Craft Beer freak on California for the first time. What must I do?

[rafaelpinto]

Hey guys,

I'll be on California on July and would like to experience all this place has to offer regarding awesome american craft beer (mostly hoppy ones and imperial stouts).

This is the trip itinerary
- Vegas (3 days)
- Los Angeles (6 days)
- San Francisco (6 days)

What do you guys advise? Any tips are welcome - be it bars, brewpubs, bottleshops, homebrew gatherings etc.

 

[khillian]

New Yorker but been living in SF for 6 years. Cellarmaker and Toronado are a must!

Breweries / Bars Grouped by area:

SOMA/Market:
*Cellarmaker Brewing Co* favorite brewery of all time, their hoppy beer kills, also their higher abv dark beers are legend ie, Coffee and Cigarettes
http://www.cellarmakerbrewing.com

City Beer Store, one block from Cellarmaker, great bottle shop with to go or drink on premise and like 10 rotating taps
http://citybeerstore.com

Mikkeller Bar, little bit of a walk to market from the last two, but great bar with bottle sours and guest taps, food is good but pricey
http://www.mikkellerbar.com

Nob Hill area:
Liquid Gold, newer bottle shop and bar with 20 taps
http://www.liquidgoldsf.com

Hop Water Distribution, bar with decent food, 30 taps all California made beers
http://www.hopwaterdistribution.com

Haight:
*Toronado* favorite bar in SF, they always have draft Pliny/Blind Pig on tap, the place is legend in the Bay Area beer scene, also do yourself a favor and grab a Rosemundo next door to eat inside Toronado

Black Sands, few blocks from Toronado new homebrew shop, brewery, bar, I like this place it's only been around for a year, they normally have 3 beers on tap with guest beers in bottles, they also have a small food list
http://www.blacksandsbeer.com

Mission:
Monks Kettle, high end food, great bottle and draft selection, everything here is incredible, best slow dinner craft beer place
http://monkskettle.com

Zeitgeist, it's a bit of a walk back towards Market, great outdoor space in back with picnick tables, lots of taps, burgers and fries grilled outside

East Bay: (across the bay bridge / ferry / bart train)
If you want to leave the city, would recommend taking the Ferry across the bay to Alameda (awesome views and ride) then walking to Faction Brewing http://factionbrewing.com (everything they make is awesome), from there you can Lyft/Uber up to Berkeley to hit up Fieldwork http://fieldworkbrewing.com (newer brewery with many taps killing almost every style of beer) from Fieldwork you could Lyft/Uber back to SF or take BART back. Bonus great bars in between Alameda and Berkeley in Oakland, The Trappist and Beer Revolution.

In a galaxy far far away...
Everyone will prob tell you to make the trek up to Russian River and Laguntias, unless you have a DD its not worth it, it's a decent drive, will take up a whole day, but the above places are all in SF grouped by walkability once your in that neighborhood. I would recommend lyft/uber to hop around to neighborhoods then walking.

Cheers!

 

[m00ps]

Im not sure where you are staying in San Francisco, but I had a business trip there 2 years ago and stayed around fisherman's wharf. I stumbled on this place called Kennedy's Irish Pub & Indian Curry House Restaurant

Now stay with me, I know it sounds weird but they had an AMAZING beer selection for a place like that. Several limited offerings of various breweries, including a number of hard to find Belgians on tap. They also have trivia night a few days a week where for 2-3 hours your literally get beer for buy one get one free. Plus, you can get some garlic/onion naan to soak up the alcohol. They've also got dart boards and tables for pool, fooseball, and air hockey. Id definitely recommend checking it out

 

[Auger]

My wife is from the LA area, we were out there last summer and took a day trip up to Santa Barbara. If you can get up that way, Firestone Walker has a tap room in Buellton which is well worth it, and their Barrelworks facility is right next door, doing a lot of interesting stuff. Once in Santa Barbara, there's quite a bit. The ones we hit up were Hollister, Telegraph, and Figueroa Mountain, all of which were decent. Fig Mountain had a TON of stuff on tap, and was a pretty hopping place on Friday night.

 

[robdogj]

There are quite a few good Craft breweries here in Sacramento...I know, it's a bit out of the way, but we are the ones w/ the water

Ruhstaller Brewery & American River Brewing are nice, but there are about 5 more that I haven't even mentioned.

 

[Konadog]

I don't like going into LA (I live in Long Beach) just to much traffic to deal with anymore. If in the LB area, Belmont Brewery, Rock Bottom Brewery, Beachwood BBQ are a few good ones. All are in about a 3 mile radius of each other

In San Francisco, drive north to Petaluma and go to Lagunitas Brewing Company, and a bit farther in Santa Rosa is Russian River for some fresh Pliny.

 

[beskone]

If you're in LA and near the South Bay try to stop by Smog City, Monkish, Dudes, El Segundo, and The Strand.

Smog, Monkish and The Dudes are all about 5 minutes away from each other, and you can walk between them easily. Smog is easily one of my favorite local spots.

I'd make sure if you could only hit a few start with Smog City and Monkish.

Out in the LBC Beachwood is a solid pick, good beer and lots of guest taps of local breweries.

 

[mrdauber64]

In San Francisco visit Magnolia Pub and Brewery. They brew in the basement with the steam going into the restaurant. The smell of wort combined with their food is outstanding! I loved their Sara's Ruby Mild pairs with their bacon cheese. Also 21st amendment was very good.

 

[Jayzon]

In LA: I will second Smog city. Like stated above there are several brewerys very close to each other making it possible to visit all of them in one night. Angel city brewery is a nice hangout spot (if you want a hipster environment) and it's right next to little Tokyo, but I have never had a beer from them that I would recommend.


