Since Friday was the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition thanks to passage of the 21st amendment, I thought it only appropriate to have a little audience survey about brewpubs.
A brewpub is a bar and restaurant which makes beer on the premises. By that strict definition, there are a relative handful of these in the Bay Area. So people should be able to rate them and pick a favorite. Read the list below, pick your favorite, or add one I missed.
San Francisco
As far as I can tell, there are only five establishments which are actual brewpubs in San Francisco. Gordon Biersch's beer is made in Palo Alto, and Anchor Steam and Speakeasy (regrettably) do not run pubs. Amazing, isn't it?
- 21st Amendment, South Beach (SOMA)
- Magnolia Pub, Upper Haight
- Beach Chalet, Ocean Beach
- Thirsty Bear Brewing Co., Yerba Buena (SOMA)
- San Francisco Brewing Co., North Beach
Berkeley/Oakland
I'm less well-acquainted with the East Bay, and may be missing one or two, but it seems like Berkeley and Oakland have no more brewpubs than the City:
- Triple Rock Brewery, Downtown Berkeley
- Pyramid Brewery, Gilman Street, North Berkeley
- Pacific Coast Brewing Company, Downtown Oakland
- Jupiter, Downtown Berkeley
Rest of Bay Area
Here I really don't know the options. In fact, the only brewpub I'm familiar with is Gordon Biersch in Palo Alto. I'm sure there must be others, but Yelp doesn't really distinguish between actual brewpubs and places which just serve many beers. However, the excellent site Beer by BART does list a few:
- Marin Brewing Company, Larkspur
- Buffalo Bill's Brewery, Hayward
- E.J. Phair, Concord
- Steelhead Brewing Co., Burlingame
- Firehouse Grill and Brewery, Sunnyvale
Please Vote
Since I haven't been to all the brewpubs in the Bay Area, please vote from the above ... or add pubs I missed ... in the following categories:
- Best Beer
- Best Food
- Best Service
- Best Atmosphere
- Worst Beer
- Worst Food
When I have some votes in the comments, in a week or two I'll post my reviews of the SF and Berkeley/Oakland brewpubs and my opinion.