Pint Pleasures: Ten Breweries and Pubs in San Francisco and East Bay

CoffeeBeer >> Pint Pleasures >>San Francisco & East Bay 10

As another year is coming to a close, and I still have some breweries and pubs left from my California Bay Area visit in June, I thought I’d cover them all in one go. While I was staying at my friend Mistah Rick’s place in Oakland, we visited quite a few new places in the East Bay. On the afternoon that we drove up from Fresno, after having lunch and a pint in Livermore, we decided to stop for another pint in West Oakland.

Often called the Harlem of the West, this East Bay neighbourhood is significant for its African American history. Besides being where the Black Panthers had their first headquarters, West Oakland was also the setting of famous gigs by the likes of Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and Big Mama Thornton. After a period of hard times, the area has been rejuvenated with projects and art spaces promoting the history and culture of the community. And it’s also, of course, a perfect setting for breweries.

Our destination was Brix Factory. Started by John Gillooly and Michael Boals, who met at Drake’s Brewing in 2014, this small brewery, which produces a wide variety of creative styles, is primarily based on the philosophy that beer should just “fucking taste good". That sounded good enough for us.

While we were deciding on our pints, Rick chatted with Eric Ortega, the head brewery who is called the “human Swiss army knife", and I met Franny, a Corgi who regularly visits the taproom with her person. I ended up having a pint of Rogue Waves WCIPA (7.1%, Brix Factory, Oakland, California), a West Coast IPA with CTZ, NZH-101, and Mosaic hops. This brew was perfect in every way, dank and tropical. Oh my god, was it perfect! Rick went for a pint of Tripping Hazard Pils (3.8% ABV, Brix Factory). Described as a West Coast Pils, it’s hopped aggressively with El Dorado which is sourced from three different hops fields, and it also features flaked rice and Canadian pilsner malt, which gives it a bit of bright lemony citrus edge. It was a truly fine pilsner, like a perfect Czech gem, with that distinct suggestion of lemon. I was really having a lot of fun at this point. I mean, was I just really happy? Yeah, I suppose I was.

All of the beers on their menu were based on International Hazard signs, which I love anyway. In fact, I could easily have stayed here and cycled through all the dangers of daily life, watching out for the Blind Corner and the Rockfall Porter, working through the Uncontrolled Progress, experiencing Worlds Collide, and even dodging Falling Fruit, which could be dangerous if you’re talking about whole watermelons.

Before we left I bought a t-shirt. And that was for me, not a souvenir for anybody else. I shall be proud to wear it.

Besides beer, Brix Factory also sells soft drinks and packaged snacks, and they’re very dog friendly, as evidenced by Franny. They have outdoor seating and often host special events like pop-up markets.

A couple of afternoons later, after a day filled with cemetery prowling, meeting a two-headed snake, and lunch with an old friend of mine, Rick and I decided to visit the site of a place at which we had sampled beers ten years earlier. Novel Brewing, which inspired me to compose a short story on a beer mat, has since closed, but in its place is the Tenma Beer Project, an equally inspiring venture.

We sat at the bar and decided to go for their 12-ounce pours. Mine was the Infinite Self-Mosaic WCIPA (6.6% ABV, Tenma Beer Project), brewed with Mosaic, Mosaic Cryo, and Mosaic Dynaboost hops, so that’s a whole lotta Mosaic there. I could feel my infinite self flowing out, my two-name six-coloured-hair bicultural binational cat/dog/ibex identity massaged by the cool hops on my palate.

Rick went for Pulsewidth Modulation WCIPA (6.8% ABV, Tenma), brewed with Citra, Mosaic, and Krush hops. These were two great beers, both with that OOMPH! dose of Mosaic. Apparently Dynaboost is a flowable hops extract from Yakima Chief which is more concentrated than hops pellets, so there is reduced process loss. And now I know that fact, and so do you. And Krush hops offer an intense tropical aroma which imparts a mixture of mango, guava, and citrus, with notes of peach and resin. To me this was all good news. As we were thoroughly enjoying our beers, the man sitting next to me suddenly said “I’d like to try the meandering reality." Now, there was a man after my own heart!

