possibly moving to silicon valley...need beer spots...

East SJ is going to have a majority of the gang activity, not downtown. Downtown SJ has it's share of halfway houses and a small amount of homeless (compared to other cities with a million people,) both of which lead to a fair number of "unsavory characters" wandering around. Plus, the light rail runs right through downtown and is a super cheap mode of transportation for sketchy characters to come downtown to hangout, buy drugs, sit on benches, etc. Luckily it's also a super cheap way to get downtown to the beer joints and not get a DUI Just don't do anything stupid and you'll be safe down there

 

It is a joke don't you worry. You mentioned Silicon Valley and thus I went to some sort of admin/engineer and made the assumption you would get it. My b.

 

SJ is one of the "safest" cities of it's size in the country. Downtown is no exception. It's almost boring it's so safe.

 

San Jose is a damn safe city. No blood wars.

 

SJ native (and SJSU alum) here. I was originally going to say that you'll see far fewer sketchy characters in SJ than any other large NorCal city, but, in fact, the last time I did a Good Karma/Original Gravity "crawl" (they're right across the street from each other), there were all kinds of crazy things going on in the transit mall. Honestly, though, I'd call it more "uncomfortable" or "annoying" than unsafe. Really, you'll be fine. Also: The Rose and Crown in Palo Alto has a solid taplist, with Pliny more often than not.

 

If you end up Mountain View or Sunnyvale, you have Fibbar McGee's in Sunnyvale and bierhaus and Stein's in Mountain View (although I haven't been to Stein's yet). In San Jose, I will add Harry's Hofbrau (not downtown - just a 15 minute drive from Sunnyvale).

 

Lots of great new places in the South Bay. The scene has really come of age in the last two years. Breweries are still up and coming, but tons of bars that will bring you some of the best selections in Northern California.

 

SARA

 

Downtown SJ is being revitalized, felt totally safe, night life was great. Lots of bars and pubs. We had a bachelor party there after drinking at Hermitage and Los Gatos brewing. Really loved Farmers Union restaurant. Great food and beer. Had a lot of trouble finding sandwiches at 4:00am, but found an excellent cheese steak shop still open.

 

Apparently neither did the weather.

 

Don't forget O'Flahertey's. Incredible concentration of great taps in downtown San Jose. OP's loss.

 

Silicon Valley, especially Downtown San Jose has a strong beer scene. DTSJ is beer heaven, with the best being Original Gravity, Good Karma, ISOBeers, and San Pedro Market Bar/Garage Bar/Market Beer Co. all within walking distance. Also downtown there’s SmokeEaters and The Farmer’s Union, which usually have a decent selection but are a little less solid than the first four, Poor House Bar (on the side of the Poor House Bistro) which has a solid, if small, selection but uses plastic cups, and O’Flaherty’s, which has a great selection but is on average more overpriced than everywhere else by ~$2-$4 per beer.

Where SJ could stand to improve is their breweries. It’s pretty paltry...aside from the few assorted brewpubs and Gordon Biersch, there’s only three real breweries with taprooms for a city of a million people, and Hermitage and Strike are both meh, in my opinion. Clandestine has good beers but the hours are VERY limited. I’ve heard that Santa Clara Valley Brewing moved into the same plaza as Clandestine, but isn’t open to the public...does anyone know if they are planning to open a taproom?

 

I heard October opening for SCVB Taproom, but I believe that was the best case scenario. More likely December or so? This is old information, admittedly, but yes, they are planning on opening a taproom.

 

Where SJ could stand to improve is their breweries. It’s pretty paltry...aside from the few assorted brewpubs and Gordon Biersch, there’s only three real breweries with taprooms for a city of a million people, and Hermitage and Strike are both meh, in my opinion. Clandestine has good beers but the hours are VERY limited. I’ve heard that Santa Clara Valley Brewing moved into the same plaza as Clandestine, but isn’t open to the public...does anyone know if they are planning to open a taproom?[/QUOTE] I hear full brewery/tap room by the end of next year closer to downtown...

 

Thank you for the info! Always looking forward to more taprooms in SJ.

 

SARA. Make the drive there. Best beer made in all of NORCAL, (aside from Russian River, but even then, it's REAL close).

 

If you don't mind a wicked commute, you could always consider living by the beach in Santa Cruz and having SARA, Lupulo, Burger, Discretion, 99 Bottles, Beer Thirty, Aptos St. Barbecue... lots of good beer options these days if you'd rather not live in the valley.

 

The Whole Foods in DTSJ brews onsite and has guest taps as well. Not open yet, but Uproar Brewing is under construction. Sounds promising... http://www.sanjose.com/2015/07/27/uproar-brewing-headed-to-sofa-district/