Trip to LA, SF & SR

Good to know. Planning a Sunday dinner there so will remeber to check out the burger!

 

I meant the Torpedo Room in Berkley; but as they close at 5 on a Sunday and Monday, it's not looking likely - unless we can run through Chinatown and up Telegraph Hill in record time!

 

Burgers certainly not a focal point of the trip. But when we're at the Monks Kettle on a Sunday evening, I'm probably gonna try one with a SARA Farmhouse Noir, or a Black Sour or some such

 

Well the trip’s over and I’m settling back into reality, so thought I’d report back. Generally, everything was as excellent as I expected.

We started at Santa Monica. We had lunch at the Albright on the pier, which was as touristy as all hell, but in a nice touch they had Goose Island IPA and SN Pale Ale on tap. As I said at the start of this thread, these were my first two US craft beers a long while ago. I realise they are very widely available in the US, but it was kinda cool that they were the first two beers I had on the trip.

The Library Alehouse had a great selection of beers and of glassware, though a big selection of Modern Times from the recent tap takeover. I launched into a Beachwood Hopful 7 and there was no looking back (particularly so far as IPAs were concerned)!

Visited HPB on Thurs evening and again on Sat afternoon. One of the standouts of the trip. Great neighbourhood, nice venue and the Hello LA and 1UP were amongst the best of many IPAs I tried over the trip. Thursday night we also had one of the best meals of the trip at Huarache Azteca. Didn’t try the fermented corn but the shrimp faitijas at something like $11 was astounding value and the squash blossom huarache was lovely.

Tried both the Blue Palms Brewhouse and Surly Goat. SG was my favourite. Nice dive bar vibe and I got to try a KBS, which was unexpected and delicious.

San Francisco was slightly maddening. We got stuck in traffic coming into the city with fans on their way to a Giants game, then on the way to Berkley as they all left again! The beers at the Rare Barrel were again amongst the best of the trip. Very well made sours, Soliloquy, Hypnotised and Tesselate (probably the first hopped sour I’ve really enjoyed). However, I found the space to be a bit unwelcoming, large, open plan warehouse style; particularly on a cool Sunday evening, and the bar staff likewise. Still, that doesn’t matter too much if the beers are good!

Which was a complete contrast to Fieldworks, which was a great bar: full, diverse customers, lots of Giants fans, students, older folk etc, very friendly staff, and the best value tasting paddle I’ve seen. But, I thought the beer was only average compared to the other brewpubs we visited. Still, nice to pop into for a tasting paddle and Cornish pastie.

Hopwater Distribution was just up the road from our hotel, so we ended up there a few times late in the evening. Again, diverse taplist, cool staff and a nice laid back vibe. The food was pretty average though.

After some of the comments on here, and the good time at Surly Goat, I was a bit ambivalent about Toronado. Glad I went. The vibe was good, service was pleasant, the selection was amazing and the prices probably the best of the trip - $6 for a Pliny! Only RR was cheaper.

Cellarmaker was also good. Their various pale ales were good and I enjoyed trying US brewers takes on very familiar NZ hops. Glamour Skulls and Dobis Plus were standout. Excellent t-shirts. Got a Tiny Dankster, but missed out on Dank Williams!

We had one beer at City Beer Store. Would have liked to spend more time there. Again, excellent selection on tap and astounding in bottles, which were only $1 to drink onsite (NZ taprooms can charge 30% of the bottle cost).

The best “by chance” place on the trip was Beercraft. Only stopped in ‘cos we were early to Santa Rosa and so glad we did. Really cool chap behind the counter, nice little taproom and good bottle selection. Was the site of my only SARA beer of the trip.

RR was one of the main reasons for the trip and it was so well worth it. The first night we waited 15 min for a table, during which I had a wee STS pilsner. Very well-made. Then I did the full tasting paddle, which was an experience indeed! I did think the Cali side was superior to the Belgian inspired side. I thought the sours etc were a little less accomplished. I did enjoy the Perdition beire de garde & Consecration. But I thought the Blind Pig & other pale ales were excellent. Pliny. Well that was just sublime. Much superior, much more rounded and much more depth on tap than from the bottle. The many pints I had were the highlight of the trip. On the second night I hung out at the bar with the locals, who were surprising reasonable that they were forced to drink in a tourist attraction! Again, several pints of Pliny were had.

If you’re ever in Pismo Beach, I’d recommend the Boardroom. Really nice local bar, with a very good tap selection (better than advertised on their website).PP Kook and FW Double Jack were two of the best DIPAs I tried and were tasting good & fresh on tap.

On our return to LA/OC, we had a lunchtime visit to Noble. The golden stout was another beer highlight. Such an astounding flavour. I didn't really like the Showers variant that was on, though it was a dank little beer!

We then made a madcap Uber trip to Beachwood. The BBQ was very good and the beers enjoyable, but in hindsight probably could have just stayed in OC.

We returned for a final drink at The Bruery, which was a fantastic final night stop. The place was packed, certainly the busiest Belgian / sour beer bar I’ve been to! Diverse crowd and some excellent beers. Especially enjoyed the OrXata and Scotch Barrel aged Poterie, a 15% old ale.

As it turns out, our flight left at 9.30pm not 19.30 on Sunday, so we had time to stop in at Smog City on the way to the airport. Again, I liked the lowkey vibe, eclectic mix of drinkers and beer selection. I tried to be responsible as I was driving, but the Hoptonice and Spittin & Cussing were both very good.

Sorry for the enormous post and thanks for all your suggestions and comments.