Bay Area Advice for a short trip

Add Faction Brewing (located in Alameda) to Saturday. It's close to Rare Barrel, plus it's next door to St. George's Spirits, a really cool distillery. I'd say skip Drake's and just buy some of their beer at the grocery store. SARA is indeed a trek from SF, so a cab will cost you; try looking up ZipCar for renting a car by the hour.

For bars, look up Monk's Kettle, Mikkeller Bar, and Trappist Provisions as potential additions. Good luck!

 

As much as I'd recommend going to SARA, it's 80 miles south of you. Not sure it's worth skipping the others to go down there. Cellarmaker, Faction, and RB for sure. Drakes is a bit further out, but very good beer.

Also consider in the city 21st Amendment on Monday. They're right down by ATT park. Do you have reservations for Anchor? Last time I checked you can't just walk in. Maybe it's changed now.

 

If you figure in the amount of time spent renting the car, driving both ways (in traffic, because there will be traffic), and time spent at the pub, you're looking at about 5-6 hours devoted to that SARA trip.

My suggestion would be to stick to the stuff in and around the city. If you want to try SARA, try bring some Texas goodies to trade.

 

OL is great if not a little out of your way. I'd maybe do Trappist Provisions instead. I second skipping Drake's & hitting Faction instead. Look in to Anchor, you have to sign up in advance for tours. If you want some draft Russian River, hit Toronado, if not I'd say it's skippable. SARA is indeed the tough one here. It's a killer place all around but it's basically an all day adventure. For one, just like Russian River, you're not just going to stop in for a beer or two - it's a place where you hang out & leisurely enjoy yourself. And the traffic can be pretty slow in that area. I'd really advise against a cab! That will be very expensive.

 

A little gem in the city................Whole Foods in Potrero hill

http://www.yelp.com/biz/whole-foods-market-potrero-san-francisco

The tap list at the beer bar, the separate lower area, is better than 90% of the tap lists in town. Plus they do flights of ANY 4 for $10. Plus they have a Nitro tap of a rotating beer. It's pretty awesome.

 

Where are you staying? CellarMaker and City Beer will likely be walking distance from your hotel. Beer Rev (and Trappist) are doable through BART. Rare Barrel is about a mile walk from the nearest BART station, so not too bad. Toronado will likely be a short ride from wherever your hotel is, too. Agreed with others that Sante Adairius is going to be too much of a time/money commitment for such a short trip. You do not want to rent a car in SF. Driving anywhere near Market can be soul-crushing and there's nowhere to park near any of the good beer spots (except City and Cellar, though your car might get broken into in SOMA, mine has twice) plus, you'll be paying at least $40 a night to keep it at your hotel unless it's covered.

Edit: also don't sleep on Mikkeller Bar. It's pricey, but always has one of if not the best tap and bottle list combo in town.

 

Or you could go to SARA, bring a couple bottles with you to contribute to the share that happens almost daily, and taste more beer in one spot than you would by going to several different spots in SF.
Speaking from personal experience.

 

If you can work it in the schedule, it's really nice to take the Ferry over from SF to Faction. You can catch the Ferry at the Ferry Building (duh) which is like a 2 minute walk from Embarcadero. It'll take you across the bay to Alemeda, where you're about a 15 minute walk from Faction.

From Faction to Rare Barrel I would recommend an Uber or Lyft. It'll probably be $15-20, but worth it.

 

I would opt for The Trappist rather that Trappist Provisions, but that's my bias. Trappist is also walking distance from Beer Rev. There is also a free shuttle bus on that corridor.

Good resource for getting to places is here: www.beerbybart.com

You may need to end up renting a car to get to the 49er game as the new stadium is 50 miles south of town, unless they are taking care of that for you.

Have fun!

 

Mainly suggested Trappist Provisions over Trappist since, like OL, it's also a bottle shop. You can also get bottles to go from Trappist (at least I think you still can), but it's not laid out like a bottle shop. So if bottles to go isn't something you're looking for, Trappist is a great option.

 

Oops. I mixed up Trappist and Trappist Provisions. Noted.

 

Although I like Faction beers, the tap list was small and not overly exciting the one time I went to the brewery. I would not expect to spend more than 60-90 minutes there, but who knows the beers on tap may be great when you visit. If you like sours, you can easily spend plenty of time at Rare Barrel, which has some decent food options as well. I also prefer Trappist to Provisions, but both are excellent.

For SF, Mikkeller is a must, and Hopwater Distribution is not far away and has a great lineup of California beers. Toronado is also a must in my book, as is Zeitgeist, which you could hit before or after Anchor on Monday -- they open at 9am!

 

Since the Ales for ALS festival they had there, the tap list went from around 6 to about 20+ at Faction.

 

There should be a fair amount of Cascade and Almanac bottles available, though you might only be able to find fall seasonal bottles.

 

Haven't been is a couple of weeks, but City Beer Store had Cascade and Almanac bottles. Ludwig's in San Anselmo (Marin County) currently has Cascade Sang Noir and Blackap Raspberry and many Almanacs, fwiw.