Taking a trip to wine country next weekend so I'm looking for spots other than the obvious Russian River & Bear Republic. Any good local watering holes I should check out? Let's hear em!
Bear Republic closed their tap room late last year. They subsequently merged with Drakes and will be shutting down all of their Sonoma County operations. Parliament Brewing in Rohnert Park is the best of the small local breweries. Rincon Valley Taproom on the eastern edge of Santa Rosa is excellent.
Wow I've been outta the beer scene for a bit and had no idea about Bear Republic. Will definitely check out Parliament & Rincon Valley so thank you!
HenHouse in Petaluma (right across the street from the original Lagunitas taproom) is my favorite brewery in the area. In Santa Rosa there is also Moonlight for excellent lagers and Cooperage is making some good stuff as well.
Barrel Brothers in Windsor, Iron Ox and Cooperage in Santa Rosa are small, but interesting stops as well.
I will second Henhouse in Petaluma and Moonlight in Santa Rosa. Crooked Goat in Petaluma also has pretty good beers. For a little local flavor, check out Ernie's Tin Bar at the corner of 116 and Lakeville highway. Kind of an old west roadhouse vibe, with a surprisingly good tap list.
I might suggest the Crooked Goat location in Sebastopol instead of their Petaluma location. Sebastopol is a funky little town to explore.
Awesome guys thank you so much I got a full itinerary now! Any recommendations for a great restaurant in the area that's off the beaten path a bit?
I was just at ENF and they have 4 different Hen House IPA’s, canned in April too. First time I’ve seen them up here.
Nice. I was in Dead Reckoning a couple days ago and they had a bunch of henhouse ipas on tap. I guess Humboldt Beer distributors picked them up. I hope we see their saisons, their ipas are good-great but we're not hurting for more ipas. Their seasonal saisons are amazing
El Molino Central was recommended by a winemaker friend. Went twice when I was there in November. Legit Mexican.
El Molino Central is great. Glen Ellen is off the beaten path and there's several good places to eat: Glen Ellen Star and The Mill are both good, upscale/pricey. Yeti is a decent Indian place with a really nice setting/outdoor seating. (And if you're into wine, try the pinots at Talisman.) In the other direction, if you make it out to Point Reyes (rural but touristy on weekends), Cafe Reyes has excellent wood fired pizza and local oysters... and have a pint at the historic Old Western Saloon down the road.