As we sat and sipped we pondered the name of Rick’s beer. Is pulsewidth modulation another name for a phase shifter? I mean, Rick is a guitar and pedal steel player, so I know he’s shifted his phase many times. He thought he might be thinking of a chorus effect, but as a keyboard player I know that a chorus slightly shifts the tuning of a chord. Whatever, it was an exciting beer to taste, and probably equally exciting to listen to, if we could only figure out how to connect the glass by Bluetooth to our phones.

Our curiosity unsated, we chatted for a bit with Dana Martindale, one of the founders and brewers, about the beer names. She was full of information about the beers, the names, and the brewing processes, and she pointed out the list on the wall of upcoming beers. I really wished that the Day You Deserve WCIPA had already been on tap, because, well, I think I deserved it.

By that time it was 4pm and the place was buzzing with five different conversations, all about beer, hops, and brewing. So we were happily surrounded by beer nerds. And I realised that Dana was then talking to a customer about nail gels, so she’s obviously a woman of many hats. Rick and I were having so much fun we decided to finish with tasters of a couple of the pilsners. Mine was the Back Before Sunset West Coast Pils (5.4% ABV), brewed with Mosaic, El Dorado, and Crush hops. I was getting an aura of slightly sweaty armpits circularly caressing the Oomph! Mosaic with a bit of fruit softening from the Crush. Rick’s taster was Variable Solution German Style Pils (5.0% ABV), with German Hallertau Mittlefrush, Saphir, and Sterling hops. It was definitely a German style pils. I think my second cousin Jesse, who lived in Munich for a while, would like this one.

Similar to Brix Factory, Tenma’s intention is to expand the human experience of flavour with “unctuous" ales and sessionable lagers. Along with Dana, this creative brewing is a collaboration with Brennam Perry and Debbie Tenma. There is no outdoor seating or food served, but well behaved dogs and children are welcome, and customers are invited to bring in food from outside.

In 2024, when Rick told me that the Monk’s Kettle in San Francisco had closed, we both felt the loss of yet another good beer tap and restaurant. But fortunately they re-opened in a new location in Oakland. So one night, at the end of another long day exploring venues and sights in the East Bay, Rick and I stopped into the new location of Monk’s Kettle for a nightcap. We sat at the bar and both had pints of Smooth Jazz Berry BA Sour with Raspberries (6.0% ABV, Crooked Stave Brewing Company, Denver, Colorado), a sour ale aged in oak with raspberries & vanilla. Seeing as how we’d both experienced the unique ecstasy of blueberry and vanilla sours, It just seemed like a good way to cap off the day. And it certainly was.

Like their old SF location, this Monk’s Kettle also offers upscale pub food using local seasonal ingredients, and the beers are all served at their perfect temperatures and in their proper glasses. So we’ll definitely have to return here, perhaps for a meal, on my next Bay Area visit.

A couple of weeks earlier when I was visiting my sibling group in Bakersfield, my adopted brother Kim and I experienced a couple of excellent cans of beers from Almanac Brewing in Alameda, so I suggested that Rick and I should try out the actual brewery. As we drove over to Alameda, Rick told me that the only reason he hadn’t visited before now is because of the name: Almanac Adventureland. We parked the car across from the long continuous strip of breweries, and we paused for a moment as we watched the large, bustling venue on the corner, wondering if we were really going to find anything decent to drink at a place that genuinely looked like an amusement park. But we decided to risk it.

