Going To The West Coast Usa

[sav]

We have decided to do the states in june I am salavating allready I have been told by the wife its going to be a hectic 2 weeks .So what 3 brewerys would be on your must list.

Stone,Laganeitis,Heratic,Sierra nirvada,Let me no what you would do.


Sav

 

[DUANNE]

never been over there but the one id walk over broken glass to get to if i ever get the chance would be russian river.

 

[waggastew]

Umm, sort of off topic (as I have never been to any West Coast breweries) BUT...........

Recently I went on a weeks holiday to Freemantle. While there I discovered the big beer pubs plus the Freemantle Dr bottle shop which has more craft beer from around world than you could poke a bar stool at.

ANYHOW, my tip for your trip is try not to drink too many BIG beers too often. I was drinking the likes of Westmalle Triples and Laguntas IPA's and it got.....well...a bit much! On my last night I had a bottle of beautiful Wee Heavy and I really struggled through it. The Brewdog Sorachi IPA got tipped. Still a nice problem to have craft beer overload.

Have a nice time and report back with photos

Stew

 

[darryl]

Just got back from San Diego a couple weeks ago. My suggestions to you would be.

1) Stone Brewery - Kind of like going to a beer drinkers disneyland complete with a gift shop at the exit.
2) Alesmith - Damn good beers in a warehouse setting.
3) Green Flash - "Hop Head Red" enough said.
4) Ballast Point - Their Imperial Stout.

All of which are within driving distance to each other. I agree with waggastew though the choice overload is a bit much it is hard as hell to decide. I ended up having at least one Pliny the Elder every day I was there. You'll have a great time that's for sure.

 

[RagingBull]

Depends how far up the coast you're going? as far as Oregon?

 

[fergi]

this has nothing to do with beer .but if you are going to washington DC make sure you look at the aeronautical museum,smithsonian museum, all the space capsules , moon landing ,orbiters etc, really interesting.
fergi

 

[mattfos01]

Going up the coast from San Fran to Portland in march. Going to do a brewery tour in Portland and probably Sierra Nevada on the way. Any other thoughts?

 

[Jez]

Going up the coast from San Fran to Portland in march. Going to do a brewery tour in Portland and probably Sierra Nevada on the way. Any other thoughts?

On the way up from San Fran go inland a little and drop into Lagunitas at Petaluma then Russian River at Santa Rosa. Went to both last year and both are absolute must stops if you can do it. Lagunitas has a great beer garden and really friendly staff and Russian River was packed but the bartenders were great and there's Blind Pig, Pliny & Supplication on tap. Its amazing.

jez

 

[bum]

Another +1 for Russian River. Beers are amazing (venue is not a huge drawcard though). I'd hit up Lagunitas if I had the chance. Been to Firestone Walker and it was good but pretty much in the middle of nowhere. SN is supposed to be a great tour but you can get their beers EVERYWHERE (7-11, Target, etc) so not something I'd go out of my way for.

 

[IainMcLean]

We moved here from LA three years back, and my kid brother lives in SF:

Take a day and go down the 101 from SF, hang a right on the 17 and over into Santa Cruz. When you get into town go right over the river, keep on a ways and then left into the industrial estate, second left and then you're in a parking lot and the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing Co is on the left hand side - brewery in a warehouse with a really cool bar.

Check out Green Street Tavern in SF for good food and beer. Walk a couple of blocks to the bay and on the right is a pub run by Rogue.

On the way back from Santa Cruz call in at Mountain View, on the main street heading away from the bay on the right is a brewpub that's great - can't recall the name now but they have the serving tanks behind the bar and the brewery behind them and it's all behind a big sheet of glass....

When you get to Russian River be careful - there's a town called Guernerville. Kind of pituresque place. Went once for a jazz festival. A mate who found out me and my Bro were going up said there' two types of bar in town, gay bars and redneck bars and they're all rough.. He was right. Very strange place.

Going North: before you get to Redwood Nat Park call in @ Blue Lake and go to Mad River Brewing Co and try their Double IPA - awesome drop.

In SF itself, go to the golden gate park on the PCH and there's two old windmills at either side of an old restored building called The Beach chalet - downstairs front is a museum about the park but the rest is a really cool brewpub and they have some damn fine beers - both thier own and other brewerys. The paddle has [from memory] 10 samples on two tiers and there used to be enough for three paddles with different beers..... they have a nice beer garden at the back to sit in and enjoy the beer..... ;-)

 

[Snowdog]

My three 'must-visit' picks for the three west coast USA states...

Washington:
Black Raven Redmond (east of Seattle)
Big Time Brewing Seattle (University District)
Walking Man Brewing Stevenson (east of Portland Oregon across & up river about 80Km)

Oregon:

Hair of the Dog
Laurelwood
Deschutes All in Portland


California:

Lost Coast Brewing Eureka
Russian River Brewing Santa Rosa
21st Amendment Brewing San Francisco

 

[sav]

Just got back from San Diego a couple weeks ago. My suggestions to you would be.