Orange county: OC has a few brewerys worth visiting. Phantom ales is homebrew friendly but beers are sometimes hit or miss, noble and the bruery are decent. I've never checked it out, but there is something called the Brewhopbus which will drive you to several different brewerys in the OC area. I don't know which brewerys they visit or how much it is, but it'll allow you to drink freely without worrying about driving afterwards.

 

[rafaelpinto]

Wow, lots of stuff! Thanks guys!

Is Pliny the Elder widely available? I LOVE that beer!

What about Three Floyds? Is it easy to find them? Alchemist maybe???

 

[FVillatoro]

Angelino here!

If you come to the Arts District section of Downtown LA you can access these breweries on foot:

Arts District Brewery
Iron Triangle Brewery
Angel City Brewery
Boomtown Brewery (call first if they are open)
Mumford Brewery

If you feel like traveling to the greater LA area you gotta check out:

Smog City Brewery in Torrance
El Segundo Brewery near Torrance (very hoppy stuff)
Phantom Carriage Brewery in Carson
The Strand Brewery in Torrance
Three Weavers Brewery north of Torrance in Inglewood

There's more but that's plenty! lol

Have fun!

 

[Auger]

Wow, lots of stuff! Thanks guys!

Is Pliny the Elder widely available? I LOVE that beer!

What about Three Floyds? Is it easy to find them? Alchemist maybe???

Alchemist - no. Only place to find that stuff is pretty much with 15 miles of the brewery in VT.

 

[Lazer Wolf Brewing]

Wow, lots of stuff! Thanks guys!

Is Pliny the Elder widely available? I LOVE that beer!

What about Three Floyds? Is it easy to find them? Alchemist maybe???

Pliny is still pretty hard to find in Southern California. You could use the "find" feature on untappd to see if it's around. Bottles are usually 1 per person limit if you do find it. Much easier to find in northern Cali. My favorite breweries in Orange County are: Artifex (San Clemente), Barley Forge (Costa Mesa), Breury (too crowded usually), Bottle Logic.

Bottle Logic and Bruery are semi close to LA. Definitely check out Smog City in LA, and Beachwood in Long beach if you can.

 

[khillian]

Toronado besides having Pliny on draft always also has bottles for purchase to go as well most of the time, most places in SF get deliveries Wednesday. My local deli has it but 1 bottle per now, wasn't like that when I first moved here. The bro tech invasion brought a bunch of I will buy the whole case folk, they only get 3 cases per week.

 

[user 198378]

You already failed by skipping San Diego bud lol

Hey guys,

I'll be on California on July and would like to experience all this place has to offer regarding awesome american craft beer (mostly hoppy ones and imperial stouts).

This is the trip itinerary
- Vegas (3 days)
- Los Angeles (6 days)
- San Francisco (6 days)

What do you guys advise? Any tips are welcome - be it bars, brewpubs, bottleshops, homebrew gatherings etc.

 

[beskone]

Oh I forgot to mention, If you're into sours check out Phantom Carriage in Carson. Tons of barrel aged stuff and a wicked bottle selection.

3 Floyds is from Chicago, so we don't get that here and the Alchemist is from Vermont so probably outta luck on that as well. The only time I've had a Heady Topper is when a friend of a friend shipped us a 6 pack from Vermont.

 

[user 198378]

Pretty sure Toronado will not let you take bottles with you out the door. You have to drink them there. But that works too :rockin:

Toronado besides having Pliny on draft always also has bottles for purchase to go as well most of the time, most places in SF get deliveries Wednesday. My local deli has it but 1 bottle per now, wasn't like that when I first moved here. The bro tech invasion brought a bunch of I will buy the whole case folk, they only get 3 cases per week.

 

[beskone]

Blue Palms is a great draft house in Hollywood, they almost always have Pliney on Tap. I got to sample some Younger on release day there this year. They have an impressive tap list most days.

Not really the most awesome atmosphere but If you're up near the Pantages theatre it's worth stopping by.

 

[rafaelpinto]

Oh I forgot to mention, If you're into sours check out Phantom Carriage in Carson. Tons of barrel aged stuff and a wicked bottle selection.

3 Floyds is from Chicago, so we don't get that here and the Alchemist is from Vermont so probably outta luck on that as well. The only time I've had a Heady Topper is when a friend of a friend shipped us a 6 pack from Vermont.

Dude, here in Brazil things are different. A good beer can be found almost everywhere - and its a pretty big country too. Of course there are some which will suffer from not being pasteurized, but most of the beers can be bought on all the bigger cities - or at least online.

 

[BGBC]

Dude, here in Brazil things are different. A good beer can be found almost everywhere - and its a pretty big country too. Of course there are some which will suffer from not being pasteurized, but most of the beers can be bought on all the bigger cities - or at least online.

Ah, that explains the earlier question.

You can find good beer pretty much anywhere in the states now (mostly, but definitely in California), but you can't find every beer everywhere. With over 4000 breweries in the US, most of them are going to be regional or local, only a small percentage overall have national distribution.

Enjoy your trip, plenty of good beer in all of the locations you're visiting. Enjoy the local options and don't be disappointed that you can't get 3 Floyds or Heady.

 

[Scturo]

Enjoy your trip,

LA:

El Segundo, Smog City, Golden Road, WurstKuche (German Brats and Beer), Angel City., Congregation, Clairmont, Stone (Pasadena)

OC:

Bottle Logic, Noble, The Bruery, Hollingshead Deli.

San Diego:

Stone, Ballast Point, Modern Times, Green Flash.