San Fran Trip

In San Francisco, be sure to hit up Cellarmaker and Toronado. More importantly, please don't say San Fran.

 

Most breweries will not allow a cow to be in the tasting room, just FYI.

 

Cellamaker is a must stop. Fieldwork and Rare Barrel in Berkeley, Faction in Alameda, Drakes in San Leandro, and Speakeasy in the city. Tap rooms to consider include City Beer Store, The Beer Hall, Mikkeller Bar, Liquid Gold, Holy Water...etc

 

Go to zeitgeist. Be prepared to be shocked.

 

... Or SF, or 'the city' if you live nearby.

 

Hey there. Be careful not to get stuck in a line at RR for PtY for 8 hours. There's other threads out there that may help you avoid that dilemma. Rare Barrel in Berkeley is great but only do sours (FYI). If you visit Rare Barrel then there's a nice liquor store (they have 3F stuff there now) in Berkeley named Ledger's liquors which is only 2-3 miles (10-15 minutes) from Rare Barrel. Toronado in San Francisco is iconic anytime of year, has nice stuff on tap and does serve PtY for almost a week as I understand so that's something to consider. I second the notion of hitting City Beer Store which has 7-8 nice beers on tap as well as a bottleshop (and sometimes some pretty nice bottles…Cantillon often…for in house consumption only) then walking around the corner (literally a 2 minute walk) and hitting up Cellarmaker (a freaking must). Cellarmaker doesn't bottle anything really but has amazing beers on tap and do many of their beers as growler fills. If you're lucky they'll still have Quad Dobis and/or BA Coffee and Cigarettes around which they just had for SF Beer Week. La Trappe is a nice belgian restaurant that has a lot of stuff on tap but most importantly a large variety of belgian bottles on their menu as well if that's your thing. In terms of trying to get bottles to take home…try K&L Wines (klwines.com). They have a nice website and a pretty decent selection of beers to go. You can find what you want and buy it before get here and pick it up at their store. If you get on there early enough (it takes 2-3 days for them to transfer from their Redwood city store and maybe 3-5 from their hollywood store) they'll send stuff from their other two stores to the SF store for free for easy pickup. Cheers

 

wtf, by the way

 

+1 for Cellarmaker! They are putting out awesome beers, I try to go every time I'm in The City.

Mikeller Bar also really fun. Pricey though but hey that's the city.

Some great bars: Bourbon and Branch, The Owl Tree, Whiskey Thieves.

Have FUN!

 

Per Connor, Quad Dobis will not last through this weekend though Barrel Aged Imperial Coffee and Cigs should last the next 6 to 7 weeks, to be followed by Barrel Aged Vastness.

 

Only place I'd add that hasn't already been mentioned is Monk's Kettle in the Mission. Amazing food, and always some great beers on. Really small though.

Toronado was our go-to when we lived in the bay area. Historic beer bar, great prices, grab a sausage from Rosamunde next door and then hope the tamale lady shows up...make sure you have cash too. A number of places around SF are cash only (Toronado, Zeitgeist, Beer Revolution, Tamale Lady, etc).

 

Good recommendations here... Also it seems you gonna be there for super bowl weekend, so places are most likely gonna be crowded. Just go early, or late.

Also, some locals dont like it when people call their city San Fran, so dont be offended if they call you out...

Also, if you can bring some orange julius, we can trade or share.

 

Lots of good stuff here.
http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/trip-to-la-sf-sr.378308/

 

If you need an escape from the hustle of downtown, dive out to Alameda. Great beer at Faction Brewery and an awesome view of the city skyline. Just make sure to bring some food with you. All they do is beer. I'd recommend a pizza from Spin pizza and the brewery is just 5 minutes up Willie Stargell ave.

 

Took me a quick second, but growing up near Vacaville, I enjoyed it.

 

Since you'll be up in Santa Rosa for RR, check out Beercraft in Rohnert Park. One of the best tap lists in the area and a great spot to buy bottles.

You should have came out earlier tho. The Ratebeer Best event that went down yesterday was incredible. All the top breweries were pouring their best stuff.