Hello! I am going to be traveling out to the Bakersfield area for work in December. Since there arent many things to do during my down time because of Covid, i was hoping to get some brewery/bottleshop suggestions for this area. As drinking in my room will be my hobby for the week. Any recommendations on these or local food, i would be very appreciative of! Cheers! Patrick
several options, but IMO I think Imbibe is your best option. It's a wine and spirits store but has a very good beer selection. They have a few beers on tap that you can drink while shopping too. https://imbibewine.com/ I don't what the current covid restrictions are, but for breweries in Bakersfield proper you have Great Change, Dionysus and Temblor are (probably) the best options. If you have any free time at all, drive up the canyon to Kern River Brewing in Kernville, about an hour drive each way. And a very windy/treacherous drive, so if you do and plan to drive back, keep the consumption in check. Kern River is hands down the best beer made in the local area. For food in Bak with good beer options, check out Moo Creamery.
Bakersfield is a wasteland. Honestly, your best bet would be to order beer delivered during your week stay or if you can plan a delivery to the hotel in advance. I'm sure there's a few breweries on the list below that you've wanted to try (or just want to enjoy again). https://docs.google.com/document/d/...stYwvjf3jVyd-aCNsqpknIF-23D1ZETUjpnHAnDAl/pub
^gotta say I partially disagree on the above. Yes, Bakersfield is a beer wasteland. I guess you could leave out the word beer. It's a wasteland. However, Imbibe has a very good beer selection, with beers from all up and down the state. Go in there and try a variety of what they have. Guaranteed to find many gems. They do a really good job sourcing.
Fair, unfortunately cant pick where I go on work trips, but it at least will be warmer than Northern Illinois haha
I will deff be using this to find beer to drink for the week as well as some gems to hopefully bring back to Illinois for the winter!!
I'll second everything @walterfredo recommended. As noted Imbibe is solid, and I've been very happy with Bakersfield Beer Co (located over by Dionysus). Actually think there's a slight edge to BBC. The trip to Kern River is great, but you better like super curvy mountain driving with limited guardrail (at least for the westbound trip). If you've got time to kill you could drive out East over Walker Pass and see some of the densest areas of Joshua Trees I've personally every seen. You then loop back to Bakersfield by taking Hwy 14 (through Red Rock State Park) to Hwy 58 over Tehachapi Pass. But you've got to have several hours for this option. If you opt for this, and like mesquite-style BBQ, you can grab great grub at Redhouse BBQ in Tehachapi.
I have never been to BBC. Sounds like it's a taproom and bottle shop. Will have to check out next time I'm passing through.
