Must visits in the Bay Area?

[iamopie2]

I fly into San Francisco veterans day to attend the national conference for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and wanted some opinions on must go to places. I am hoping to try and get to the Hop Grenade as I am a long time listener of the BN.

 

[brewshki]

I was there a few weekends ago and went to the 21st amendment and then the toronado. 21A was fun because of the BN but I would go back to the toronado in a heart beat. Great beer.

 

[worlddivides]

If you want a bar/beer cafe kind of place, the Hop Grenade is awesome. Another great one is Ol Beercafe & Bottle Shop in Walnut Creek. They usually have a ton of really rare and quirky beers on tap. A lot of sours and experimental beers from all over the US and Europe. In the South Bay, there's ISO Beers and Original Gravity, both in San Jose.

For breweries, 21st Amendment in downtown SF is nice. There's also Speakeasy. In Berkeley, there's The Rare Barrel, which only makes sour beers. In San Leandro (around Oakland), there's Drake, which makes a lot of IPAs and hoppy beers.

If you want to go up north to Sonoma County, there's Russian River, Lagunitas, Bear Republic, and a few smaller places.

 

[Zekk]

I would try and set up a tour at Anchor. I mean call them today because you have to book in advance.

Faction in Oakland is awesome and it's right next to Saint George's distilling so you can get some great hard liquor too.

 

[rtracer]

If you want great beer...

Fieldwork in Berkley
Cellarmaker in SF
Drakes in either Oakland(called The Dealership, a really cool restaurant), or in San leandro(actual brewery with tasting room)
Faction in Alameda(not Oakland), great view of the city

And of course Lagunitas, Russian River if your willing to drive a bit...and wait in line

 

[BentBrewer]

Magnolia Brewing.

 

[hopkincr]

I liked Monk's Kettle

 

[55x11]

If you want great beer...

Fieldwork in Berkley
Cellarmaker in SF
Drakes in either Oakland(called The Dealership, a really cool restaurant), or in San leandro(actual brewery with tasting room)
Faction in Alameda(not Oakland), great view of the city

And of course Lagunitas, Russian River if your willing to drive a bit...and wait in line

Lagunitas, Russian River (twice), Bear Republic - visited all three just last week.

Zero wait at Russian River both times - at noon or at happy hour. On a Wednesday though. Weekends/Fridays may be a lot busier.

 

[worlddivides]

Lagunitas, Russian River (twice), Bear Republic - visited all three just last week.

Zero wait at Russian River both times - at noon or at happy hour. On a Wednesday though. Weekends/Fridays may be a lot busier.

I went at noon to Russian River last weekend and waited a little under an hour and a half. But it was Zwanze Day, so I guess it was higher traffic than usual.

I also went to Lagunitas lately. There was no wait, but more of the seats were taken.

 

[rcurlee]

+1 for Fieldwork, The Rare Barrel, and of course Russian River Brewing Co. If you're willing to drive there's Hermitage in San Jose and Sante Adairius in Capitola.

 

[secondbase]

Russian River, Rare Barrel, Cellarmaker, Sante Adairius.