So i'm taking a trip out west this week. Can anyone recommend any micro's or restaurants with great selections in san fran, sonoma or napa area? I'm planning on hitting russian river for sure. Any others? Thanks in advance.

I just went to Bear Republic up in Sonoma. It is in Healdsburg. Definitely worth a stop if you are up in that area. Their Racer 5 IPA is awesome. Obviously you have to hit RR. I think Healdsburg is ~15 miles north of Santa Rosa.

In San Fran you should hit Toronado (a bar with an excellent selection last time I was there.

Brewsci,
cool thanks, i will be staying in Healdsburg, that will be easy

Bear Republic was a little hard to find. It is pretty much across from the little park in town, but it is in a plaza off of Healdsburg Ave and the signage is not good to tell you to go into the plaza. The sampler was a sample of everything on tap (14 samples I think)

Also, some people I went with went to Dry Creek Winery around Healdsburg ( I chose Bear Rep instead). They said it was amazing and they know about wine.

Great timing! Definitely check out the Toronado 20th Anniversary ale when you are at Russian River (or at the Toronado in SF) - it is one of the finest beers I have ever tasted. The Toronado also has a bunch of other delicious brews from several breweries (Lost Abbey, Port, Anchor, etc) that were made specifically for the anniversary (the big party was on Saturday).

Also, it may be too late, but if you are going to be in San Francisco it is worth trying to take a tour at the Anchor Brewery. I say it might be too late because you do need reservations to get on the daily 1pm tour. One of the best beer tours and the tasting session afterward is, of course, a real treat.

Another place you might want to check out in SF for a good beer selection is City Beer on Folsom Street (btw 7th and 8th). A pretty good, classic SF brew pub is also the Beach Chalet - they have excellent food, good and sometimes great brews, and it's located right by Ocean Beach.

Moylon's in Novato off of the 101, Rowland Blvd. off ramp, off Roland way near the cinemas. Great beer I like there Scotch style ale Kilt Lifter. I believe Laguntas is just north of Novato in Petaluma great beer also.

Jeff

Don't forget 21st Amendment and Magnolia in San Fran. Also 3rd street Ale works is also good in santa rosa and thats just a few blocks from russian river.

Dude -- Where do you even start? That is God's country when it comes to breweries. Lagunitas. Bear Republic. Marin Brewing. MOYLANS. Russian River. The list goes on . . . .

" Where do you even start? That is God's country when it comes to breweries " ..... Yeah maybe so but I bet I could point to about 9 different breweries (in the area) right here on TB that are 51x better... First off these 9 better breweries serve homebrew that makes em 51x better right there. 'nuf said...

huh?

Brant--

Spouse and I did the Napa trip a month ago-- Russian River is everything people say it is. Cozy brewpub with a stellar set of beers on tap. If you are traveling with a SO, you might want to take her to Greystone, the restaurant at the Cullinary Institute of America's west coast campus in St. Helena. (Yes, they have good beer on tap there.)

I'm a big fan of Russian River, located in Santa Clara I think.

Great place to end your day, start your day, or spend your day.

Enjoy!

If you go to one place, make it Russian River in Santa Rosa. Moylan's and Marin Brewing Company are on the way and are decent.

City Beer in S.F., on Folsom I believe, is an excellent place to sample and purchase a wide variety of high quality and often limited regional craft beers.

Russian River is in Santa Rosa. You might want to visit the Charles Schultz museum while you are there (in case you are a Peanuts fan). Russian River is definately worth the trip.

BTW-- My pick of the trip beer-wise was Gordon Biersch Marzen. It's on tap in a lot of places and very tasty. My gripe of the trip is that a lot of the California brewers finish their beers on the sweet side to balance all those hops they like to add. I prefer a well-finished beer (not a lot of residual sugar).

Im in SF this week for work....a few blocks from 21st A...went last night...food was gross...overly basil'd....the beer was ok....I stay'd away from the watermelon cause..well from one I think I would have felt like a weeney with a wedge of watermelon on my glass and two Ive had the stuff at the OBF....they make an amber like beer called Motor Oil that was ok...but hell where are the hops???

Gonna walk down to City Beer (about 5-6 blocks) away and try to score some Russian River.

Was thinking of going to Toronado and Magnolia up in the Haight tomorrow. Any others I should hit.....gotta stay in SF...unfortunately cant go up to the wine country.

City Beer has Temptation available again. Or at least it did last week.

Ya I was gonna walk there right when I was done with work...but they are closed today...so definitely tomorrow.

Sonoma has a cool little, or least they did about six years ago, wine and beer bottle market downtown on the square that had a few taps on of good shit and from what they said the largest original Absinthe poster collections. Also, recently read that one of the Gordon Biersch guys was opening something in Sonoma (I think) that sounded cool. If you can make it over to Berkley I really liked Jupiter and you can throw in Triple Rock for history sake.

Went down to City Beer last night. It was just OK...very smal inside...not too impressed with the selection....compared to home (Belmont Station and John's Marketplace)...but they were very friendly.....picked up a RR Damnation and a Stone Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout...both very good.