The front beer garden was quite expansive and packed with families with screaming children hurtling around. Somehow we managed to find our way inside, where we found two giant rooms, with probably more hidden behind the bar, where all the rides and most of the games must be located. There were several queues, but we quickly figured out which queue was for the beer. In the interest of my previous experience of the two cans Kim and I had, I decided on a 10-ounce glass of Seaside West Coast IPA (6.7%), dry-hopped with Nelson and Mosaic, and Rick had the same amount of Love Hazy IPA (6.1% ABV), double dry hopped with Mosaic, Citra, and Sabro and also including Pilsner malt and rolled oats. We took our beers and headed down the front corridor to the room on the left, which appeared to be a very plain room for adult drinkers only. We took a seat at a table adorned with an empty bottle that said “Farm to Barrel Almanac Barrel Aged in Oak", and out of which projected leaves of some sort--no blooms, just leaves. At that point we both agreed that this was a really weird place.

Apparently Almanac’s intention with their Adventureland is to provide “the ultimate family-friendly gathering space where unforgettable memories are made." According to their website, their mission is to have every guest leave happier than when they arrived, whether having a beer and a pizza or spending the entire day with one’s kids. Along with beer taps, food, and some pinball and arcade games, the place also offers sandboxes, pro wrestling nights, and movie nights. Okay, I guess it’s sort of like Disneyland with craft beer. I began to wonder if the rides were in some other room.

When we finished our beers and walked back out, fortunately there were quite a few dogs romping about to dilute the crowds of sprogs., which brought us back to our senses. I mean, you wouldn’t see any dogs at Disneyland, would you?

Fortunately Almanac also have the West Oakland Clubhouse on 18th Street. Maybe we’ll check that out next time.

Another San Francisco brewery that Rick and I had visited eight years earlier has also opened new East Bay locations. So on the last full day I was there, after having a busy morning with coffees and walks and beers, we decided to have a late lunch at the Cellarmaker in West Berkeley. This one, called Cellarmaker House of Pizza, is located in a huge industrial space with a long car park outside. As we walked to the indoor space we passed the big beer garden to one side, and inside we could see not only the brewing vats but also a photo booth. At least there were no sandboxes… As this was our first beer stop of a long day, we decided to share two 10-ounce glasses. The first was Absolutely Fantastic West Coast IPA (7.0% ABV, Cellarmaker Brewing, San Francisco, California). A collaboration with Kern River Brewing, this was hopped with Citra, Amarillo, Simcoe, and Cascade, and it was a truly fine IPA. Our other glass was I’m In Your Mind West Coast IPA (7.0% ABV, Cellarmaker), hopped with Eclipse, Galaxy, Nectar, and Nelson Sauvin, making it another excellent IPA, this one with that Whoo-wee! effect on the palate. For lunch we shared a “bar pie" (read pizza) of Margheritaish, made with heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, Stracciatella cheese, and 12-year-old balsamic vinegar. It was really yummy as well, and it had been cut into random pieces so one could not only enjoy the juxtaposition of different geometric shapes but also have a choice of just how much one wanted to eat. The sounds emanating from the sound system were mostly Beatles tunes while we were there as well: mostly Beatles tunes. Perhaps that’s the normal Saturday early afternoon soundtrack, or perhaps it was related to the private party which was already in full gear in the beer garden. Whatever, it was a perfect accompaniment to our slightly psychedelic beers and pizza.

Cellarmaker also has a new location in Oakland, and they’re constantly experimenting with new beers using different hops, barrels, and yeasts. So I guess again, we should check out the Oakland venue on my next visit. The excitement never ends.

Earlier that day, after our first coffee and a nice walk, we stopped into a really tiny microbrewery called Ocean View for our first beer of the day. (I was excited about visiting here, because earlier in my trip I spent a few days with my cousins in Ocean View, Hawaii.) We were the only customers in the place, which was probably an advantage considering its size. We first went for tastes of Rusty’s Red (5.2% ABV), an Irish Red Ale using Admiral Maltings malt. It was a very tasty red, I must say. But largely because we just couldn’t resist the name, we both went for half pints of Luuuke, I Am Your Porter (4.9% ABV). It was actually a very fine porter, nice and dry and thick enough in character without being overpowered by malt. That was probably because of the Admiral Maltings, created in small batches just over in Alameda--so, as they say in England, well done! And whoever brewed this obviously used The Force.

