San Fran to Big Sur

1. Best bet for RR - Toronado in Lower Haight. Always has Pliny and Blind Pig on draft at the least, and bottles of Pliny to go at normal price.

2. Breweries along Rt. 1 - Sante Adairius Rustic Ales (SARA) in Capitola (right off 1). Absolutely worth the stop. Beer Thirty is a tap room with a fantastic beer garden 5 minutes from SARA and is a must stop as well.

 

Spent my honeymoon in Big Sur 2 years ago. Unless something has changed, stop at a bottle shop on the way. Big Sur is a dead zone for most places, except the beautiful scenery and hiking. It really is one of the most amazing places in the country that I have been too. Once you get there you are not going to want to leave very much, it is just that nice to be at. It is more of a wine area. It has to be one of the great places in the world to just sit back in an outdoor chair and enjoy a few lighter summer beers.

Along the PCH really is only SARA. There are a few places in the Monterrey/Carmel area, but they are not the best offerings the state has to offer. And it is about an hour to drive in, then an hour to drive back out. (not quite an hour, but if you are not used to the winding road on the cliff you will be driving on the slower end.)

For Russian River I am sure there is a thread or 15 that can give you some ideas. We have access here in Southern California so I have never gone north with that as a goal.

 

FYI, Beer Thirty is also a great bottle shop.

 

If you want RRBC, track it down while you are in the Bay Area. It's not distributed in this area.

Where are you catching Hwy 1? North of Santa Cruz there is Hwy 1 Brewing.

Two exits before Sante Adairius, there are two breweries on 41st Ave; Discretion and New Bohemia.

In downtown Monterey, there are two brewpubs; Peter B's and Alvarado St. Brewery.

There are some nice pubs in Big Sur.

 

The Big Sur Brewhouse is decent, if not spectacular. If you wanted to take a short day-trip south from Big Sur, I've heard great things about Libertine Pub in Morro Bay. For the best cocktails in the area, Restaurant 1833 in Monterey will blow your mind.

Also (and I mean this sincerely, not trying to be a dick), try not to call it San Fran (or Cali) when you're out here; you won't make many friends that way. If you're going to be driving through SF, City Beer is a good bottle shop (Pliny delivered on Wednesdays), and Cellarmaker is just a couple blocks away.

 

Not sure about all stores, but City Beer is definitely Wednesday, with a 4-bottle limit, which is pretty good (most places have a 1-bottle limit).

Also, and I'm sure you've thought about this, RR isn't that far from SF--about an hour each way at midday. When I'm in town for business, I try to get up there at all costs. The food is more than decent, the Pliny plentiful, and you can do tasting boards of every single beer.

 

Catching Hwy 1 in Daly City will be the easiest way to go.

I can attest to the fact that if you drive south from RR back to the bay you will be up shit's creek if it is anywhere near rush hour. The traffic will not end, at least, until you get south of SJ. I asked at Toronado before and believe they get their Pliny deliveries on Thursday. I never had a problem getting bottles there in the past and same price they will be at any store you find them.

City Beer Store is good, Beer Thirty in Soquel (as I mentioned 5 min from SARA in Capitola), has just as good a bottle shop imo and won't be nearly the pain in terms of parking, etc., and it is on your way (literally 2 blocks off of Hwy 1). You won't find Pliny down there though.

 

To add on though, RR is an amazing beer experience but if you enjoy it to any extent you won't be able to drive to Big Sur afterwards.

 

If it were me, I'd skip highway 1 on that stretch, just take I-280 down to Highway 17, join the 1 back in Santa Cruz. More time in Capitola and the drive from Capitola to Big Sur is plenty windy and pretty.

 

I personally wouldn't skip 1 between SF and Santa Cruz. From Santa Cruz until Monterey, you almost never see the water and you'd be giving up a lot of great sights taking 280 the whole way. Pacifica (just south of SF) down to Half Moon Bay on 1 is pretty fantastic imo and I doubt you'd be saving yourself a lot of time not taking 1 (DEPENDING ON WHAT TIME OF DAY AND WHAT DAY OF THE WEEK, 1 will be awful on the weekend).

 

Just a note, Morro Bay (and Libertine) is many hours south of the Bay Area.

 

Yep, that's why I mentioned a day-trip starting from Big Sur (I think that's where OP will be based).

 

Guess we have different definitions of short day trips. It's a beautiful drive though, for sure.