Fairfield beer/living

Not much going on there. Blue Frog is alright and of course all of the fresh AB you can drink! You'll have to head east to Davis and the Sacramento Area or west to the Bay Area to find really great beer.

Disclaimer: Since I'm not a Fairfield local, I can't comment on any cool bars or stores, if there are any...

 

Avoid Blue Frog at all cost.

 

As someone who grew up in Fairfield, and only recently managed to sever my last ties there, I strongly recommend against moving there. That said, Blue Frog is the local brewpub (and I, for one, like it - $2 pints every day for happy hour). The Paradise Valley Country Club has a decent tap selection (Fat Tire, Sierra, occasionally some seasonals) and killer drink specials a lot of the time. There's a pretty good cocktail bar in Benicia (about a 25 minute drive on the highway) called The Rellik. As far as I know, the nearest really good spots for beer are Bilco's Billiards in downtown Napa, Davis Beer Shoppe in Davis, and to a lesser extent The Graduate, also in Davis (they have something like 40 taps and put great stuff on draft, but it's more of a local cowboy/college crowd bar that happens to have good beer).

But seriously, don't move to Fairfield. Might I ask who you're interviewing with?

 

I also lived in Fairfield.

Pro: Close to the bay area, no snow, rarely freezes, yet you're only 2-3 hours from skiing/Lake Tahoe, Monticello Empire League wrestling = top notch
Con: Lots of thug & wanna be thug types imported from Vallejo & Richmond, XIV jumping anyone when they outnumber you, High prices, taxes, inland temps in the summer, Spillway canal hasn't been skateable in 20 years

Beer: you have a bevmo & that frog brewery, which are both nice to have, but not going to blow you away, the bigger plus is being within an hour of Toronado, Ledger's, Drake's, Russian River, wineries, Beer Rev, Bistro etc. . .

 

Been here about 12 years. In Faifield Blue Frog, I'll pass, Buffalo Wild Wings-meh, Johnny Carinos claims to have 200 beers, need to check them out, Bev-Mo for bottles. The wanna be thugs have pretty much cleared out and went back to Valljo/Oakland. Vacaville is about 10 miles east, The Nugget Market has good bottle selection and normally has hard to find bottles when everyone else is out, a new sports bar opening and I was told they will have good taps. Winters is about 15 miles and a fairly new brewery opened, Berryessa Brewing doing some really nice beer. Davis is about 25 miles east and Davis Beer Shoppe is top notch, just added 6 more taps, and great bottles and price. Of course we are about an hour from Russian River, Lagunitas, Moylans, Marin Brewing, Bear Republic.

Let me know when you come out and I will buy you a beer.

 

Absolutely do not live in Davis. Unless you're looking to buy a house and raise a family, in which case it's acceptable. You want to live in the 925 area code, or thereabouts.

 

Fairfield does have Jelly belly, so you could make artisanal skittlebrau.

 

I live in Natomas (I-80 & Truxel). While the Sac beer scene in coming up, nothing great locally. Knee Deep in Lincoln has been doing pretty well, I'm a fan of Sutter Buttes in Yuba City, and a few bottle shops around - Final Gravity in Roseville & Pangaea in Midtown. You don't want to drive from Sac/West Sac to Fairfield. My parents (who live just a few miles west) commuted to Fairfield/Davis, and hated every mile of it. The cosway, between West Sac & Davis is always jammed, plus those little 3 lane roads can't handle all of the passing traffic. As someone said before, you don't want to live in Davis unless you plan on raising a family & pay out the ass for anything.

The Nugget in West Sac is one of my go to places. They always have some good beers on the shelf & occasionally get RR. The Whole Foods in Folsom has a biergarden, never been there myself.

There's a few good homebrew clubs around the area if your interested as well.

If you do move out to the west, let me know and we can set up a little bottle share with some of the local guys.

-Porky

 

925 is across the Benicia Bridge from Fairfield on I680, and covers Contra Costa and parts of Alameda counties. Contra Costa county is one of the few nice areas between Sacramento and SF (primarily because it's more affluent than most of the surrounding counties).

 

Bring some New Glarus Raspberry Tart to Sac & we'll talk!!!

 

I wouldn't live in Fairfield even if my rent were free.

 

Our (Ale Industries) Tap Room is not that far from Fairfield. Here is a link to Google maps..... http://goo.gl/qupSw

 

This is another good reason to live in Contra Costa county. Also, I didn't know Ale Industries had a tap room!

 

Davis is a great city, but it's a university town. Really expensive compared to surrounding areas. Vacaville or Dixon are nice places to live.