I have a buddy who is visiting san fran in the next few days who offered to snag me some beer while there. we are from IN, so we don't see a ton of west coast stuff. I want him to hit Rare Barrel if possible and wondered if they ever sell bottles to the "average joe" or is their stuff still limited? Also might see if he wants to make the drive to RR for obvious reasons - what do they usually have available? Any other suggestions on good bottle shops? Looking for Stouts and Sours in particular since I won't see him for about a month....what's beers are "shelf" beers that are highly rated? Alamanc, firestone walker, Russian river, things like that appeal to me but I'm open to suggestions as well. Any help would be great, thanks!!
Rare Barrel is fantastic, they usually have one beer available for sale at a time with different limits check the website to see what they have. Only thing to keep in mind is they are only open Fri - Sun. The drive to the Russian River is pretty easy once you get on the Golden Gate Bridge the drive to the brewery is pretty simple no freeway changes etc. RR website shows what bottles they have at any given time but Pliny is always available. He could keep driving north and make it to Bear Republic home of Racer 5. There is also a great bottle shop in Rohnert Park just a few minutes south of the Russian River.
Sounds awesome - I'll look into those suggestions! Sounds like Rare Barrel is a must, good tip on their schedule I had no clue about that.
BeerCraft in Rohnert Park is on the way to RR http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/29812/?view=ratings
