This site is intentionally limited in scope — all about transit, beer travel and logistics, with lots of reader feedback on the directions, but just a little bit of random blogging here on the side. We haven’t gotten into descriptions of specific beers, nor talked much about other beer sites to visit. So today we will break both of those rules of thumb. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Tasting the best of the Double IPAs - Photo by Gail Williams

Last weekend we had an excellent adventure at the incredible annual Double IPA Festival at The Bistro in Hayward. Along with the reliable hoppy delights of that event, we had the pleasure of running into old friends and meeting new ones, such as Jay Brooks, author of Brookston Beer Bulletin, which covers local and even some International beer community insider news. It’s a good read. Check it out!

Sunday we had an errand to run up in Sonoma County. While it is possible to get to Santa Rosa from San Francisco by Golden Gate Transit bus, our day necessitated driving. We built in time for one beer at the cheery brew pub of the amazing Russian River Brewing Company.

After having enjoyed tastes of both Pliny the Younger and the Elder, two classic and honored Russian River Double or better IPAs on the previous day at The Bistro, the opportunity for a glass of one of their Belgian style beers, such as Salvation, Damnation, Perdition and that lovely lot, sounded appealing. Lo and behold, they were serving their special Valentine’s Day beer: a black brew called Rejection.

Blackest Rejection, temporarily eclipsing a snap of Steve, my valentine - Photo by Gail Williams

“Um, could I have a taste of Rejection?” The cheerful bartender complied, without any wisecracks. It was deliciously roasty, with a lovely bouquet of little fruity spicy notes delivered courtesy of the Belgian yeast. So if you’re in Sonoma County today, and you feel like crying in some very good beer, or better yet, sharing it with somebody you love, get to Russian River for your share of Rejection.

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February in the San Francisco Bay Area. Cold rain. Winter, relatively speaking, but green grass is sprouting on the hills and yellow acacia trees are already in the throes of springtime. We have it easy in that regard. Still, the nights are long and the beer appreciator turns to thoughts of Strong Beer Month, festivals, food pairings, parties and special brews.

The master lists of special events with times and prices, etc, can be found at The Celebrator’s Beerapalooza page in combination with the Strong Beer Month page from 21st Amendment and Magnolia.

Once you choose from the events, come back here for some transit logistic links and hints:

All February long the Strong Beer Month festival features special beers (until they run out) at two fine San Francisco brewpubs: Here’s how to take BART and/or Muni to 21st Amendment and take Muni to Magnolia.

February 9: Double IPA: Take BART to The Bistro.

February 13: Beer and Cheese: BART then walk, cab or Muni bus to Rogue Ales Public House

February 15: Chocolate and Belgian Beer:
Cathedral Hill Hotel is near the corner of Geary and Van Ness, both major Muni bus system routes, or else take a medium cab ride from Powell Street BART

February 16–22: Barleywine Festival: Take BART/Muni bus to Toronado

February 17: Beerapalooza - Celebrator Beer News 20th Anniversary:
Oakland Convention Center/Marriott Hotel in downtown Oakland. Take BART as if to the Pacific Coast Brewing destination, come up to the street level and start walking down Broadway, then look to your right for the Marriott at 1001 Broadway. (You could even ask for friendly directions at the brewpub if you wander past the Marriott to Pacific Coast Brewing, but it’s pretty obvious!)

Last night we tried a double IPA and a strong Belgian style dark beer at 21st. Not to be missed, and the month has barely begun.

(Photo by Gail: candles ready to be set out onto tables at Magnolia’s)

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The rest of our 2008 San Diego beer tasting weekend commenced with a trip to Stone Brewing and their lovely upscale restaurant on the industrial premises. We had a totally lovely time there, savored an excellent lunch in an impressive setting, and sampled some fine brews. Like the first time we went there, we enjoyed the brewery tour. Stone is in a remote location, with no public transit possibilities, but is worth a visit.

Afterwards we visited Pizza Port in Carlsbad and Solana Beach, two pleasant beach communities. Port is known as one home to many of the great craft brews of San Diego county — and the world — but to local families it’s a big lively loud place to have a pizza and some beer. We revisited some favorites and tried some new concoctions. Fortunately Wipeout and Hop-15 are bottled and distributed, along with the Belgian-style brews under the Lost Abbey label, but each Port locale is still a special destination. Solana and Carlsbad are both on the coast commuter rail line, so there are transit options.

The third day we visited O’Brien’s Pub and Hamilton Tavern, two serious fine beer bars which were each a treat, both for the beer on draft and the conversations to be had with other avid beer fans. The San Diego Brewer’s Guild site is one way to identify destinations for a visit there. The craft brewing community there appears to be intelligent and mutually supportive. Their guild map is the best evidence, and a useful resource.

Just how good a beer town is San Diego?

