West coast beer trip recommendations

San Diego — Abnormal, Pure Project, Modern Times, and Pizza Port for some classic hops.

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Are you driving?

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Yes, will be 3 of us taking turns driving. Should add I’m particularly interested in sours because those are my dad’s favorite.

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

De Garde, for sure. If you go through Bend, then Ale Apothecary should be on the list. Those two are the creme de la creme of wild ales in Oregon, IMO. You should look in bottle shops to see if you snag anything from those two breweries. They can be hard to find.

In Portland, Modern Times and Cascade are right next to each other, and both are great spots for sours. Cascade has almost exclusively sours, and Modern Times usually has a couple on tap. Loyal Legion Tap Room is also a block away from MT, and will have a dozen or more sours on tap. Ruse, Culmination, Great Notion, Upright, and Little Beast all have great sours.

A little east of Portland, and a beautiful drive is pFriem and Logsdon, both in Hood River. They both have great sours. PFriem has a spectacular location just steps from the Columbia River Gorge.

If you hit up De Garde in Tillamook, be sure to stop at Pelican Brewing in Pacific City. Absolutely spectacular location right on the beach.

I wish I was still up there to meet you for a beer.

BTW, driving up the coast is spectacular. Another option is to cut over towards Crater Lake and hit up Bend, Cove Palisades, and Smith Rock.

We did SF to Portland several years back.

Day 1 - Flew in to Oakland. I wanted to do Anchor, but flight times didn't work out, so I settled for an Anchor Steam on the wharf before hitting the road for Santa Rosa. I did my beer nerd required pilgrimage to the always great Russian River that evening.

Day 2: Started at Quintessa vineyard for a private tour and tasting that was hooked up by a good friend. Then to Healdsburg for lunch at Bear Republic Brewpub (very good food. Classic west coast brewery). From there it was a long haul to our spot for the night at the Benbow Inn, which is in the middle of fricking nowhere. Good restaurant at the hotel, but that's about it.

Day 3: Did a lot of morning hiking through the redwood stands in the Avenue of the Giants or whatever that highway is called. Made it Eureka for lunch at Lost Coast Brewing (Old school 90's brewery. Decent food and beer). We then hit up Redwood Curtain Brewing across the bay in Arcata. Nothing special, but a relative of a coworker worked there and hooked us up. That night we stayed at a B&B on the cliffs in Trinidad. One thing to note. We went in August, but damned if it wasn't 40-50 degrees on the coast. Take a jacket.

Day 4: Woke up and hiked up Fern Canyon (thanks to TD poster rutiger's recommendation). From there it was a drive up the coast and doing various sightseeing stops at beaches. We arrived in Eugene late afternoon. We had dinner at Falling Sky Brewery, which was the surprise brewery of the trip. I had never heard of it, but it was very good. We ended the night at some local beer bar to sample some more of the area's beer.

Day 5: Made it Portland and checked in to out tiny house hotel. Our first stop was Upright, which is worth a stop. It's located in a tiny basement and somehow he manages to pump out tons of beer in the small space. Very unique brewery. Then we went to Commons (RIP, which I think it's now Modern Times). It's the most architecturally interesting brewery I've been to. Beer was good, too. Then it was down the street to meet up with Jax at Cascade ( Jax, hope all is well). From there the night became a blur. I think we ended up at Base Camp Brewing. They had a campfire with a smore beer a nice spot to look out over the city. I recommend a stop here for last call.

Day 6: Headed up the gorge to do some sightseeing. There was a huge fire going on, so it was very smoky. Got back in to Portland that evening to hit up Apex bar and Beer Monger(rec from Jax). Walked around the corner to Baerlic Brewing (decent). Ended the night at some neighborhood joint by our house and I proceeded to have my dad school me and drink me under the table.

Day 7 - hungover flight back to Nashville.

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I think we ended up at Base Camp Brewing. They had a campfire with a smore beer a nice spot to look out over the city. I recommend a stop here for last call.

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Base Camp is no more, unfortunately. A victim of the Covid shutdowns. The brewery is up for sale, and hopefully another brewery opens up there. That is too cool of a spot to not be a brewery.

Base Camp Brewing was always one of those breweries I recommended with reservations. The beer was just okay, but the location was terrific. The views, the outdoor space with fire pits where you could roast s'mores, and the cool environment inside made up for the mediocre beer. Especially at night when you could view the Portland skyline across the river. Once Covid shut things down, there beer wasn't good enough to carry it. They made there money on the in-person experience.

Damn, I remember reading about Base Camp and that was on my list of places to go. Sad to hear it is no more.

Bottomland thanks for the rec in Eugene, will be sure to stop there. I’m almost as excited about the Redwoods and hiking as I am about the beer. Will have my dad with me as well and he can drink me under the table too.

I also struggle with a lot of sours in the same day but he can do it nonstop without an issue. He drank every flight at the Funkatorium and then kept going. It’s amazing.

I think it's Covid. If breweries are closed, there are plenty of world class taprooms. Loyal Legion, Belmont Station, Apex Bar, The Beermongers, etc.

Definitely going to try Pizza Port.

Last shameless bump to see if anyone has any other brewery suggestions for LA. Have Bottle Logic, Bruery, Monkish, and Cellador. Just wanted to make sure I’m not missing anything major.

Might add Brouwerij West to LA?

If I was continuing the ride north, I’d definitely hit Sante Adarius south of SF and Cellarmaker in SF, plus Moksa in Sacramento. Maybe Moonraker too.

If I could only choose one from SF/Sacramento, it would be a tough call between Moksa and Sante.