Hopmonk Tavern

 

Stopped by for lunch while working out in Sonoma. Nice atmosphere, and parking’s not an issue. Outdoor seating area was perfect for a sunny afternoon. Nice selection of local and regional beers. Food was good, if a bit pricey (but apparently the norm for CA). Better tap list than most in the area.

 

Pub/tourist restaurant vibe. Good bar area and ample outdoor patio seating. Classic rock on the speakers and sports on the telly. Attentive and knowledgeable bartender. About 18 beers on tap, from around California, including Pliny. Bigger selection in bottles. Comfortable place to hang out and try new local North Cali beers.

 

Come for the beer, but don't expect great food

Best reincarnation of this place in many years. The beers are always good, service usually isn't, but the food is, so 2 out of 3 isn't bad.

 

 

 

Was in Sonoma for the latter part of the week, and was looking for someplace that had PtE on tap. According to the website, hopmonk did, and it turned out to be so.

Interesting place, with sort of an upscale pub feel with a clientele to match. Was here on a Friday evening, and there was a sizeable "drinks after work" crowd, largely drinking mixed drinks and craft beer. There's a very nice outside patio area to this place, with a good size bar in the main dining room area inside. The inside dining room area did not strike me as all that large, and so was fairly full on the Friday I was here. Space seemed a bit cramped, with the wait staff constantly asking my pardon by the bar as they ran to and fro, filling food and drink orders. As a whole, I thought the service was OK here, but just a bit harried and distracted with the Friday crowd.

As for the beer selection, it was pretty good. They have some 16 different beers on tap, with 3 hop tavern beers and then 13 guest beers. The guest beers this day consisted of things like elder, FW DBA, stone smoked porter, lagunitas little something sumthin, anchor liberty, etc. I think they also had one English ale, as well as the duchesse du bourgone (selling for a very reasonable $7.50 a 10 ounce glass I thought). There was also some 70 or 80 bottled beers on the menu, though I can't say I saw anything that really stood out on the bottle list. In any event, both from a selection and quality standpoint, this was a good place to stop in for a beer.

Didn't try any food, but the upscale pub grub menu looked pretty good from what I saw. Prices were OK I thought. As I mentioned, the duchesse was $7.50 a glass, and my 14 ounce glass of elder was $5.75 (list price was $6.50, so maybe I was here during happy hour).

While I can't say I ever really warmed to the Hopmonk tavern, any place that has fresh elder on tap is OK in my book. If I'm very back in Sonoma, this is a place I'll likely return to.

Visited 4/29/2011.

I'm 99% sure that these guys do NOT brew beer here, they get it from the other location in Sebastopol. I'll verify that and submit the change request.

Drove right by the place on the way to Sonoma Springs Brewing and didnt realize it. We found plenty of street parking in front of the place and walked right in. There is a really nice outdoor area with a fire pit and some large tables. To get into the building you walk up some stairs onto a patio where there are more tables. Inside are a number of tables and on the Friday that we visited there was a band playing on one side of the restaurant.

The servers at the bar were very nice and poured 4 glasses of beer for the 2 of us, probably more than we needed. We got a 12oz glass of each of the 3 house beers (kellerbier, tavern ale, and dunkelweiss) and a tall glass of Blind Pig. They also have a decent bottle collection under the bar.

We chose to sit out by the fire and get away from the noisy band inside. It was very cosy under the strings of lights hanging across the courtyard. The sky was clear and you could see all the stars. I'd recomend sitting out there if you can, unless it's too cold or you want to be near the band.

Don't see myself coming to Sonoma too often in the future but if I do I'll stop in again.

Oh, and the 4 glasses of beer combined were only $15.

Update: The beer is actually brewed by Gordon Biersch in San Jose, which would make sense considering most of the house beers are German.