This was the sight of the weekend for us: Walgreens Drugs on Garnet Avenue, a random stop for us to get some bottled water, revealed this collection:

(Photo by Gail)

That’s six packs from Ballast Point, Firestone Walker, Lagunitas, Alaskan, Stone and other west coast craft beers available when you stock up on sunscreen. Not quite what we picked up at the breweries we visited, but an awfully nice baseline collection. Yes, this is a beer town!

The challenge was how to get the bottles that we’d purchased home safely by air. After some angst based on other trips, we packed the bottles in molded styrofoam wine package inserts wrapped in plastic bags, then placed into
wheel-on luggage. We brought home some fine souvenirs to San Francisco without incident.

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Lately we took two trips. We packed a sixpack of this excellent craft IPA each time. 21st Amendment IPA is canned in San Francisco and can be bought out of the San Francisco brewpub. Yes, it’s canned. Several members of the American craft brewing community have exploited the fact that the light-weight and light-proof modern containers no longer add a metallic taste to beer. 21st is the San Francisco representative of this trend. The only issue we have with this canned IPA is that they don’t always have it in stock, and they may ration the sales to one sixpack per purchase. They also can a watermelon wheat beer for those who like a less bitter beach brew.

First we packed it up, checked the luggage and took it to Kauai, Hawai’i, where a good India Pale Ale on the beach is a rare treat. (This tasty beer is photographed here at dusk near a pleasant beach. We were posing the cans all over the place like travel gnomes, including at this undisclosed picnic location.) There are two local breweries on this island, but we preferred our fine canned IPA to either local offering, or what we saw in the stores there.

On the second jaunt we took a six pack of these cans to San Diego for a 3-day weekend. This may sound a little bit like lugging coals to Newcastle, since San Diego county is the undeclared IPA capital of the nation, but a can is a handy token of appreciation for fellow beer fans you may meet on the road in a place where there is plenty of great local IPA.

The first surprise was to learn at the last minute that our old HQ for San Diego beer travel, the Liars Club on Pacific Beach had closed. A pity for many reasons, in part because we had reserved a hotel within walking distance along the beach. This meant we’d be driving more, and drinking a little less over the weekend. The good news was that Liars Club was opening in Alpine, the small town where the tiny Alpine Brewing Company makes their lovely IPAs and other fine beers. We’d never made it out there. On the itinerary! Driving was just going to have to be part of the plan after all.

We decided to stop on the way at Alesmith, an amazing place which makes a whole series of huge and delicious beers. This is a great place to visit! It was convenient that we could split the samples, and that they’d do small sample pours anyway, since we still had two places to visit.

Alpine Brewing is wonderfully small and casual. The brewmaster and his family were pouring tastes and cracking jokes with their customers. They had three terrific IPAs to try, along with some other styles. Another great experience.

The new Liars Club is opening for real this coming weekend. We showed up during soft-launch, and it seemed very good and ready to go. The parking lot was full. People were happily eating and drinking. The brick and the dinner booths combine to give a homey Italian restaurant ambiance, a little different than the fine funky little old building by the beach! The familiar neon sign and the amazing taps behind the bar will make old fans of the Liars Club feel right at home. Looks like they’re back!

We’ll continue this account in a day or so, the next time I get a little time to recap this year’s San Diego explorations…

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The Trappist, photo by Gail.

It’s brand new and it’s worth a trip and then another one. Owners Aaron Porter and Chuck Stilphen have launched the latest destination bar in the Bay Area. They took the time to beautifully re-model a formally funky little space right off Broadway on 8th in Oakland that had been vacant for years, transforming it into an elegant, cozy little pub that honors fine brews and conversation.

You’ll find some additional details and BART instructions on our new The Trappist page, just added to Beer By BART. We took the train over to do a scouting trip Sunday afternoon and had a great time there. The intelligent service from bartenders who are knowledgeable about their beers and happy to tell you what they know is a key ingredient n the experience. Like City Beer in San Francisco, The Trappist is a place to both enjoy and learn about fine beer. It looks like short of a ticket to Brussels, this is the East Bay place to explore exactly what to love about Belgian beers.

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Now and then, you have to get beyond the urban area. Our little hobby of seeking out good beer by BART, Caltrain, busses and ferries is fun, but it can’t touch all the great California beer destinations.

This summer we got out of town to several events, including a mountain blues and brews festival, Bluesapalooza.

Every year in the ski village of Mammoth, California, the local brew pub throws a blues festival and beer tasting party designed to get the all best brewers in the state to come out for a mountain weekend. The public’s invited to come along for the festivities. While Mammoth is a destination that most people can’t get to without a car, one advantage of going a ski resort in the summer is that there are plenty of condos to rent at reasonable rates. We found a place that was within walking distance of the concert and tasting area, so everything was easy.

