Boston or San Diego?

The correct answer is San Diego. You won't have to wait in line for hours for great beer. You won't have to drive for hours for great beer. You have a fuckload of great breweries within a 25 mile radius. You have beaches, seafood, mexican food, and amazing weather.

 

Out here, and along the west coast, we don't really have "beer bars", we have bars. Pretty much every bar in the NW is going to have at least a couple taps of something local/regional that a visitor won't have had before. If you want to try new things, and find the special treats, breweries are where it's at. Pretty much every brewery has a taproom, if not a full-on restaurant, and there's likely another brewery a 10-15 minute walk away. Why visit a place, just to drink beers that have wide distro?

 

Yeah, but it doesn't seem like Boston is like that, plus there is the ability to the downtown attractions that the op would likely do for the 'anniversary' part of the trip. Plus, I'm not really thinking of 'wide distribution' type beers- a lot of these places I'm thinking of fairly local still, so I figure Boston has a similar scene.

 

Perfect..Plymouth is where we are staying. I will hit it hard..thanks

 

My girl and I did Boston...in FEBRUARY!!! Snow up to our shoulders!

But we still had an awesome time and the brew-tours were great. PLUS...you've got lobster rolls to enjoy in Beantown, which...dare I say...I may have enjoyed more then the beer on our trip.

 

Oh the donut part will not be a problem..wife has Martha's on her radar so this is excellent thanks

 

Funny that this came up. I'm in Boston now on business but sneaking in some fun and my vote is Boston no question.

 

Have fun, Portland is an amazing city. I suggest taking a ferry out to one of the islands out in the bay for a nice beach day. Plus the ferry terminal is right in the Old Port area, so you can hit tons of shops, brewpubs and awesome restaurants before you head out.

 

A FERRY!!?! sounds amazing and i will definitely be doing that thanks for threadjacking with that beautiful suggestion

 

Here to help! Have fun!

 

http://www.cascobaylines.com/

My grandparents live on Long Island out in the bay, so I can speak from experience that the beaches are nice there, though I'm pretty sure the other islands have just as nice beaches as well. Also they are just nice to hang out on.

The Ultimate Kicker: You can BYOB and drink on the ferry. Cruise around the bay and crack beer, look at the scenery (which is amazing) on the open ocean. Seriously does not get any better than that.

But that's enough of my thread derailment. Just thought I'd through that out there because it's amazing.

 

I vote San Diego, but you may be better off splitting up the trip into 2 parts..

1st half - Stay in north county San Diego - Carlsbad, La Costa, etc. More of a spa, romanatic beach type environment. Plus, access to good beaches and a multitude of north SD breweries: Stone, Lost Abbey, Toolbox, Pizza Port(s), Rip Current, Bagby, etc..

2nd half - Head downtown, stay in the gaslamp - Access to great restaurants, bars, Coronado Island, and south SD breweries: Modern Times, Mission, Ballast Point, Societe, Council, etc.

Maybe it could be like, 1/3 in North SD and 2/3 South. South is close to the Zoo, Sea World..

 

I'm actually really glad this thread is here. Heading to San Diego in December with my fiancee for a scientific convention, so it might be nice to pop by one of these places just to see what's up. Never been off the east coast so I have to capitalize.

 

Lol I like Sam Adams!

Anyway, I vote for SD.

 

in the pacific forum we have this handy quarterly thread that pretty much exhausts the list of SD beer related things, even some non beer related! its basically the best resource on visiting you will ever see! just in case you didn't already know about it

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/visiting-san-diego-summer-2015.309241/

 

I've been to both cities for beercations, and had great times. Trillium and Night Shift in Boston were terrific, as were the oysters at Row 34. But San Diego has more world-class breweries (Alpine, Stone, Ballast Point, Port/Lost Abbey, Societe) and beer bars (Hamilton's, O'Brien's, Small Bar, Toronado). If you expand Boston to include Tree House and Vermont (Hill Farmstead, Foley Brothers, Lawson's, Heady, Blackback, Three Penny, Mule Bar, Farmhouse) it's a much closer call, but you'll do a lot more driving.

 

You really can't go wrong either way. Great restaurants and breweries. Congrats on the anniversary. We just got back from Vermont, Boston, Maine and the Bells Funvitational to celebrate our first anniversary.

 

Can I totally screw up your plans and say: Chicago?? Reasonable tickets to fly here, a TON (TON) of breweries to visit in the city and in the suburbs (I can elaborate if you'd like), and LOTS of GREAT restaurants to visit, both in the city and suburbs, and both casual and fancy. Slightly offended that you'd pick Boston over the Second City, but I will swallow my pride and show you legendary Midwestern hospitality and introduce you to the Good Stuff. Really, if beer is your main concern, there are probably 10+ solid choices within 60- minutes driving. If nothing else, let me convince you to put Chicago on the map for your 15th.

 

Boston, not close.

 

Go to row34 at fort point -- stop before you head to the cape -- great tap list and outstanding shellfish /lobster. Grab a few bottles of trillium hoppy ales next door or a growler