Bay Area Thread

[Wino1]

Was that the point of the discussion? I dont think anyone was saying they won't be a profitable business. Anheuser Busch is profitable and a lot of ppl drink it, does that mean we can't discuss that we don't love Budweiser as a beer?

it's going to be okay boo boo, let's calm down a bit.

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

it's going to be okay boo boo, let's calm down a bit.

Calm down? I'm not upset lil guy. I was just pointing out that your comment to the discussion wasn't the point. Based on your comment though, I can see I hurt some feelz, my b bruh

 

[cardinalbruintriton]

Can we go back to arguing about burritos?

We derailing another bay area thread?

 

[chemman141]

Longest was 6 years, median is probably 4 months.

I haven't even been banned from a brewery in ages. If I can play nice, chemman14 can, too.

It's been a while for me too, I am almost jonesing for another, but ill be nice I guess.

 

[rrryanc]

I'm not sticking up for them! But I think there's a difference between what everyone is saying here, which is that their beer is largely boring, and what you're implying, which is that they're selling deeply flawed beers.

I didn't say deeply flawed, I just said not good. Right now they're in the same category as Cleophus Q-who the **** cares-y or Black Hammer Brewing for me. They may have potential (hopefully, since they have Cellarmaker pedigree). But right now they're another brewery in the bay area doing ****** ass beers - and we have a shocking number of those already.

 

[stupac2]

I didn't say deeply flawed, I just said not good. Right now they're in the same category as Cleophus Q-who the **** cares-y or Black Hammer Brewing for me. They may have potential (hopefully, since they have Cellarmaker pedigree). But right now they're another brewery in the bay area doing ****** ass beers - and we have a shocking number of those already.

I don't understand this statement, they're not good and "****** ass", but they're not flawed? We're not talking about Ale Industries that actually makes bad beer. It's also weird, everyone who has commented on it has said that their porter is legitimately great, does that not matter? Clearly they can make really good beer.

(Cleophus Quealy has also made some legitimately excellent beers in the past but they're so annoying to get to I haven't kept up with them.)

 

[matedog]

Not diving into this debate, but I'm just hoping for something Cellarmaker quality on this side of the bay. Perhaps it's all in my head because it's more accessible, but Fieldwork rates a level below Cellarmaker for me.

It's a really tough life when I have to settle for Fieldwork because I'm too lazy to take public transit 30 minutes to get to Cellarmaker for fresh IPAs.

 

[drgarage1]

I don't understand this statement, they're not good and "****** ass", but they're not flawed? We're not talking about Ale Industries that actually makes bad beer. It's also weird, everyone who has commented on it has said that their porter is legitimately great, does that not matter? Clearly they can make really good beer.

(Cleophus Quealy has also made some legitimately excellent beers in the past but they're so annoying to get to I haven't kept up with them.)

(They also have the most forgettable name ever)

And yes, everyone said the porter is legitimately great, which makes sense, given that Wade almost certainly helped turn out a batch of Everett or two in his time.

 

[rrryanc]

I don't understand this statement, they're not good and "****** ass", but they're not flawed? We're not talking about Ale Industries that actually makes bad beer. It's also weird, everyone who has commented on it has said that their porter is legitimately great, does that not matter? Clearly they can make really good beer.

(Cleophus Quealy has also made some legitimately excellent beers in the past but they're so annoying to get to I haven't kept up with them.)

I guess uninspired or average beers could also be construed as flawed? I was making a distinction though. I'll look out for their porter, given the feedback. Though porter isn't a style I drank a ton of, so I'm not sure that makes them any more appealing in the general sense for me.

Never had a good beer from CQ. Didn't give them a ton of tries, but again there's too much good beer near us now to continually try places that aren't impressing.

 

[stupac2]

Didn't give them a ton of tries, but again there's too much good beer near us now to continually try places that aren't impressing.

First, adding two spaces after a period is literally worse than Hitler.

Second, really? Maybe this is just my perspective as someone from the east bay that doesn't get to the city at all, but there's really not that much. SARA is a PITA to get to, Cellarmaker is good but they do almost no distro, same with Fieldwork. After that you have, what, Altamont who's pretty hit-or-miss? Who else?

I get writing them off if you tried something and it sucked (been there done that with a bunch of places, Line 51 comes to mind) but I don't get the idea that the bay area is swimming with great beer. Walk into a random restaurant or non-beer bar and you'll find Drake's, Lagunitas's year-round offerings, maybe Linden St if you're lucky. There is plenty of room for more good beer.

 

[chemman141]

See what you did dude?

 

[rrryanc]

First, adding two spaces after a period is literally worse than Hitler.

Second, really? Maybe this is just my perspective as someone from the east bay that doesn't get to the city at all, but there's really not that much. SARA is a PITA to get to, Cellarmaker is good but they do almost no distro, same with Fieldwork. After that you have, what, Altamont who's pretty hit-or-miss? Who else?

