Birthday Beercation: Recommendations?

San Diego would be a cool place to go, lot's of top notch brewery's there.

Cheers!

 

At Russian River you're nearly equidistant between San Diego and Portland. Both would be excellent choices.

 

Sounds like San Diego: great brewery scene (North Park) and nature areas - plus the beach scene.

 

I went to Austin, TX for my 40th birthday trip last year. It was a ton of fun. Jester King is the largest draw, but there are a ton of breweries in the area. The city is also great in general. High quality restaurant and entertainment options. Great walking/biking around the river and great kayaking/paddle boarding on the river.
I started this thread before I went:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/austin-trip-inquiry.496798/
Locals filled in a lot of great options.

 

Richmond va
Charleston sc

 

I mean, if you do Russian River you can also hit up Henhouse for more great IPAs, and there's also a sour brewery nearby but the name escapes me. You're also a few minutes from Annadel State Park which is beautiful and has some low-key day hike options (one of the best maintained parks I've seen recently). And of course you're not far from Point Reyes for coastal hiking or a few spots to see redwoods (Muir Woods obviously if you don't mind crowds, but there are others). You'll also drive past Lagunitas in Petaluma to get there.

If you fly into Oakland then on your way north you could swing through Alameda (Faction, Almanac, Admiral Maltings), and/or spots in Oakland/Berkeley (Drake's, Sierra Nevada, Fieldwork, Rare Barrel... the list goes on).

If you fly into SFO then obviously San Francisco has a lot to see and do (for beer and as tourist). Lots of new small breweries I haven't even explored yet (Cellarmaker is well regarded), but tons of great beer bars. Tornado and Zeitgeist are essential pilgrimages, Mikkeller never disappoints, City Beer Store always has unique taps plus lots of to-go bottles.

Have fun!

 

Denver has all of that. Plus you have short side trips to Colorado Springs, Boulder, and even Fort Collins, if you like. There are even some great breweries in the high country, like Casey.

 

I suggest Asheville, NC. I was there for a work trip last fall and was at multiple different, awesome, breweries every evening. And it has some incredible scenery/hiking.

 

PDX/Tillamook. I really want to say Bend, but on a 3 day trip, it's just too far. Base in PDX, and get a rent-a-racer for a day to out to DeGarde in Tmook. You won't need a car in PDX. Plenty of great outdoorsy stuff close by too.

 

Russian River is never the wrong choice. But let me suggest another.

Hudson Valley, New York
Suarez, Equilibrium, Sloop, Hudson Valley, Plan Bee, Industrial Arts Rushing Duck... Don't discount Hudson Valley Foie Gras.
Day trip to NYC

 

I second Portland.

 

Michigan has some great breweries. I hear kalamazoo is hopping and traverse city area has plenty of breweries/wineries. The detroit metro area of course is chock full of breweries/taprooms. I don't know a lot of specifics on brewery per square mile/walking distance yet. I'm doing a statewide brewery tour with my soon to be wife for our honeymoon this june, I'll update then.

 

No Vermont suggestions yet? Lots of good hiking and outdoor activities up there, and plenty of top notch breweries.

You'll want to pick your locations carefully though, if you dont want to do much driving. You could easily stay in Burlington and take short drives between a ton of good places, and Waterbury/Stowe area is decent if you want to hit the good restaurants and some of the local places like Alchemist and Trapp and Idletyme in that area.

 

I’ll echo Asheville, good beer, good food, great people watching. Nice scenery if that’s your thing, not far from some historical stuff

 

Richmond VA gets my top vote. The Answer has awesome stouts/barleywines and low abv fruited sours, Veil kills IPAs and has solid sours/dark beers occasionally, and Triple Crossing is doing solid IPAs.

San Diego gets my second vote due to the sheer variety. Countless breweries, beautiful weather, and you're within driving difference to LA which also has a great variety of breweries.

 

Seattle!

Fremont does some nice BBA Stouts and BW, though not the season in May for those. Close by you have Reubens, Cloudburst, Holy Mountain, and Stoup to name a few. Also have some great beer bars and bottleshops like Brouwers, Bottleworks, Toronado, Beer Junction, and so on. Plenty of other activities to work the beer off too. Even a Sounders game is on the 5th if you like football/soccer!

 

If Speciation had a full fledged taproom up and running I'd say Grand Rapids. The sours and wild ales they're putting out are next level. Brewery Vivant can do a good sour too and to a certain extent New Holland even. Then you've got Founders for the dark stuff. Just down the road to the South is Kalamazoo with Bells and company. A stones throw West gets you to Lake Michigan (Oddside, Grand Armory, Pigeon Hill, Saugatuck) although the lake might be a bit chilly in early May.

 

Waterbury/Stowe, VT