West Coast of America Trip

[citizensnips]

I'm finally getting over to the states to hit up nothing but craft, breweries, bars and bottleshops.

I'm likely heading to LA, San Diego, Seattle and Portland.

I've got a fair list of placed to visit but would love any recommendations from people that have been and know some of the great spots. In particular any semi modern brew-pubs/bottleshops.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

 

[wide eyed and legless]

LA is easy, Karl Strauss, my own personal favourite. The other places just google breweries and brew pubs they will come up. I am going to New York in May, coincides with the Brooklyn Beer Festival.

 

[2095brewer]

Portland
Ex Novo has great beers and friendly staff. Brewery is just opposite a park and catches some sun.
Breakside. Some of my favourite IPAs. Has a couple of locations.
Pfriem

Seattle
If you go to Fremont/Ballard there’s quite a few in the one area. Ruben’s brews, Fremont.. there’s tonnes.

LA
Down in Long Beach: Beechwood has a massive line up of beers and some cool gear. Check out their ‘flux capacitor’ setup. I think it was featured in a craft beer and brewing article a few releases ago. Fun people who just love beer. Good burgers. They also have a barrel aged venue a short walk away from the main location. Then while you’re in the area there are couple of places at Belmont shores (5-10min drive) including Ballast point which has a brew pub there. I understand that’s not in everyone’s radar after they were bought out.

Anyway. You’ll find a thousand others!

 

[Schikitar]

I'm now watching this thread because I am also heading to San Fran, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver, San Diego and Anaheim in May/June for five weeks. I'll be travelling with the wife and teenage kids but I hope to sneak away solo to a few places and also take the whole family to others..

 

[EvilTwin]

Highly recommend Cascade in Portland, awesome sours. (Went back a second time to try the rest).

Baileys Taproom in town had a good range

Beermongers was cool (bar and bottleshop), Apex is nearby... not to everyones tastes.

 

[captnhaddock]

As a proud life-long Portlander, I love the props I'm seeing on this list!

Ok, so the challenge with making recommendations is that we've got a lot of breweries, and are currently in flux (quite a few closed this last year). Here are just a few that I would recommend (please remember, these are based on my personal opinion shaped by my personal tastes):

Migration Brewing
BaseCamp Brewing
Gigantic Brewing
Lucky Lab Brewing
Hopworks Brewing
Hair of the Dog Brewing
Upright Brewing
Natian Brewing
Zoiglhaus Brewing
Second Profession Brewing
Trusty Brewing

For those of you antipodeans traveling to the "Best" coast, I'd be delighted to give you a tour of our fair city (with advance notice please).

 

[Mat]

Took a trip over there back in 2012. The 9 weeks changed my outlook on beers completely. Great introduction to craft beer.

These are the ones that stood out.

Widmer Brothers in Portland is pretty good.

If you get a chance to see more of Oregon
Deschutes Brewing in Bend
Block 15 Brewing in Corvallis
Rogue Brewery in Newport is epic. They also have brewpubs in other cities.

Lost Coast Brewing in Eureka is quirky too.

The Yard House in Long Beach was pretty cool too. Just a pub but has a crazy amount of beers on tap like 50+

Cheers

 

[Schikitar]

I was originally going to lean on this list of Portland supposed favourites - https://www.hopculture.com/best-breweries-in-portland-oregon/ - but now we've got so many more!

For those of you antipodeans traveling to the "Best" coast, I'd be delighted to give you a tour of our fair city (with advance notice please).

Be careful what you wish for, haha!

 

[Aletheist]

San Diego has many options. Of course there are Karl Strauss, Ballast Point (the brewpub in little italy is awesome) and Stone (there is a great little tasting room next to Petco park if you’re not intending to stray too far from the Gaslamp district).

Mission Brewing, Coronado Brewing is a great venue over the bridge. Modern Times is a personal favourite that I’ve been to a few times.

Almost every second pub in the Gaslamp quarter has a great tap list. Barley mash wasn’t bad, we frequented a smaller bar called Tipsy Crow fairly often last time I was there.

 

[captnhaddock]

Portland
Ex Novo has great beers and friendly staff. Brewery is just opposite a park and catches some sun.
Breakside. Some of my favourite IPAs. Has a couple of locations.
Pfriem

Seattle
If you go to Fremont/Ballard there’s quite a few in the one area. Ruben’s brews, Fremont.. there’s tonnes.

LA
Down in Long Beach: Beechwood has a massive line up of beers and some cool gear. Check out their ‘flux capacitor’ setup. I think it was featured in a craft beer and brewing article a few releases ago. Fun people who just love beer. Good burgers. They also have a barrel aged venue a short walk away from the main location. Then while you’re in the area there are couple of places at Belmont shores (5-10min drive) including Ballast point which has a brew pub there. I understand that’s not in everyone’s radar after they were bought out.

Anyway. You’ll find a thousand others!

Based on the way you're writing, that you're here in PDX?

 

[huez]

I was just in Portland over the Christmas break. Cascade if you are into sours and Great Notion were some of the best beers I had while I was in the states. Deschutes brew pub is also a must.

And take your passport if you go to a Dispensary.....

 

[golfandbrew]

Download the Brew Guru app. It was developed by the Brewers Association for times like this.

Pizza Port while in San Diego.

When you return let us know where you went and what your favorites were.

Enjoy the trip...cheers

 

[citizensnips]

Can't thank everyone enough for the tips. A lot of good ones here that I hadn't come across. A lot more digging still to do! Currently looking at 25 different stops. Could go a few more depending how I'm feeling as well.

Any more suggestions welcome.

Cheers

 

[Patrick_BCB]

I would love to get to White Labs Tap Room in San Diego - apparently they showcase their yeasts in beers made with the same recipes.

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attr...e_Labs_Tasting_Room-San_Diego_California.html

 

[Schikitar]

I would love to get to White Labs Tap Room in San Diego

That's on my list!

 

[citizensnips]

I would love to get to White Labs Tap Room in San Diego - apparently they showcase their yeasts in beers made with the same recipes.

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attr...e_Labs_Tasting_Room-San_Diego_California.html

Cant thank you enough for telling me about this!

 

[captnhaddock]

And take your passport if you go to a Dispensary.....

It's worth noting that a number of breweries are experimenting with CBD (Cannabidiol) in their brews [they do label as such so there shouldn't be any surprise there], so if you have to pass an UI after coming back, you may want to abstain.

Aside from that, we're in the midst of a glut in in the market at the moment, so you can find good quality bud for as little as $3 - 5 USD per gram.

 

[cliffo]

I did the West Coast in Oct/Nov 2017, was a great trip.

My thread is HERE if you want to get some ideas.

Beer highlights for me were Sierra Nevada in Chico, Anchor in SF, Burnside Brewing in Portland, Deschutes and Bend Brewing Co in Bend and Stone Brewing in San Diego.

Best food I had on the trip was Brazen Head in SF and La Puerta in San Diego. La Puerta definitely a standout. Good beers there too.

For non-beer based activities, Yosemite National Park was stunning and the general vibe of San Diego and San Francisco were great.

 

[Reg Holt]

That is an awesome thread there cliffo.

 

[cliffo]

That is an awesome thread there cliffo.

It was an amazing trip.

I must be due for another beer-based adventure lol