Ahem. While there are fine beers in California, head north to Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver for more and better. Portland is regarded as America’s craft-beer capital. Enjoy joining the debate as to whether the Pacific-Northwest approach of ever-more-heroically-hopped IPAs is glorious or an abuse of the brewmaster’s art. To have an educated opinion you’ll have to try LOTS of different beers.
On Sat, Sep 27, 2014 at 1:05 AM, Thejaswi Udupa <[email protected]> wrote: > A lot of people have covered the "food" aspect of your request, so I shall > talk about the drinks :) > > California is pretty much the craft beer capital of the world, and almost > every place has a wide variety of brews on tap. A lot of great IPAs and > DIPAs. Even the bottled ones are great. Lagunitas is my staple when I'm > there, widely available and never disappointing. > > Some of my favourite places for beer include - > > - OG (Original Gravity) in San Jose downtown > - Magnolia at Haight and Masonic in San Francisco. One of the few places > that regularly has gruit ale on tap. There's also a very nice rare records > and books store right opposite. > - Good Karma in San Jose downtown. It's a vegan cafe, and probably the last > place you'd expect great beer. But they always have one of the best > selections on tap anywhere in the Bay Area. > > If you like the buzz of places with big crowds and much beer, try places > like Tied House, Steins (both Mountain View), Rock Bottom (Campbell), > Faultline (Sunnyvale), 21st Amendment (San Francisco). Gordon Biersch and > BJ's are also crowded, but exude a lot of big-chain vibes. > > Sunnyvale also has an excellent meadery, neatly hidden in an old industrial > area. Rabbit's Foot. Apart from some excellent mead, he also has a few > honey-flavoured beer on tap. > > Of course, do visit a Napa winery too. I wouldn't suggest winery-hopping as > some people do. Just pick one, and spend a lot of time there. Skip Robert > Mondavi and the likes as they are likely to be overflowing with tourists. > Try O'Brien Estate. > -- - Tim Bray (If you’d like to send me a private message, see https://keybase.io/timbray)