1) Stone Brewery - Kind of like going to a beer drinkers disneyland complete with a gift shop at the exit.
2) Alesmith - Damn good beers in a warehouse setting.
3) Green Flash - "Hop Head Red" enough said.
4) Ballast Point - Their Imperial Stout.

All of which are within driving distance to each other. I agree with waggastew though the choice overload is a bit much it is hard as hell to decide. I ended up having at least one Pliny the Elder every day I was there. You'll have a great time that's for sure.

Flying in to LA then to San Diego,Thers alot around san fransisco but we arnt going that far up. leggo land Carl strouse brewery near where we are staying Disney,I would love to get to Heratic.

 

[Duff]

In San Diego make sure you get to Yardhouse in the centre of town. There are alot of great bars and 1 or 2 small brewpubs in town as well so is a great place to visit.

 

[cdbrown]

Flying in to LA then to San Diego,Thers alot around san fransisco but we arnt going that far up. leggo land Carl strouse brewery near where we are staying Disney,I would love to get to Heratic.

Any specific reason for Heretic visit? They are sharing the space with EJ Phair Brewing (so I guess you could see two micros at the same time) but I don't think Heretic do any servings on site.

 

[RagingBull]

Since bars are now being mentioned. If you're hitting up Santa Monica area you can catch quite a few good west coast brews at Fathers Office. San Diego: Stone and Alesmith. Maybe duck into a Bevmo for a look around. Dont write off the sierra nevada - not been, but JZ says on BN that theyve got a lot more to offer there than just their regular stuff. Russian River of course, Rogue alehouse in SF - choices are endless. Enjoy :icon_cheers:

 

[spog]

okay,hb poll here,who now hate's sav....me....cheers.....spog.... :beerbang:

We have decided to do the states in june I am salavating allready I have been told by the wife its going to be a hectic 2 weeks .So what 3 brewerys would be on your must list.

Stone,Laganeitis,Heratic,Sierra nirvada,Let me no what you would do.


Sav

 

[Jez]

In San Diego go to Hamilton's Tavern.

www.hamiltonstavern.com

Check out the taplist. Friendly staff & a great pub.

 

[Snowdog]

Going To The West Coast Usa, 3 brewerys

Flying in to LA then to San Diego,Thers alot around san fransisco but we arnt going that far up. leggo land Carl strouse brewery near where we are staying Disney,I would love to get to Heratic.

Ah, I see. California's southwest corner of the west coast USA. Nevermind then. Enjoy your visit. :icon_cheers:

 

[Deerfoot]

Okay, I'll jump in here on this one and offer some assistance and opinion to this 'West Coast' trip and any others going outside of California (aka Evil Empire) to Oregon and Washington, yes the State of .. . Originally from the USA Pacific Northwest a fair bit of my early professional career was in that area and I was able to watch, and enjoy the proliferation of micro-breweries/pubs starting in the mid to late '80's. The area still has one of the largest per capita 'micro-brewery' in the US (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_breweries) and one of if not the largest gatherings of craft brewers festivals.

IMHO, Portland and Oregon really got the ball rolling as the company I was with (Seattle) had a business relationship with Intel (Hillsboro, OR) a bunch of us engineers would make frequent trips down there. Making sure we had a initial late afternoon meetings that would continue the following mid-morning we were able to frequent a bar out there that had at least a dozen microbreweries beers/brews on tap (being conservative) as they had a wall full of taps. I can't remember the name of the place but the concept has evolved to so much more now but it could have been the first McMenamin's.

Here are a few of my favorites;
BridgePort IPA (Portland)
Full Sail (Hood River)
Rogue Ales (Newport)
Nishikashi (Eugene)
(Disclaimer, you had better like hoppy beer for some of these drops. I have to build up from Full Sail to Nishi given the lack of that style here in the Jervis Bay area offerings I get the rest of the year)

The original Red Hook IPA (Seattle) but it's gone past the microbrewery stage.

If anyone is in Oregon/Wash in July there is a rather large festival in Portland mentioned in this article (http://www.viamagazine.com/attractions/beer-breweries-oregon). Use 97301 (Eugene) as a 'zip' code.

I am in Oregon from June-Oct and would be happy to offer assistance to anyone coming over then. I hope this is the last year I'll have to do that trip. Just PM me and be patient on reply, I don't log in daily.

 

[Bizier]

SN via RRBC, we stayed in Santa Rosa for a few days to "soak in the atmosphere*"
Make sure you do the Sierra Nevada tour, it is like being in Willie Wonka's beer factory.

If you are in Santa Rosa and want to check out some redwood forest, stop by Stumptown if you have time and say g'day, I think the bloke's name is Peter, he is an expat, a good yarn and a good brewer.

*Consecration and Pliny

We drove out to Mt Hood east of Portland, dropped into Full Sail on the way, the beer was good and the scenery is spectacular there.

ED: The attached pic is of the area where Full Sail is located, that large rock out in the Columbia River is kinda opposite the brewery.