visiting Almanac?

It is not. More of an office, as they brew at other breweries.

Try and schedule a visit at Anchor Brewing, fun and historic tour.

 

There's not a facility to visit at present.

 

The office of Almanac is in SF and they Brew in San Jose(edit: just production no tours and make sure to pick up farmers reserve 3 and 4). Also unless you have a tour set up with anchor already you're out of luck sadly.

Lagunitas is always a good choice and it's on the way to RR

 

Drake's is well worth visiting.

 

No tap room yet. You could call and ask here to see if there are any cancellations.

 

It's way too late for OP to schedule a tour at Anchor. Need to do that at least a couple of months in advance.

 

If you're going to visit Drakes, might as well just go to Berkeley and check out Jupiter/Triple Rock. Same beer & cheaper (Minus Drakes Barrel Program, but they're least $7 a pour and not all that worth it IMO). Plus Jupiter/Triplerock have food and Where Drake's doesn't and it's a PITA to get to without a car.

 

Don't listen to this guy. It's not the same beer at all, don't know what he means by that but Drake's is definitely worth a visit, especially for their First Friday paties. and FWIW Drake's has snacks available and food trucks/vendors fairly often on the weekends.

 

Jupiter sometimes has some nice guest taps, and Triple Rock is mediocre at best. Drake's is solid, though and I would recommend going there.

 

Jupiter's beers are brewed by Drakes, and Triple Rock is owned by Drakes though they do brew on location at Triple Rock except for Monkey Head. That may be back to being brewed at Triple Rock again, not sure. I'll have to ask next time I'm there.

"n late 2008, Triple Rock Brewery/Jupiter owner John Martin took over Drake’s operations,"
http://drinkdrakes.com/site/history/
http://thefullpint.com/beer-news/drakes-brewery-sold-to-triple-rock/

Hope this helps.

 

That they do. Triple Rock is really just hit or miss for me. Their IPAs/Pale Ales are usually solid, the rest is a crap shoot. Though I've had some excellent Belgian style beers there in the past. Their porter/stout are pretty poor though.

 

You don't have to buy full pours of everything. They'll do tasters of all the beers at Drakes, including the barrel aged stuff. And it's a mile from the BART station if you just walk along Davis. Not the shortest walk, but it'll take you a whole 15-20 minutes. And if you can't handle that, there is a bus that goes to that shopping center.

Triple Rock and Jupiter are cool places (and I like Berkeley a lot), so I would say it's worth it to go there anyway.

 

So... same beers or same owner? Because Pizza Ports are all owned by the same company, but they have different beers. Are the recipes at Drakes / Triple Rock / Jupiter all the same but with different names?

I agree on Triple Rock and Jupiter having underwhelming house brews, plus Jupiter has a dirty tap line problem where everything just tastes off. I think a lot of Drakes stuff is profoundly mediocre, though they make some good seasonals.

 

Go to drakes and try their barrel aged stuff, it's fantastic!

 

I thought I was the only one who noticed Jupiter's line issue. Always pick up the same tinge of something in every beer regardless of style.

To answer your question, from my conversation with Jupiter's manager, their beers are brewed by Drakes at the Drake's brewery. Triple Rock's beers are brewed on site with the exception of Monkey Head. All owned by same owner though, can't comment on recipes. So if you hate Jupiter's house beers but love Drake's its all in your head (or Jupiter's tap lines).

Not trying to shit on any of the places (Jupiter has best garden I've encountered thus far int he Bay area), but IMO drake's barrel program, esp their stouts, are lacking. If you're into thin mouthfeel stouts than you'll like Drake's stouts. Least to me they taste incredibly thin.

 

Didn't realize it was that close to Bart, thought it was further. Thanks for the info!