| The
Quest for the Holy Grain - Best Brew Pubs |
| California |
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Thirsty Bear Brewing Company When in San Francisco, don't leave without checking out the Thirsty Bear. The atmosphere is great -- the brick walls, natural wood, the exposed metal pipes and fermentation tanks gives it a homey, classic brew pub vibe. The bar is long and there are many tables at which to sit, eat, drink, and talk. A lot of people could pack in without it feeling overcrowded. There is a smaller bar on the second floor, along with some pool tables and dart boards for your entertainment. |
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Green Flash Brewing Company Yes, it is another high-end San Diego brewery and another brewery in a light industrial development. So what's not to like? No pub here, just a tasting room open on Friday evenings and Saturday and Sunday afternoons. $6 bought us a taste of nine beers, eight of which were 6%+ and some available only at the brewery. Full pints are also available, as are growlers and bottles for take home. You won't be disappointed.
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Karl Strauss Brewing Company Southern California is home to six Karl Strauss brewery-restaurants. We visited the Costa Mesa location next to the sprawling South Coast plaza and there were plenty of thirsty beautiful-people shoppers on hand. Based on a number of visits over the years, Karl Strauss beers have always been first class, ranging from Endless Summer Light (when's the last time you saw an American craft-brewed 3.4% beer?) to a seasonal saison (7%) and trippel (9%). Food is on the better side of typical brewpub fare and stretches from mac and cheese to filet mignon. A large parking structure is a short walk away. For a mall brewery, this Karl Strauss is worth going out of your way to visit.
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The Lost Abbey We're-Not-Worthy Beer Tour stop #2. If Stone isn't enough then travel the 3.2 miles to brewer Tomme Arthur's beer playground at The Lost Abbey, located in a light industrial complex. We were there on a Saturday afternoon when it was standing room only, albeit any room to sit or stand was scarce. Still, the beers, which include brews from both Port Brewing and Lost Abbey, are worth a stand on one leg if necessary. Lost Abbey beers are all high-end and Belgian-inspired. Some are within a traditional beer style, others defy both tradition and style. During our visit the nine Lost Abbey taps ranged from a 4.8% Witch's Wit to an 11% Serpent's Stout, with most closer to the stout in abv. You may not be standing at all after two pints in this place. Wooden barrels are everywhere, including being used as bar stools. While there's no food, Lost Abbey offers some of the best craft beers we've ever tasted. You want to go to there.
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Stone Brewing Company
The We're-Not-Worthy Beer Tour stop #1. We recently visited Stone for the fourth time, and this time we included a brewery tour before lunch. Tours are free but you need to sign in early as they fill up quickly; you'll get to see an operation that looks more like one of the big guys than a craft brewery. Besides, the tour finishes with a sampler of five Stone beers. Great start. Stone is one of the few brewery-restaurants that has paid attention to food and how it pairs with its beers, so anticipate a damn good meal. And it looks and acts like a restaurant, with park-like outside dining and a soaring inside dining area. Imagine a California biergarten...this is it. But then, seriously, there's Stone beer. When we visited there were nine Stone beers on tap and three more in the bottle, including Cali-Belgique IPA (6.9%, $5), Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale (8.7%, $4), and the 2007 and 2008 Old Guardian Barley Wines (each 11.26% and $12). But if Stone beer alone were not enough, there were also 23 taps and 69 bottles from places like Alesmith, Green Flash, Russian River, Moylan's, Brew Dog and others. All well-crafted and mostly big beers, and with great food and service to accompany them. This must be on your brewery bucket list.
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Thirsty Bear Brewing Company If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to drink some Thirsty Bear beers there. This is the very best micro brewery this Questor has ever visited, bar none. The ambience is that of a San Francisco art gallery/warehouse. It is a curious mix of track lighting, modern art, bare pipes in the ceiling, bare brick walls, huge skylight and concrete floor with an antique hardwood floor insert. The brew works are all on premises and they are a curious silver, no copper in sight. Men in black leather jackets sit cross-legged at high table and chairs—It is San Francisco after all. Other men come and go with briefcases slung low against their backs. It does not take long to realize this place has an awful beer décor. Worse, the menu is terrible, with great food. Go figure. Appetizers include olive with herbs, spicy fried chickpeas, roasted beets and other so-called delight. There is little to no meat to be found on this tapas menu! I am ashamed to say I ate roasted beets and liked them along with bocadillos, tortilla Espanola, and empadaes. Someone please tell me what paella is, Kramer loved it! The crowd was eclectic sexually but mostly young. There was a long L-shaped bar and indecipherable music played unnoticed in the background. Later it turned to class rock and it delighted. Baseball was on for two home teams but no one seemed interested. Now let's talk beer. The Thirsty Dog had 11 beers on tap. I had Rumrunner Brown Ale, Golden Hallucination (a strong Belgian), Kozlov Stout, and Meyer ESB. The last two were nitrogen conditioned. They were the best danged microbrews I have ever had. Each was consistent, solid, smooth, with lots of body and very, very tasty. The Rumrunner was my favorite; it was a seasonal brown ale flavored with molasses. The Golden Hallucination was as good a Belgian draft as I have ever had. The beers were universally great. You've got to put Thirsty Bear on your to do list if you come to San Francisco. Now, for the women, for this part of any better beer drinking experience, is it not? Just as I had begun to give up on the TB two raven haired goddesses entered and sat at the small raised table across from us. And there sat Snow White. It had to be. Her top was cut as low as her hemline was high. She had legs, crossed and long, that would have giganticized all seven of the dwarfs. When she uncrossed and recrossed her legs the entire bar sighed as one, I along with it. From the first gay to the last hooray, the Thirsty Bear has the best micro brews I have ever had. Strong colors, crystal clarity and firm bodies characterize all of their beers. Be sure to ask about the seasonals, they were especially good on our visit. This is a must stop for any beer lover in the City by the Bay. |
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Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery & Restaurant If you were drugged and blindfolded and awoke in this brew pub, your first words would be, "Am I in California?" Nine handcrafted ales. Spend the night with the triplets Amber, Hefe and Apricot Weizen, three of the finest unfiltered wheat beers on the planet. Hefe is the dog here. And the ABV's are respectable for wheats. The décor is California industrial. The tan and black color scheme makes this the kind of place Larry David would invest in. But the beers are really good. The Curve Ball is a Kolsch with a distinctly herbal essence to it. The IPA was quite lupin. Get the pizza. It is simply the best pizza you have ever had in a bar, if not ever. Three thumbs up outta two. |
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Sudwerk Restaurant & Brewery 2001 2nd St Davis, CA 95618-5474 (530) 758-8700 |
| In Davis, Questors must go to Sudwerk Restaurant & Brewery. Period. German beer made in America. Why didn't someone back East think of that? Smooth and consistently flavorful beers is what you will find at this award-winning Rheinheitsgebot Brauerei.
Brewed on premises, these are splendid brews. The hefeweizen is one of the best outside der Vaterland. This is not Southern California, but it is California, and the clientele is so good looking on some nights, that many Questors risk being asked to leave for excessive blandness. No way these women drink beer and look like this...no way. |
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