Hey all West Coasters, My friends and I plan on doing a beer trip from SF to Portland in early February. Last year we did just the Bay Area as our friend lives in Mill Valley. This year, we're looking to rent a car and head from Mill Valley up the coast (101) and end up in Portland. A few things to note: We'll be on vacation for 6 days. We're all open to visiting wineries as well as the breweries. We'd be doing a night in SF before heading north. We'll hit Russian River for PtY and Lagunitas along with napa before leaving north. We'd also like to spend at least two days in Portland. There will be three of us. All guys in 20's. We want to know some cant miss spots on the way. Breweries to hit. Accommodations along the way. Any insight is much appreciated. Thank you.
So when you say "up the coast" do you mean 1 to 101 or just 101 and up the Oregon Coast? Not much on the Oregon Coast beer wise besides Rogue in Newport and that would really slow down your drive time. If you're trying to do a day in SF, a day in SR/Napa and two days in Portland...you're leaving yourself A LOT of driving for those two other days.
Here's what I'd do if I was trying to do this. Skip the Coast all together... Day 1-SF Day2-Drive to Russian River-then 101 to 5 North (there are a few options) to Ashland, OR. Day3-Ashland to Portland. Day4-Portland Day5-Half Portland/Half Bend, OR. Day6-Leave at the butt crack and haul ass back to the Bay from Bend.
Did a similar trip in July, only we came from LA, also went to Bend, and to Pacific City for Pelican Brewing. Lot of miles, and lots of time on the road. LOTS. Rotate drivers as much as possible, we did every two hours, helps. I'll be the first to tell you, in case you don't already know, that you can't pump your own gas in Oregon, which was interesting. Anyhow, there are a lot of places to stop, but also can be some huge gaps in between depending on what route you take. Very scenic though. In Portland, I'd recommend going to Hair of the Dog, as well as Cascade, along with Apex. All 3 not too far apart, and great stops. Dozens more in OR too, so I'm sure others will chime in. Deschutes also has a pub in Portland too. Depending on your route, you can hit other spots too. Say Sierra Nevada in Chico, or Block 15 in Corvallis, among many, many others. If your taking the 101, I believe you will pass through Eureka on your way North. Not much there, but Lost Coast brewing is, and I know for us we drove right by it w/out even trying, so we made a stop, since it wasn't out of the way by any stretch. As for accommodations, we camped two nights. Stayed in hotels the rest. One along the beach, one south of crater lake. Lots of great camp sites in OR, so that can save you some money there. While in Santa Rosa, I recomend hitting up bottle barn for stuff as well, to stock up for your camp site, haha, or to bring back. Now you say you will be visting wineries, I recomend Chateau Montelena, Honig Cellars, Rombauer to name a few, but there are SOOO many wineries througout that whole area, Sonoma, St. Helena, Napa, etc, so depends on what you like, price range, along with tasting room hours, your route, etc. Anyhow, have a great trip, cheers.
I was being pretty general. Head up 101. The cut over to 5. I'm not certain on timing but I was puting out feelers to see if its worth while to stay a night or few nights between the two cities. If not, then perhaps well just cruise a day or two between the cities. I really want the drive as last time I saw the 101 briefly and found it very enjoyable.
The wineries I most often recommend in the Napa Valley are Honig, Robert Sinskey, Cakebread, ZD, and Castello di Amorosa. The benefit of going in February is that there are pretty much no tourists to be found, so even places that usually require reservations will usually let you come by on short notice.
Thanks for the ideas guys. Keep em coming. There's a chance we find the drive to be too consuming and stick to the Bay Area. Or just do Portland instead.
If you guys all live in the Bay you can do SF/SR/Napa any weekend. Personally, I'd make it more about OR and get up there as soon as possible and try to hit some combo of Ashland/Bend/Corvalis/Eugene/Astoria/Portland. There are beer prospects in all of these places plus wine in Willamette Valley. 1/101 is an amazing drive and if you had more time (8-9 days) I'd say go for it but in this case I'd recommend skipping it.
I was planning for a very similar trip and decided that while the drive would be beautiful, 12 hours to Portland is not worth it to me. I'm going to just fly up to Portland and go to Hair of the Dog, Deschutes and Cascade
Humboldt area has Eel River, Lost Coast, Mad River (my fav), Redwood Curtain and 6 Rivers all within 30 minutes or so from each other. I would definitely try to make your way to Bend. But driving up there in February could be a slow trip too because of the potential for wintery conditions.
I'm crap at giving info I should have mentioned. Two of us live in Michigan and will visit our friend who lives there. Also, we'd rent a car and drive from SF area to Portland then we'd all fly back to our respective places. Again thanks for the comments. Seems like we may want to stick to one place or the other based on what I've been hearing.
I wouldn't even bother going to Napa. You can find wine that is just a good (even better) and much cheaper in the Dry Creek and Russian River areas of Santa Rosa/Healdsburg. And then you can go to Bear Republic too.
I agree with skipping Napa and going to the Healdsburg area. Lots of great wineries and you can hit up Bear Republic in Healdsburg or Lagunitas in Petaluma on the way up from SF.
I did a similar trip last year. For me, the best place I went to was Brewers Union Local 180 in Oakridge, 40 mins outside of Eugene. They only brew cask beers and have some pretty great food. Russian River, Cascade, Deschutes pub in Portland were all great, but I would make it a point to go to this place for sure if I get to do another road trip through Oregon. http://www.brewersunion.com/
February can be sketch driving to/from Bend. Shasta becomes an adventure, so does HWY 97 from Weed to Klamath Falls. And there's usually snow/ice on 97 between K-Falls and Bend. Plan for the trip to take longer than expected - I drive between the Bay Area and Bend 6+ times a year. Day 1 - SF. Day 2 - Lagunitas, Russian River, Sonoma wineries. Day 3 - Drive all the way to Bend. Will take 8 hours (weather permitting). Day 4 - Bend Day 5 - Drive to Portland. Only takes 4 hours (weather permitting). Day 6 - Portland
There's a long list of great wineries around Healdsburg (Sonoma county, just north of plinylandia). In Portland, as long as you go to Hair of the Dog and Le Pigeon, it doesn't matter what else you do
Sonoma Co is such a better place for wine tasting anyhow. Equal to if not better wine without all the pretentiousness and a lot cheaper. Healdsburg is a great one-stop shop: wineries on the square and Bear Republic as well.
