I'm an east coast guy who loves east coast and mid-west beer. I'm about to head out on a west coast tour with a show band and am looking for "must have" west coast beers. We will be all over CA, OR and WA. I'm aware of the ones that are must tries like Russian River, Deschutes, etc. I'm wondering if there are some hidden gems out there of some beer stores/breweries that can't be missed. West coast beer aficionados, brag away!
3
-
1Perhaps you could describe your route more in more detail, e.g. what cities you're visiting, so that we can come up with specific recommendations rather than spanning the entire West Coast :-)– Andrew CheongCommented Nov 6, 2014 at 18:25
-
1Sure! From the top, WA: Seattle, Spokane, Bellingham. OR: Bend, Eugene, Portland, Salem. CA: Antioch, Sacramento, Marin, Yountville, Santa Rosa, Merced, Lodi, San Jose, Fresno, Monterey, Livermore, St Luis Obispo, Visalia, Glendale, Irvine, Escondido, Riverside.– Marc SchwartzCommented Nov 6, 2014 at 18:31
-
Some Information Centers have local lists of breweries and/or wineries near by. At least they do where I live.– Ken Graham ♦Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 13:36
Add a comment
|
13 Answers
Seattle: Black Raven, Elysian, Georgetown, and Naked City Spokane: Iron Goat and River City Bellingham: Boundry Bay, Chuckanut, and Kulshan
In Oregon, Hop Valley, Deschutes, Boneyard and Laurelwood would be on my list.
If driving around Washington you will probably be going by Roslyn so stop by Wild Earth and check out the Brick Tavern.
-
+1, excellent suggestions. Fremont Brewing in Seattle is also awesome!– Alex A.Commented Dec 3, 2014 at 21:06
Best advice I can give is to go to a Bevmo or Whole Foods to see what's available.
My west coast staples: Ballast Point, Bear Republic, Drakes, Lagunitas, Russian River, Sierra Nevada, Stone.
Russian River have a pub in Santa Rosa, Lagunitas in Petaluma, and Bear Republic in Healdsburg.
-
Lagunitas provides a fun brewery tour and the Bear Republic Pub in Healdsburg is quite charming. These would be good stops.– MerrilyCommented Nov 21, 2014 at 18:17
When you're in Escondido, you don't just have to do Stone. Very close by in Vista you could go to Port/Lost Abbey. The 78 freeway is known as the Hops Highway and there are a ton of breweries. You could cherry pick around here.
-
Green Flash being one of the better breweries in the area. Commented Dec 8, 2014 at 15:00
-
Green Flash has a nice brewery and tasting room to visit, but note that it is 30 miles away from Vista.– MerrilyCommented Dec 8, 2014 at 16:15
-
The author said he's going to Escondido and Google Maps says Green Flash is 29 mins from there... Commented Dec 9, 2014 at 14:08
When you get to Escondido you'll be knee deep in breweries.
Some notable ones: Right next door in Poway is port brewing/ lost abbey and next door to that, in Vista, are some great ones. Belching Beaver is a favorite of mine but near it are Aztec and iron fist.
If you get to Bend, Oregon, they have an Ale Trail connecting 14 breweries. Probably takes more than a day, but almost all breweries can be reached on foot (for insensitive european feet anyway) and it's well worth it.
If you happen to pass through Ventura at all, check out Surf Brewery. They're a small brewery, not a huge selection, but they do really good IPAs. Their Black IPA and Session IPA (sometimes they call it an XPA) in particular are terrific. Pretty good prices on growlers as well.
When you are in Merced it will definately be worth the drive up to Turlock (about half an hour up Hwy 99).
Dust Bowl Brewing has their tap room on Main Street. They have many popular beers and normally have about 20 of their own brews on tap. The food there is top notch as well. If you like big IPAs I would strongly suggest you check out their Therapist. They are poised to become the next major brewery in CA as they are just beginning to build out a $10M brewery west of town. Definitely worth a trip up from Merced.
-
Dust bowl has recently opened their expanded brewery and they added a taproom there. So now there are two locations in Turlock for Dust Bowl. The new location is just off Highway 99 at the Fulkerth Rd exit. Can't miss it. Amazing place. Commented Dec 19, 2016 at 19:37
San Francisco Locations:
Anchor Brewing Company, the oldest brewing company in San Francisco has tours and tastings at their facilities. Tip: you have to book about 2-3 months in advance to get a spot, since this experience is pretty popular among locals. The experience used to be completely free, though they just started charging $15 per person earlier this year.
21st Amendment Brewery has great seasonal beers and their pub has a great atmosphere a few blocks from AT&T Park. One of my favorites is the Hell or High Watermelon Beer (usually distributed during the summer or early fall)
Specific beers:
When in Antioch CA drive at least to Concord and go the Hop Grenade; it's a beer bar that will have a great selection. Further east you'll have many great choices around Berkeley & SF, too many to list.
Full Sail Brewery in Hood River, Oregon is excellent! There are actually several pubs I'm that area with awesome selections.
Most of my favorites have been mentioned already, but I'd just like to reinforce how fantastic Deschutes, Stone, and Sierra Nevada are.
Another great Oregon one I haven't seen mention of yet is Rogue. Some of their beers are pretty different, but excellent all the same.
When you visit Bend make Crux Brewing your go to destination it's the Hogwarts of Beermaking in Bend. I would also like to suggest taking a helicopter beer tour with Big Mountain Heli Tours in Bend as well the smell of hops is awesome.
Check out Fremont Brewing and a cool small place called Flying Bike Co-op brewery, a non-profit member driven brewery.
