The coldest summer I ever spent...

Hit Cellarmaker while in SF, you'll regret not doing it.

 

San Jose which is a little south of SF has a great brewery called Hermitage. Monterey is fun too. Across from the aquarium is the Cannery row brewing company. Tons on tap, including GI bourbon county stout and the Firestone lineup.

 

I second Cellarmaker. Do not visit SF without going to Cellarmaker. This list looks pretty good otherwise.

 

More support for Cellarmaker, and happy to see Berryessa on the list even though as much East as North. If you do make it to Berryessa, and will need to travel back to the city for your flight you could hit Heretic in Fairfield on the way back. Enjoy and Happy Birthday!

 

Must visit: Cellarmaker, Altamont, Knee Deep.

Must not visit: English Ales, Highway 1, Boulder Creek, pretty much every brewery in SF that isn't Cellarmaker.

 

I'd suggest Toronado in SF, and Beer Revolution in Oakland. Both are beercentric bars. Also, up North hit up Eel River in Fortuna, Lost Coast in Eureka and Six Rivers in McKinleyville. These three are brewers and Six Rivers is a secret gem. I recommend their Sasquatch dipa.

 

If you do go all the way up to Humboldt, I'd recommend Redwood Curtain in Arcata over all the other breweries in the county.

 

I respectfully disagree about Six Rivers. And agree that you should stop at Redwood Curtain, I find it to be second best in Humboldt County, behind Mad River.

 

In SF area, I'd skip 21st Amendment and add Cellarmaker. Pac Brew Labs doesn't have a taproom to visit. I'd add Faction to the list if you hit up Drakes as they are both in Alameda. If you are going to drive to Berryessa, which I'd recommend, keep going east to Knee Deep in Auburn. Track 7 in Sacramento is halfway if you need a pitstop. Make sure to go to Flavors Bistro in Santa Rosa when visiting Russian River and get some Moonlight beers. Death and Taxes is a must try.

 

Pretty sure you can't visit Pacific Brewing Laboratory and you'll need to call Anchor now (or do whatever their site says to do) to see if you can get a reservation for a tour as that's currently the only way to visit the brewery and they're usually a booked a few months out.

21st Amendment really is nothing special and I haven't been to Speakeasy, but am told that the pub itself is cool, however I already know their beers in general are average.

I would focus more on beer bars in the City (Mikkeller and Toronado being my top two "must hits") but if you're really just concerned about hitting brewpubs the others you listed are fine. Magnolia also has a location in the Dogpatch called Smokestack with BBQ as opposed to the British themed pub grub at their Haight location. You can also hit Triple Voodoo Brewery if you go to Smokestack.

I would scratch Moylan's from that list, but if you really want to hit a Marin spot, my favorites are Iron Springs who makes killer IPAs and Mill Valley Beerworks, both have the best food of the Marin brewpubs, too.

 

Has 21st Amendment gone downhill? I was there in maybe 2007 or 2008 and really enjoyed it.

 

Drakes is in San Leandro.

 

You are right. Point is, they are right down the freeway from each other.

Just realized you don't have Sierra Nevada down. I wouldn't skip it. It's worth the trip. If you can't detour that much and are going to North Coast and Mad River after Santa Rosa, you could hit the Torpedo Room in Berkeley at least.

 

It's the same as always, but suffers by comparison with Cellarmaker. By quite a bit.

 

Absolutely add Iron Springs to your Marin County itinerary.

I agree that English Ales, Highway 1, & Boulder Creek are not worth your limited time. Add Half Moon Bay Brewing to this area for sure, they are doing a bang-up job with their semi-new brewer.

The detour to my homeland of the Sacramento Valley is not recommended. We have great beer here but I am skeptical that you can fit it into your schedule and should probably prioritize other spots. Plus it is going to be hot as hell in August, you will have better weather sticking to the coast.

If you leave the coast for one spot, it needs to be Sierra Nevada. Seriously, though, it is a hell of a detour, it will eat an entire day of your trip. Determine if you will be satisfied with the Torpedo Room in Berkeley.

 

Man, I'm not sure what some of you are seeing/tasting with HMB Brewing. We went a few months ago for the first time in a while and I was extremely unimpressed. I tried a Saison that tasted nothing like a Saison and their hoppy beers tasted like ESB's. Did I miss something?

 

The beers they are entering in competition have been great. Their session series is great. Seasonals are interesting, generally good.

IPAs... did they have Tunnel Vision on?

Have not had the saison.

 

I find Zeitgeist to be a glaring omission from the beer bar recommendations in SF. Just as good if not better than Toronado, awesome beer garden in the back to lounge in. Cannot recommend it enough. Spent the whole afternoon there on my birthday last year, drinking a ton of Supplication on draft in addition to many other filthy brews. Also the best Bloody Mary I have ever had.

 

Anchor is worth a visit but act quick--I called to schedule a tour about a month ago for my folk's coming visit in July and they said they were booked solid until August. If you are visiting Faction (and I'd second the recommendation to that) take the ferry back to SF. It's a beautiful ride under the bay bridge, especially as the sun is setting. Sante Adairius is amazing, Cellarmaker is great, and I've had nothing but wonderful times at Iron Springs up north. Enjoy!