As we sipped we chatted with the barman, Phil, who told us the Luke referred to in the beer we were drinking is the head brewery who happens to be a scientist, and Phil helped brew this particular beer. Phil also gave us a taste of Sailin’ On Hazy IPA (6.5% ABV), which wasn’t really hazy. But as it was brewed with Idaho Gem, Mosaic, and El Dorado hops, it had that scent of Mosaic and was a very good IPA.

Having opened about eight years earlier, Ocean View Brewing is owned by Scott and Vonnie Davidson, and the owner of the building is Vonnie’s mom Carrie, so it’s definitely a family brewery which creates small-batch beers in the tiny connected brewery. The name of the brewery is not in reference to my cousin’s home in Hawaii; it’s because Ocean View was the original name of Albany after the city became independent from Berkeley in the early 20th century. Their own Little Kitchen next door is open in the afternoons on Thursdays to Sundays, but they always have homemade Chex Party Mix available as a snack. (I wonder if it’s as good as my mom’s was…)

From Ocean View we walked on to another brewpub with multiple locations. The Albany location of Headlands Brewing is their Berkeley Beer Garden, located in the city’s creative quarter and just below the BART tracks for the Orange and Red Lines. This is another place that offers 10-ounce glasses, so that’s a proper Imperial half pint. This time I went for the Alcatraz IPA (6.5% ABV), hopped with Azacca, El Dorado, Sabro, Simcoe, and Citra hops, and with Pilsner malt. There was a lot going on there in its tropical-pine mix. It was a proper West Coast IPA. Rick's choice was Devil’s Thicket Hazy IPA (6.66% ABV). This was an ode to Mt Diablo, the East Bay peak steeped in local folklore. It was a really good hazy with tropical and citrus tones, very aromatic, tropical fruit but not thick like a smoothie, which was a relief. (Personally I was getting tired of smoothie-like hazy beers.) It was hopped with El Dorado, Mosaic, Simcoe, Cryo, Sultan, and Galaxy hops, so no wonder it tasted so vibrantly good.

The garden was really big, with several sections, and on this Saturday morning it was full of people, with plenty of babies in the Child-Friendly section, and plenty of dogs in the Dog-Friendly section. The actual brewery is at their Lafayette location.

The only problem with this place was the music; it was that crap dance beat shit which was way too loud. But we moved over to the outermost garden section we could find, where we still had a good view of the Richmond line of BART. And oh, finally, the music improved, with “The Kiss" by Prince. So we just arrived in a bad patch of the playlist.

Headlands Brewing was started by two home brewers who met on a boat headed to the Farallon Islands, where they had planned to swim the 30 miles back to the Point Bonita lighthouse. Fortunately they survived the sharks and opened a brewery, producing beers that would honour the challenging ruggedness of the region. I suppose that’s sort of the style of their beer gardens, surrounded by the elements and warmed with firepits, but with good beer and food available. And regular overhead trains, as in this Albany location.

On the Friday of my visit, Rick and I took the ferry over to San Francisco for the day, where in the late afternoon we decided to walk to the Mission District to visit Standard Deviant Brewing. On our way to the brewery we passed, on the corner of 14th and Mission, an interesting-looking old building with weird bricks and a gorgeous arched roof. This was the now-closed San Francisco Armory, which was formerly a National Guard armoury which closed in the late 1930s and became a boxing venue. It was unused for two or three decades.

When we walked into the brewery, we found ourselves in a really nice, friendly space, with wooden picnic tables everywhere, and some tall tables with stools, which I always prefer, as well as shuffleboard games on the side. Brewing barrels were racked on one wall, and the other walls featured big screens airing a baseball game. Above us were big orange and white pennants hanging across the ceiling, and there were more tables out front.

