I'm scouting out Sonoma beer spots for a friend who is a well-to-do wine guy looking to branch out and try some "local" beer while in Sonoma for a day. He will not be driving to Healdsburg, and will not be driving to Santa Rosa. He's basically looking for something in Sonoma, or maybe within five miles, tops. My research pretty much leads me to Hopmonk; just wondering if there's any place I'm missing. If there's a good restaurant in town with a nice selection of local beers (draft or bottle), that'll work too. Thanks for your suggestions.
I've had 5 of of Sonoma Springs Brewery's beers from the bottle and that was enough to prevent me from wanting to visit them in person. The Onyx and Freude are pretty offensive.
That's too bad. Everyone that I've shared the Freude and Isis with at our place have been impressed. Albeit they were both bottled (or sold) too early in my opinion. The amount of lactic sour coming out of the Freude is incredible. In addition to the bottled beer, the Kolsch, Roggenbier and Pale Ale excel in their respective styles. Tim brewed for Lagunitas, Stone and Russian River before opening Sonoma Springs. I find the quality of his beer reflects that.
