Top 5 California Taphouse/Breweries

It has a lot to do with his start and end locations. Unless he's willing to go quite out of his way, his best bet is to take the I5 to the 99 all the way up. That really limits what he can get to. I mean, of course he can detour to hit places like Libertine, SARA, or Cellarmaker, it's just they aren't really on the way to where he's going.

 

He also said he already had The Bruery in mind for the South, and Russian River in the North. If Russian River is on the list then I would say skip the whole highway 99 or I-5 route because then he has to pass through Sacramento, drive hours to Russian River then drive hours back to Sacramento (if that is his destination). Take US 101 North through SF to get to RR, which then allows for other amazing stops like Firestone, SARA and Cellar Maker. Drive to Sac from Santa Rosa on your last day and be done.

 

Kern River to have some Citra on tap (bottles immediately sold out with lottery). Firestone Walker Barrelworks, and Lagunitas on the way to Russian River!

 

No beer lover travels I-5

 

Around the LA area: the Bruery, Noble Ale Works, Phantom Carriage, Beachwood, Bottle Logic.

California as a whole, in my humble opinion:
1) Sante Adairius
2) Firestone Walker Barrelworks
3) The Bruery
4) Alpine
5) Russian River

 

Just did that trip, sort of. Went up to Sonoma though.
Stopped at Sante Adairius in Capitola. Highly recommend. They do not bottle, so a visit a for sure way of enjoying their ales.
Drakes
The Rare Barrel in Berkley
Lagunitas in Petaluma
Bear Republic in Healdsburg
and of course, Russian River in Santa Rosa
And in L.A.....Beachwood Brewing in Long Beach, the Bruery in Placentia ,and Bottle Logic in Anaheim
And don't forget Firestone Walker in Paso Robles!
Map it out..will be a great trip!

 

They travel I-80

 

I would've assumed that, too. The OP could've just said "best in California," but he didn't. He mentioned two specific places, which implies a limited area he's willing to digress into.

It's often a problem with these posts to visitors to California is that people tend to forget that a) it's a really, really big state and b) it has really, really bad traffic.

Naturally, Russian River got a lot of mentions on this list. But as someone who lives near Sac, I can tell you it will take about two hours each way to go from Sac to RR, and that's with moderate traffic: it wouldn't be unusual for it to take 2.5 or 3 hours. Each way. In other words, you'd want to allow about 5 hours car time that day, in addition to whatever time you want to spend in Santa Rosa. In other words, basically the whole day.

If I was travelling to a state I didn't know and asked for recommendations for breweries along a certain route, I'd be looking for places within about a half hour of that direct route. If I was willing to make day trips to any place in the state, I would just ask for the spots in the state and not mention the route.

 

2.) Forget Eagle Rock or Golden Road, Highland Park Brewery, not too much further off of the 5 is vastly superior to the two.

But I posted this just to clarify those directions, the fastest way from Beachwood to ER/GR/HPB is via the 710 or 110, to the 5, to the 2. And Golden Road is 3 miles north of Eagle Rock (not south) with Glendale Tap half way in between.

 

I would try to hit Stone if you could. The place is really awesome and it's worth a visit for sure. There's tons of places to go to in CA though so you shouldn't be disappointed

 

Recently had Alpine on tap at Lupulo in Santa Cruz and City Beer Store in San Francisco. I would just look for it on tap if it's a "must try" vs. driving 4 hours out of the

 

Sorry dood. Not the same. Just had HB n Duet at BWSB 2 hours ago. Both were off. Nelson last Sunday.
Not the same as Alpine. I've got bottles and growler from the brewery from last Friday. It's off. But still it's name is Alpine. So I guess that's good enough.