Rick and I decided to go for a three-beer flight. The first was Hop On Muni IPA (6.5% ABV, Standard Deviant), with really nice hops and a distinct umami flavour. The second was their Saison (7.1% ABV), which was smoothly fruity like pears. And the third was Comet Pale Ale (5.6% ABV), a very nice, easy drinking copper pale. While we relaxed and enjoyed our soothing flight, we listened to the two women next to us who were talking Italian, or so we thought. Or at least my Google Translate app thought so--although it also thought they were talking about their mamma and cabbage. So who really knows?

Standard Deviant focuses on brewing diverse beer types, and they claim to serve the coldest tasting beers in the city. The brewpub is dog-friendly, and they have another location on Pier 70. The name refers to co-owner Paul Duatschek's background in math and science, and it also references the fact that the brewery occasionally deviates from the classic styles it normally produces in order to invent brand new styles. On their website they offer the Forever Deviant Program, where a one time mega-purchase will lock in pint pricing for life at both taprooms--and also an invitation to the annual members party hosted by the brewery. So it sounds like that could be a good thing to look into for beer lovers who live in San Francisco.

On the final day of both my Bay Area visit and this year’s USA trip, Rick drove me to the airport via the San Francisco neighbourhood of Dogpatch, where we stopped for a bite of lunch. And then we walked around the corner to Olfactory Brewing Company to have our final pint together. It was only noon and the place was very quiet, and the barman seemed a bit preoccupied. We took seats at the bar and attempted to decipher the beer signs which were scrawled in a mixture of bright chalky colours on a black background. We first had a taste of the See The Forest West Coast IPA (7.5% ABV), brewed with an appealingly dank mixture of Simcoe, Mosaic, and Chinook hops. But we both decided that the ABV was a bit too strong for this time of day. After another taste, this time of the Tmave Time! Czech Dark (4.3% ABV), we both opted for pints of the other Czech pilsner, Polotmavy Czech Amber (4.5% ABV). As we sipped our pints, I nearly felt like I was saying farewell to the breweries of Eastern Europe rather than those of Northern California.

Before we left, I walked through the side room to find the toilets. And I was pleased to see the brewing vats mixed in with old video games. There was even an old tabletop Pacman, which would have been fun to have a game on if we'd had enough time. But alas, I had a flight to catch.

Olfactory’s aim in brewing is to create good beers inspired by traditional and new age techniques. As seemed to be the case with most of our brewery visits on this trip, they have another location in downtown Berkeley where they offer German-style sandwiches and snacks as well. But outside food is welcome at the Dogpatch location, as are dogs and kids.

We moved on to San Francisco International Airport, where Rick and I said goodbye until next year. After a speedy check-in, I still had plenty of time for a final US pint before my flight boarded. Rick had told me about the Drake’s tap somewhere in Terminal 1, and after some searching (while enjoying the public art along the way), I finally found Drake’s Flyaway by Gate B20. I took the only seat left at the bar and ordered an Imperial pint of 1500 Pale Ale (5.5% ABV, Drake’s Brewery, San Leandro, California), which was dry hopped with Amarillo and Simcoe. The man sitting next to me, who informed me he was from Dallas, started talking to me, unfortunately. He was very negative about everything he talked about, including flying, Dallas, travel, checking bags, this airport, any airport… So I ended up slightly hurrying through this particular pint which was quite nice, as I remember, just so I could get away. Ah well, at least I had my phone to distract me and give me an excuse for not listening avidly to all of his complaints.

While I was waiting for my group to board, I decided to see if I could find out what the 1500 in the beer’s name signified. Apparently it was created when the brewery was approaching their 1500th batch, and they wanted to produce a beer with less of a malt character and plenty of late addition American hops. Using Simcoe, Cascade, Amarillo and Warrior hops, then more of the Simcoe and Amarillo for dry hopping, this was definitely a beer I could have enjoyed more had I been left to my own positive thoughts. Besides, I enjoy flying, as I was just about to do for the last time on this trip. And next year, if the world isn’t completely destroyed, I’ll likely do it all over again.