I'm taking my dad to a soccer match for his Father's Day gift. My family is really big on soccer. Got tickets to the Galaxy vs. Earthquakes match, and it's at Stanford Stadium this Saturday evening. My dad enjoys good beer, but I don't want his father's day weekend to be based around beer. However, I do want to find a good place to grab some GOOD/rare beer around the stadium...preferably in San Jose, Santa Clara, Palo Alto, etc. If I were to be selfish, I would go out of my way and head into SF to hit up Toronado and City Beer before the match. I just don't want to drag him around the bay searching for rare beer. Basically, what are the best places near Stanford Stadium (or South of Stanford Stadium - coming from Fresno) to grab some good beer. Good food suggestions would be greatly appreciated as well! Cheers! PS: Going to the A's game on Sunday, so staying at the Inn at Jack London Square and hitting up Beer Revolution after the match Saturday evening.
The Peninsula is pretty much a dead zone for rare beer, but there are a couple of good places to grab a drink. Cask & Flask and Rose & Crown are going to be the closest by far. You can also head north 10 min or so to Harry's Haufbrau (the atmosphere sucks, but the beer is really good) or Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City. They'll probably be a bit less crowded that the Palo Alto bars given the game.
OG in San Jose, Harry's In San Jose/Santa Clara, Good Karma San Jose, Smoke Eaters San Jose, Kelly's Liquors San Jose, Hell even O Flagherty's in San Pedro Square has a decent tap list.
What about Market Beer Company in San Jose? A coworker told me about this place. Any thoughts on the beer and food from locals or people who have been? Thanks again guys!
Also a great little place in a market with some great food. The bottles are really expensive for take away but onsite consumption is pretty average. Nice selection with a couple 8 taps. Pizza Boca Lupo in the other side of the market is so good.
I'm a big fan of Francesca's in Mountain View. A sports bar with a surprisingly good taplist. It's one block away from Taqueria La Bamba, which has awesome Mexican food. The Camarones Imperiales (shrimp wrapped in bacon and cooked in a Kahlua sauce) is obscenely good and highly recommended. Both are 5 miles from the university. If you want bottles, hit The Willows Market as you leave Stanford on your way to Oakland.
Thanks for the suggestions! Francesca's looks like a cool spot. Checked out the website and got a kick out of them advertising their featured beer, "Pliney the Elder". They even have a picture of the label with it spelled "Pliney". Pretty funny.
Hey man, it's a divey sports bar! But they had Pliny, Palate Wrecker, Sculpin, and a bunch of other great stuff on tap last time I was there. Really good selection, no matter where you are from. Leagues better than Rose and Crown, and La Bamba is worth the trip.
These are bottle shops, fyi. Great selections, but I'm not sure if the OP is looking for a bar to grab a beer. South of Stanford, best options are Original Gravity and Good Karma in downtown SJ. Not really much between San Jose and Stanford for the rare stuff, although if you head slightly north, you'll find great stuff at Harry's Hofbrau and Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City and Ale Arsenal in San Carlos.
This thread is closed. Thank you for all the awesome suggestions! The Market San Pedro was an awesome experience. My dad and I were really impressed with how it is set up...you can walk from place to place with a pint in your hand for crying out loud! And all the food was very tasty. My dad had the Korean BBQ and I had the Pork Belly sandwich from The Little Chef. As for Francesca's, it was completely dead...however, they had week-old Pliny in bottles and some great beers on tap. My dad fell in love with Devil's Canyon Barrel of Monkeys. Shout out to the amazing bartender, I believe his name was Mike. He was very friendly and hooked us up with some hefty tasters. Again, thank you for all the suggestions. Cheers!