The 50 California breweries present included quite a few we know from Northern California plus some of our favorites from San Diego County such as Green Flash, along with plenty of brewers and offerings we’d never encountered before. Craftsman Brewing Company was a bold brewery from Pasadena, with an adventurous creative approach that brings the East Coast’s Dogfish Head to mind. They were pouring concoctions such as a flavorful “pre-prohibition” lager and a delicate lavender sour beer. EJ Phair, from near the Concord BART station, offered their new West Coast style IPA. Their standard IPA is a pleasant mild-mannered English-style brew, but we were pleased they’ve jumped into the hoppy end of the pool. The hosts, Mammoth Brewing, offered up a tasty bottle-conditioned strong Belgian-style brew with a festival label.

The music was first rate. Friday night’s logistics were a little disappointing, with only the Mammoth brewery’s beers available and with an organizational snafu that forced everyone to stand in one very long beer line. Saturday offered a full festival and concert format, and proved worth the journey.

A bonus for our group was that we all enjoyed tasting Rubicon and Brew It Up, both from Sacramento. This meant that two days later we were able to adjust our itinerary to have lunch at Brew It Up, and to check out their interesting business model: a big brewpub that’s set up for homebrewers to come in and brew/bottle their own beers on site, with support from fellow brewers and the staff.

A little earlier in the summer we planned a week around some Trinity Alps camping, outdoor Shakespeare in Ashland, Oregon and a drive through gorgeous Crater Lake National Park. We planned our route to allow us to try some delicious beers. Our goal was to pace the trip so our tasting stops were not at the beginning of long drives. We were delighted to get to the remarkable Etna Brewery in the remote little town of Etna, California, to Wild River Brewing in Grant’s Pass, Oregon, to Six Rivers (north of Eureka on the coast highway), and finally to good old Bear Republic and nearby Russian River Brewing, whose brews may often be found at some of our Beer By Bart favorites in San Francisco and the East Bay. Spending an evening tasting the latest wares at Russian River Brewing (then staying nearby in the city of Santa Rosa and driving home the next day) is a highly recommended experience for aficionados of great beer.

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“orbitting jupiter”, photo by fotogail.

Since we have been working on this modest project to make it easier to explore the best of the contemporary craft brewing revolution via mass transit in the San Francisco Bay Area, and making up our home page to include those little shoe ratings for how far the walk is once the train arrives, the question of “which is closest” became inevitable.

Jupiter is the clear winner in that department, since directly to the photographer’s right when snapping this picture is found one of the entrances to the main Berkeley station, a simple staircase leading underground.

Of course, the main entrance to the Berkeley station with the skylights and the escalators is all the way across Shattuck Avenue, behind the photographer and to her left. Even so, it is fewer steps than Ben n Nick’s Bar and Grill, which appears to come in second, across the street and then half a block from the Rockridge Station exit.

What about third? We’re probably going to have to do more field research with a pedometer, since googlemaps insists on giving driving, not walking mileages. Stay tuned…

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Lanesplitter beer list

After a little testing, some tasting. Racer Five in the cask at that lovely cool cellar temperature is pretty tempting. You can easily read the beer list in the (much) larger version of that image, from the pleasant Lanesplitter pizza pub in Oakland.

A week ago I scouted MacArthur BART, where we had two suggestions, both relatively far from the station. Both are great places, though Cato’s Alehouse on Piedmont Avenue may be far enough from BART via 40th or the longer route on MacArthur that a bus or cab back ought to be a planned part of the expedition.

It partly depends on your own urban street sense, but for me, walking alone at night has always seemed less advisable in urban areas where there are few shops, cafes or open businesses. So with that in mind, I’d say to do a daylight or twilight walk to one or both of these two fine places, and then return to BART by cab in time for the last trains, which start from the ends of the four lines at midnight and then wait at MacArthur for the last passenger transfer from each other at about 12:45.

So far as the map to Lanesplitter on Telegraph goes, it was not a tough one to test!

-Gail

Lanesplitter late afternoon

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BART’s good for more than commuting. This is shot in 24th Street station in San Francisco in the early evening, so maybe some of these people are on the way for great beers.

Amnesia is probably the most interesting local beer destination nearby. It’s a bar between 24th and 16th street stations, with great beers and often live music too… Adding them to the list!

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Rockridge is a perfect destination for a first Beer by BART foray. Ben and Nick’s is within a block of the escalator in one direction, and Barclay’s is within three blocks in the other. Both have excellent no-crap beer menus.

We made this tough choice last week on a cold evening. This time we chose the one with more taps, a little further away. As usual, Barclay’s had a plethora of good big rich real beers to choose from.

Advice, if you want a tip on a destination: Can’t really go wrong with Barclay’s, and Rockridge is close to the center of the BART system. So why not try this place on your first beer-by-BART expedition?

This was how we started the project of discovering and cataloging BART’s best craft beer bar and brewpub destinations…

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