stupac2
Well-Known Member
So you're visiting San Francisco and want to know where to go? Well here's a compendium of places to go and things to do. If you have any questions feel free to ask here, but please search the thread first!
SF City:
Mikkeller Bar: Expensive but will often have hard-to-find stuff on tap or in bottle.
City Beer Store: Also expensive, pretty good selection, sometimes has rare stuff on tap.
Toronado: Typically cheap, some rarer stuff can be expensive. Sometimes good or awesome bottles on. Cable Car shows up on the list irregularly. Cash only.
Healthy Spirits: Expensive, good stuff usually disappears quickly because of beer club.
Magnolia: Good food, pretty good beer.
Monk's Kettle: Expensive, but sometimes has hard-to-find stuff. Good food. Tiny place, will be crowded during regular bar hours.
Abbot's Cellar: Same people as Monk's Kettle, more food-oriented.
Churchkey (North Beach): A smaller, kind of hidden bar near the corner of Grant and Green. Always seems to have an impressive selection of beers on tap.
Oakland/Berkeley:
Beer Revolution/Olde Depot: Cheapish, good bottle selection, sometimes rarer stuff on tap/in bottle.
Trappist/Trappist Provisions: Expensive, sometimes rarer stuff on tap. Provisions has bottles, sometimes
Linden St Brewing: Good low-ABV lager styles. Food trucks outside occasionally.
Ledger's: Good selection, decent prices, sometimes has hard-to-find stuff, supposedly keep lots of older stuff in the back.
Hog's Apothecary: New, good selection, good but expensive food.
East Bay:
Drake's Brewing (San Leandro): Decent-to-good beer, food trucks on some weekend days.
Cork n Bottle (Fremont): Good selection for the location, a few taps.
Mission Liquors (Fremont): Good selection for the location, several taps.
The Bistro (Hayward): Hosts a lot of awesome festivals, check to see if there's one on while you're here. Sometimes has fun stuff on tap otherwise.
Øl Beercafe (Walnut Creek): Quality tap list and a large selection of bottles. Owned by the same people as The Trappist, so it's very similar.
Penninsula:
Harry's Hofbrau (Redwood City): Cheapish, good selection of taps and bottles, rarer stuff on occasionally. Buffet food.
Gourmet Haus Staudt (Redwood City): German beer, German food, good if that's what you're looking for. Also has a few American guest taps.
Ale Arsenal: (San Carlos) Good selection of craft beer on tap (24 taps, 1 cask, 100 bottles to go). Good prices. No food served but you can bring food in. Next door is Refuge, which makes an incredible (and expensive) pastrami sandwich.
Willows Market: (Menlo Park) Large inventory of bottles. Bit pricey. Good place to grab a sandwich and browse bottles. Monday nights is food truck night.
North Bay:
Russian River: No explanation needed.
Bottle Barn: Incredibly cheap, often has RR bottles cheaper than the brewery, good selection with occasional rarities, has styro shippers if you need them.
Lagunitas: Almost always has a barrel aged beer or two on tap. Just a heads up if you guys are passing by Petaluma. Each one I have had has been excellent, and at $5 a glass, it's a steal.
Moylan's/Marin Brewing: Decent pub food, decent-to-good beer.
Mill Valley Beerworks: Good beer, good food.
Bear Republic: Good-to-great beer (get Tartare if it's on), pub food.
South Bay:
Liquid Bread Gastro Pub (Campbell): taps rotate daily, occasionally has some rare beers.
Spread (Campbell): Nice little deli with a great selection of bottles
Harry's Hofbrau (Saratoga): same as above
Good Karma (San Jose): Vegan spot with good bottle selection. and the food is not that bad
Orginal Gravity Pub House (San Jose): Place is really small but they taps rotate daily and they have a lot of tap takeovers
Santa Cruz (and environs):
Sante Adairius Rustic Ales (Capitola): Very good beer all-around. Irregular bottle releases. Usually one (and only one) beer on for growler fills. Will fill any container.
Aptos St BBQ (Aptos): Good BBQ for the bay area, close to SARA. Has a few dozen solid taps too.
All over:
Whole Foods: Sometimes the best selections for the area, a few select stores have taprooms, good prices.
BevMo: Sometimes have rarer stuff, but it leaves pretty quickly. Good prices. Warm storage of beer, and it's often old. Not a bad option, but generally weak stores for beer.