I get writing them off if you tried something and it sucked (been there done that with a bunch of places, Line 51 comes to mind) but I don't get the idea that the bay area is swimming with great beer. Walk into a random restaurant or non-beer bar and you'll find Drake's, Lagunitas's year-round offerings, maybe Linden St if you're lucky. There is plenty of room for more good beer.

I stand by my double spacing. I understand it's unnecessary, but it's a habit I can't break.

I get Cellarmaker, Fieldwork and Altamont frequently at GHS and AA, which might color my thoughts on their availability. SARA is easier to travel to than anywhere in the east bay as well. I've found Alpha Acid to be shockingly good, though there's definitely some bias there on my part, so I don't pimp them a lot. And that doesn't help your distribution woes. Almanac's been better recently, so there's that too.

I don't disagree that we could use more good beer (as evidenced by San Diego, I'm not sure there's actually a saturation point), I'm just not going to keep drinking non-great beer because I'm hoping a place will get better. We had to do that when Drakes was basically the best option in the bay, it's no longer necessary.

 

[user 304985]

Shesh.
Anywho, Cellarmaker, best times to go? Friday afternoon get crowded? Didn't have trouble last time i was up there, but Im guessing it's a mess at times now?

 

[drgarage1]

Shesh.
Anywho, Cellarmaker, best times to go? Friday afternoon get crowded? Didn't have trouble last time i was up there, but Im guessing it's a mess at times now?

At least for the next few weeks, not during a Warriors game is pretty key. It's probably least busy weeknights after 9 or so.

 

[pen15clubmember]

Shesh.
Anywho, Cellarmaker, best times to go? Friday afternoon get crowded? Didn't have trouble last time i was up there, but Im guessing it's a mess at times now?

It's pretty much busy at all hours now. If you go right at open or at 10 pm, you'll probably not have too much trouble finding a seat.

 

[Arbitrator]

But right now they're another brewery in the bay area doing ****** ass beers - and we have a shocking number of those already.

I get writing them off if you tried something and it sucked (been there done that with a bunch of places, Line 51 comes to mind) but I don't get the idea that the bay area is swimming with great beer. Walk into a random restaurant or non-beer bar and you'll find Drake's, Lagunitas's year-round offerings, maybe Linden St if you're lucky. There is plenty of room for more good beer.

You guys are saying the same thing.

The Bay Area has a handful of good breweries, but they are dwarfed by the poor ones, and more poor ones aren't helping. It says something that Drakes, Magnolia, Thirsty Bear, Social Kitchen, Pacific Coast, Ale Industries, Buffalo Bill's, Jack's Brewing, Das Beer, Hermitage, Firehouse, Faultline, Tied House, Devil's Canyon, Steelhead, Southern Pacific, Linden Street, Bison, Rare Barrel, Elevation 66, Marin, Moylan's, Iron Springs, Mill Valley Beerworks, Napa Smith, Third Street Aleworks etc. are doing fine: they have no competition.

I took this from SF MoMA.

THRISTY BAYER NEVAR FORGET

 

[chemman141]

You guys are saying the same thing.

The Bay Area has a handful of good breweries, but they are dwarfed by the poor ones, and more poor ones aren't helping. It says something that Drakes, Magnolia, Thirsty Bear, Social Kitchen, Pacific Coast, Ale Industries, Buffalo Bill's, Jack's Brewing, Das Beer, Hermitage, Firehouse, Faultline, Tied House, Devil's Canyon, Steelhead, Southern Pacific, Bison, Rare Barrel, Elevation 66, Marin, Moylan's, Iron Springs, Mill Valley Beerworks, etc. are doing fine: they have no competition.

I took this from SF MoMA.

THRISTY BAYER NEVAR FORGET

You're saying drakes/rare barrel sucks? Hmmmmm

 

[Hornet]

You guys are saying the same thing.

The Bay Area has a handful of good breweries, but they are dwarfed by the poor ones, and more poor ones aren't helping. It says something that Drakes, Magnolia, Thirsty Bear, Social Kitchen, Pacific Coast, Ale Industries, Buffalo Bill's, Jack's Brewing, Das Beer, Hermitage, Firehouse, Faultline, Tied House, Devil's Canyon, Steelhead, Southern Pacific, Linden Street, Bison, Rare Barrel, Elevation 66, Marin, Moylan's, Iron Springs, Mill Valley Beerworks, Napa Smith, Third Street Aleworks etc. are doing fine: they have no competition.

I took this from SF MoMA.

