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California Beer Tour ideas

Fri, 2009-01-09 10:03 — Barley Whiner

Know this has been raised before, but..

Suggestions for beer related places to visit if one were to visit California?

I am planning a trip in August, and we do not have all the details set, but plan to at least be "Somoma" area, as well as visiting family near Bakersfield. So, basically we'll be all over the place. I have a list of some places I would like to visit but all seem to be in the North of the state (Lost Coast, Russian River, Lagunitas, Mendocino), or South of the state (Lost Abbey, Stone).

Any good ones that I'm missing?

Any suggestions for more of the middle areas?

In particular I enjoy doing brewery tours. Many of the places that I've found only seem to be brewpub type places, so if anyone has suggestions for breweries that offer tours..

Boy, my suitcase is gonna be packed on the way home!

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Fri, 2009-01-09 13:45 — JDZJ

I just got back from my own

I just got back from my own beer tour of southern Cali. We hit Stone, Ballast Point, Lightning, Port, Toronado, Hamilton's, and The Bruery (middle state brewery outside of LA). Didn't do Lost Abbey, as I had been there a couple months ago for the barrel tasting. I was a bit underwhelmed with The Bruery after all of the hype that is surrounding them. Their Black Orchard and Saison were decent, but most things were way over-spiced to me. If you hit Stone for an event, get there as early as possible. I was trying to catch Black Sunday to buy the RIS back through 2001, but they were sold out in a matter of hours. I wish that I had been able to go up north (you're missing North Coast up north, and I think Firestone Walker is somewhere between LA and SF but I'm not sure...though I think FSW isn't that great personally). La Jolla Brewing company sounded promising as well, but I didn't make it there. Alesmith was closed, but I wish they hadn't been.

If you go to south Cali, I would say hit Port/Lost Abbey, The Bruery, and Stone out of the ones I went to. The beer bars kind of suck because they have a ton of amazing bottled beers (Black Albert and Cable Car come to mind) but you can't leave the premises with them. If you want to take bottles back, I suggest hitting the Port Bottle shop, which I think is in Carlsbad, or just as good in my opinion is the "Holiday Wine Cellar," which is just down the street from Stone. They have an amazing selection of beer, wine, cigars, and liquor. I hit there and didn't even bother going to the Port bottle shop.

It's hard to go wrong with beer in California. One thing for certain: do your research ahead of time and have maps ready. I'm glad that I did.

-JDZJ
Tempe, AZ

Sat, 2009-01-10 14:38 — beersage

California Beer Tour ideas

If you're going to come to San Diego, you can spend the whole day just along Hwy 78 (aka: "beer highway") in north San Diego county (about 40 miles north of the city). Here's what you do:

  1. Pizza Port Carlsbad - western most end of the 78, a couple block from the ocean. Tons of great taps including all the brews from the three Pizza Ports. And the bottle shop right next door.
  2. Backstreet Brewing, Vista - A few mile east on the 78. Adam Carbonell is the head brewer (formerly of Karl Strauss and Ballast Point) and one of the up and comers in the SD beer scene. A wide variety of stuff on tap, plus the outdoor patio is great for people watching.
  3. Oggi's Pizza, Vista - directly across the 78 from Backstreet. They don't branch out too much from their regular stuff, but it's nice to taste where some of our SD beer folk (Tom Nickel of O'Briens, and Jeff Bagby Pizza Port to name a couple) got their start.
  4. Green Flash - A couple miles south of Oggi's. Home to a lot of great hoppy beers including West Coast IPA which won as "best in show" here at the San Diego Craft Brew festival (no small feat given all the great IPAs we have here.)
  5. Churchills Pub & Grill - Not a brewery, but the best beer bar in the north part of the county. All the local stuff, plus a lot of northern California goods (Moylans, Russian River, Firestone-Walker, etc.), English and Belgians. Food is fantastic and inexpensive.
  6. The Lost Abbey - Back to the 78 and a few miles east again is 2007's GABF Small Brewery of the Year and 2008's World Beer Cup champion. Usually has about 15 taps of the Belgian and American stuff that made them famous. Check out the barrel room too.
  7. Stone Brewing / World Bistro - Five minutes east of Lost abbey, Stone sits on a hilltop at the east end of the 78 where it meets I-15. Take the tour, sample the Stone beers, then go out to the gardens and have a couple pints from their huge taplist (Stone and many, many other breweries). A great way to relax and finish a day of tasting.

Sure, there's plenty of other breweries further down into San Diego (Ballast Point, Alesmith, Lightning, Alpine, etc.), but you'll be able to sample all those at Stone and Churchills. You hit the magic seven above, and you'll know what San Diego craft brewing is.

Mon, 2009-01-12 08:34 — Barley Whiner

Thanks for the

Thanks for the suggestions.

Anyone have more Central or Northern CA ideas?

Mon, 2009-01-12 13:31 — JDZJ

To be fair, there are some

To be fair, there are some limited releases at Ballast Point that are only available at the brewery right now - their Dorado DIPA and Sea Monster Imperial Oatmeal Stout - that you won't find at Stone/Churchill's.

Beware the beer bars, too. They may have hella good selection of bottled beers, but you cannot take them off-premises, which I wish I had known ahead of time.

Definitely don't waste your time at Lightning, they are @$$holes. Nowhere else have I asked to try a beer and had the brewer argue with me about what I like.

Best of luck and have fun!

-JDZJ
Tempe, AZ

Wed, 2009-01-14 19:32 — dbautista

Central CA representing

Central CA representing here. You won't find a whole lot of breweries in the area, and the ones that you do find are on the smaller scale.

Fresno:
Breweries:Sequoia Brewing and Full Circle. Sequoia is worth checking into. They have a few nice offerings. St. Adam's abbey ale is my fav. I like the one in the Tower district the best. Nice beer bar would be BC's Pizza in Clovis, CA. Decent bottle selection and have a few Belgians on tap. They are also part of the Lips of Faith program from New Belgian. They've had Abby Grand Cru and Dunkel Wiess. Pretty nice for the Central Valley.

Visalia:
Brewbakers on Main street is my local. Really nice IPA. Red is their flagship. Nice place, good food and nice people. Bottle shop would be Franks Wine Shoppe on Willis and Murray. Nice wine/beer bar is the Cellar door on Main street. Ask for JR and he'll treat you right.

Bakersfield:

Don't make it down there so often but I've heard OK things about Lengthwise, a brewpub. I'll find the name of a few bottle shops as well.

Good luck on your tour through CA. I would suggest Central Coast if you had the chance. Firestone Walker is right on the 101. There are also some nice places in the Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo areas too.

Wed, 2009-01-21 08:26 — Barley Whiner

Central CA representing

dbautista,

Thanks for your input. Since I will be staying in Bakersfield for 2-3 days with family, the bottle shop info would be great to know.

all,
Sounds like I have some great info now on South and Central CA. Anyone want to throw out their Northern CA favs? So far I have on my short list: Russian River, Lagunitas, Mendocino Brewing's brewpub, & Lost Coast Brewery.

Wed, 2009-01-21 13:01 — JDZJ

If you're up that far north,

If you're up that far north, I would personally go to North Coast brewing company. They are honestly one of my favorites out of Cali. Brother Thelonius, Le Merle, and Old Rasputin are some of my favorite beers.

-JDZJ
Tempe, AZ

Wed, 2009-02-11 18:25 — dbautista

country club liquor or gm

country club liquor or gm liquor in bakersfield

Enjoy and if you make it out to brewbakers, let me know! I'll buy the first round.

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