I will be taking a Trip to California next year. Starting in San Diego and ending in San Francisco, was wondering what the best bottle shops and beer bars are if I enjoy all styles. I’m already planning on visiting the larger breweries like Port, Firestone Walker, and Russian River. I would just like to find some great beer bars and maybe some small town great breweries with small distribution. Thank you everyone!
My list of breweries to visit would include .... Alpine Monkish Bottle Logic Modern Times Fieldworks SARA Russian River
+ Cellarmaker Brewing. better than all of the above, if you ask me. (Except maybe SARA, but their competencies are different)
Central Coast Brewing in San Luis Obispo is a must. Go to the newer location on Higuera. While in San Luis, stop at California Fresh Market on Foothill for a fantastic bottle/can selection. From there, youre about 20 minutes from FW in Paso. About 1.5hrs North of Paso, is Salinas, which is where Alvarado can be found about 5-10 minutes off the 101. Worth the pit stop.
Haha, of course you'd say Cellarmaker is better than all of the above. Definitely up in the top tier, of course. I'd say (most of us would say) to drop Alpine; since the GF acquisition, they're a shadow of their former self. I personally like Alvarado St. more than Fieldwork, but people seem to be split on that one. And @thuey will disagree, but many of us in SoCal consider Beachwood to be right up there in that same top tier. I'm going myself in just a few hours! EDIT: If you're in L.A. proper, I think the Modern Times Dankness Dojo has a better vibe than the other MT locations. Very urban, though, a very . . . interesting neighborhood. @dcgunman loves it!
I've got no beef with Beachwood. I didn't really care for the 1 beer I had there, but Amalgamator in a bottle was good. In fact, after having all these hazy beers, I've been meaning to check some of Beachwood's cans.
If you're coming up 1/101, I'm almost willing to guarantee that Grand Liquors in Grover Beach will still have bombers of Founders CBS if you care for that. I don't think anyone knows they're there. Some nice Bay Area beer bars: San Francisco - Toronado Walnut Creek - OL Beercafe & Bottleshop Concord - The Hop Grenade
I like the new MT Dojo. But really looking forward to the Anaheim location when it opens. My speedos is getting alterations done. Seriously I would stop by Beachwood BBQ Long Beach. Plus you got Beachwood Blendery next door. And Long Beach Beer Lab not far from BWLB.
breweries: Green Cheek, Bottle Logic, Good Beer Co (Santa Ana), Chapman Crafted in Orange bars: Native Son in Santa Ana is a fun spot that usually has something fun on tap
All those mentioned above should be fine. I would throw in Unsung Brewing. Their beers are good but next to them is a BBQ joint I would and will go back to Unsung for ipa and bbq. Maybe Karl Straus in Anaheim for thief food and some of their one off beers. But I would definitely hit up Green Cheek & the Bruery.
There's a great bottle shop right next to the Bruery called Mr. K's that has a great selection. Would def hit that up. You can follow them on instagram. They constantly post what they get. San Diego and Orange County seem covered. LA is huge but Monkish, Highland Park Brewery, Brouwerij West, El Segundo, Beachwood, Firestone, Mumford, Modern times are all good. Some are pretty far from each other some are closer. In the downtown area Mumford, Highland Park chinatown, and Modern Times are pretty close to each other.
TIER S - Top Prioity Sante Adairius TIER A - World Class Homage Monkish Alvarado St Cellarmaker TIER B - Excellent Overall Green Cheek Societe Highland Park Noble Ale Works TIER C - Very, very good Good Beer Co Pure Project Fieldwork Beachwood Bruery
I’d add Casa, cellador, and Alesmith somewhere in that list. I think Noble is very overrated now, I think beachwood and fieldwork are better.
Casa Agria is also in a great spot since the choices get pretty limited in the 100+ miles between LA and Barrelworks. Some good beer bars to check in that area are Bottle & Pint in Newbury Park & Oxnard, Whole Foods Oxnard, Fluid State and Two Trees Cafe in Ventura, Lama Dog in Santa Barbara.
I'm pretty sure every decent brewery has been listed......good luck with your sobriety. You mentioned you're coming next year. Revisit this thread when you get closer to coming, and people can better direct you depending on whats going on around that time.
