Rosa. Another for NorCal

 

[IPYay]

Great to hear I have a couple homebrewing neighbors! I just moved here a year ago for grad school.

I haven't tried out this Oak Barrel Homebrew shop over in Berkeley yet. How does it compare to SF Brewcraft? I've had some good experiences at SF Brewcraft so far, but would like to check out what other stores in the area have to offer. I've heard good things about Oak Barrel.

 

[Palefire]

Better better better. Better. They have everything you could ever need, the prices are a little better, they always have something great kegged up to drink while you shop (for free), and best of all, you don't have to deal with Griz. The people who work there (some of whom are HBT regulars) brew actively and know what they're talking about. I've never seen them steer anyone wrong.

Brewcraft is weird and funky, the guys who work there are extraordinarily nice people, and overall I appreciate its being there. But I've seen lots of god-awful advice being given to newbs there. And I get annoyed when I go in with a plan and have to hear Griz spout off for 10 minutes about why it won't work. No disrespect to the man - he's obviously been in this game far far longer than I have - but it just gets annoying after a while (to me, at least).

Seriously - Oak Barrel is a 10 minute walk from N. Berkeley BART. Do it.

 

[IPYay]

Thanks for the advice, Palefire. I'll definitely check out Oak Barrel.

I've had similar experiences with SF Brewcraft. Griz certainly seems experienced, but he really is a buzzkill. A few times I've gone in very excited about a recipe or an idea and come away discouraged. The place doesn't really inspire excitement in new brewers (like me).

I'll stop by Oak Barrell this week. Thinking of trying this Trappist Ale: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f71/trappist-ale-180702/. Looks great.

 

[SC_Ryan]

More Beer is great too. They have several locations in the Bay Area but none in San Francisco proper.

 

[SC_Ryan]

Oh, and welcome to the forum! There's tons of home brewers in the Bay Area.

 

[bruin_ale]

My SF buddy used to go to BrewCraft, I've never been there but from talking to him and hearing the advice he was given I got the same general feeling towards it. I shop at MoreBeer in Los Altos, I used to go there back when it was Fermentation Frenzy. The guy who usually worked there (can't recall his name, but not Phil the owner) were stand up guys and always willing to talk about beer.