(This is incomplete, I'll need some help filling this out. The goal is to have a pretty comprehensive list of the places that are actually worth visiting.)
SF City:
Mikkeller Bar: Expensive but will often have hard-to-find stuff on tap or in bottle.
City Beer Store: Also expensive, pretty good selection, sometimes has rare stuff on tap.
Toronado: Typically cheap, some rarer stuff can be expensive. Sometimes good or awesome bottles on. Cable Car shows up on the list irregularly. Cash only.
Healthy Spirits: Expensive, good stuff usually disappears quickly because of beer club.
Magnolia: Good food, pretty good beer.
Monk's Kettle: Expensive, but sometimes has hard-to-find stuff. Good food. Tiny place, will be crowded during regular bar hours.
Abbot's Cellar: Same people as Monk's Kettle, more food-oriented.
Churchkey (North Beach): A smaller, kind of hidden bar near the corner of Grant and Green. Always seems to have an impressive selection of beers on tap.
Oakland/Berkeley:
Beer Revolution/Olde Depot: Cheapish, good bottle selection, sometimes rarer stuff on tap/in bottle.
Trappist/Trappist Provisions: Expensive, sometimes rarer stuff on tap. Provisions has bottles, sometimes
Linden St Brewing: Good low-ABV lager styles. Food trucks outside occasionally.
Ledger's: Good selection, decent prices, sometimes has hard-to-find stuff, supposedly keep lots of older stuff in the back.
Hog's Apothecary: New, good selection, good but expensive food.
East Bay:
Drake's Brewing (San Leandro): Decent-to-good beer, food trucks on some weekend days.
Cork n Bottle (Fremont): Good selection for the location, a few taps.
Mission Liquors (Fremont): Good selection for the location, several taps.
The Bistro (Hayward): Hosts a lot of awesome festivals, check to see if there's one on while you're here. Sometimes has fun stuff on tap otherwise.
Øl Beercafe (Walnut Creek): Quality tap list and a large selection of bottles. Owned by the same people as The Trappist, so it's very similar.
Penninsula:
Harry's Hofbrau (Redwood City): Cheapish, good selection of taps and bottles, rarer stuff on occasionally. Buffet food.
Gourmet Haus Staudt (Redwood City): German beer, German food, good if that's what you're looking for. Also has a few American guest taps.
Ale Arsenal: (San Carlos) Good selection of craft beer on tap (24 taps, 1 cask, 100 bottles to go). Good prices. No food served but you can bring food in. Next door is Refuge, which makes an incredible (and expensive) pastrami sandwich.
Willows Market: (Menlo Park) Large inventory of bottles. Bit pricey. Good place to grab a sandwich and browse bottles. Monday nights is food truck night.
North Bay:
Russian River: No explanation needed.
Bottle Barn: Incredibly cheap, often has RR bottles cheaper than the brewery, good selection with occasional rarities, has styro shippers if you need them.
Lagunitas: Almost always has a barrel aged beer or two on tap. Just a heads up if you guys are passing by Petaluma. Each one I have had has been excellent, and at $5 a glass, it's a steal.
Moylan's/Marin Brewing: Decent pub food, decent-to-good beer.
Mill Valley Beerworks: Good beer, good food.
Bear Republic: Good-to-great beer (get Tartare if it's on), pub food.
South Bay:
Liquid Bread Gastro Pub (Campbell): taps rotate daily, occasionally has some rare beers.
Spread (Campbell): Nice little deli with a great selection of bottles
Harry's Hofbrau (Saratoga): same as above
Good Karma (San Jose): Vegan spot with good bottle selection. and the food is not that bad
Orginal Gravity Pub House (San Jose): Place is really small but they taps rotate daily and they have a lot of tap takeovers
Santa Cruz (and environs):
Sante Adairius Rustic Ales (Capitola): Very good beer all-around. Irregular bottle releases. Usually one (and only one) beer on for growler fills. Will fill any container.
Aptos St BBQ (Aptos): Good BBQ for the bay area, close to SARA. Has a few dozen solid taps too.
All over:
Whole Foods: Sometimes the best selections for the area, a few select stores have taprooms, good prices.
BevMo: Sometimes have rarer stuff, but it leaves pretty quickly. Good prices. Warm storage of beer, and it's often old. Not a bad option, but generally weak stores for beer.
(This is incomplete, I'll need some help filling this out. The goal is to have a pretty comprehensive list of the places that are actually worth visiting.)
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