THRISTY BAYER NEVAR FORGET

I agree that for the population, diversity and culture of the entire bay area, in general the beer is just mediocre.
But it is not the lack of competetion that keeps these places in business and brewing...
There are examples all over this country and the world of great breweries/beer bars being around the corner from less than great breweries/beer bars.
Sante is not putting ofher local breweries out of business because they are "better", Russian River and 3rd Street Aleworks have existed together for a long time. Lagunitas is now across the street from Henhouse and P Hills Brewing.
It is not the presence of a "better" brewer that puts lesser places out of business, everyone has different tastes, interests and concerns and this will forever drive the beer scene on all levels.

 

[CommanderofAwesome]

You're saying drakes/rare barrel sucks? Hmmmmm

I was up there as on eof the biggest Drakes haters when I first move to the bay area. They have improved though, and I find them drinkable to good. Hell their barrelworks and dealership are great places to grab a now IMO.

 

[Arbitrator]

I agree that for the population, diversity and culture of the entire bay area, in general the beer is just mediocre.
But it is not the lack of competetion that keeps these places in business and brewing...
There are examples all over this country and the world of great breweries/beer bars being around the corner from less than great breweries/beer bars.
Sante is not putting ofher local breweries out of business because they are "better", Russian River and 3rd Street Aleworks have existed together for a long time. Lagunitas is now across the street from Henhouse and P Hills Brewing.
It is not the presence of a "better" brewer that puts lesser places out of business, everyone has different tastes, interests and concerns and this will forever drive the beer scene on all levels.

Sure, there are tiers, but I think growing the number of high-quality breweries will put the squeeze on some of the shittier ones. For example, we finally got rid of Blue Frog.

There's only so much market capacity within each tier of interest, even if we are nowhere near those limits yet.

 

[AptosBeerDrinker]

I mean fine, but before Cellarmaker and SARA, there was no Cellarmaker or SARA. We had to be patient, because the next best was extremely marginal. Now? I'm not planning on buying another of their beers until someone I trust tells me it's awesome - I'll stick to those folks that aren't on training wheels I guess. The stuff I've had so far has easily been below average beer.

This is a fair point.

 

[AptosBeerDrinker]

20 Tank. #neverforget

 

[stupac2]

I stand by my double spacing. I understand it's unnecessary, but it's a habit I can't break.

I get Cellarmaker, Fieldwork and Altamont frequently at GHS and AA, which might color my thoughts on their availability. SARA is easier to travel to than anywhere in the east bay as well. I've found Alpha Acid to be shockingly good, though there's definitely some bias there on my part, so I don't pimp them a lot. And that doesn't help your distribution woes. Almanac's been better recently, so there's that too.

I don't disagree that we could use more good beer (as evidenced by San Diego, I'm not sure there's actually a saturation point), I'm just not going to keep drinking non-great beer because I'm hoping a place will get better. We had to do that when Drakes was basically the best option in the bay, it's no longer necessary.

Yeah, I think right now the peninsula is probably a better spot than Oakland. My perspective on Temescal is definitely colored by the fact that the best brewery in Oakland is Linden St. We are desperate for some decent local options, even if they don't improve from here "mostly okay beers with a couple standouts" is a colossal improvement.

You guys are saying the same thing.

To be fair, if you were going to pick two people you know who would fight while arguing the same position, you'd probably pick us.

 

[theLostWizard]

To be fair, if you were going to pick two people you know who are pedantic, argumentative ********, you'd probably pick us.

Fixed.

 

[chemman141]

Fixed.

Oh man, its so nice seeing others get hate and not just me!!!

 

[Arbitrator]

Fixed.

I've drank with stupac2 many times. He's not an *******.

 

[chemman141]

I've drank with stupac2 many times. He's not an *******.

Neither am I.

 

[theLostWizard]

I've drank with stupac2 many times. He's not an *******.

In person I agree (though he always forgets my name), but mainly the internet persona. However, we both know rrryanc is another story entirely.

 

[coldstorage]

I just found their business plan to be sort of dumb. "We're going to brew the basics really well!"

I don''t know, this was actually what got me excited about the place. I think this is what's really missing right now. There isn't really a need for more hop houses, experimental small batch joints, mega sour barrel stackers or rustic farmhousery at the moment.... (if we had an adjunct stout forward place riffing on vanilla beans the whole village people spectrum of 2016 extreme beer would be well represented in the bay) but a place in Oakland that really nailed classic styles.... I would welcome that with open arms. I mean, not good enough if its like magnolia/marin brew co/whatever but i'm saying that if they could get 2/3rds of the way to Moonlight levels i'd drink there all the time.

I want to believe...

 

[Arbitrator]

​

In person I agree (though he always forgets my name), but mainly the internet persona. However, we both know rrryanc is another story entirely.

I haven't seen rrryanc since last year. I've lost body fat, my blood work is fantastic, and my beer cellar is shrinking. You really can't argue with the positive results.