Fans of artisanal beer, beware! It’s the ideal time to sample some amazing new draughts right from the barrel because your favorite neighborhood hangouts have been brewing up a storm. California is a craft beer destination, and we’re fortunate to reside close to the facilities that produce some of the state’s top IPAs, lagers, ciders, and other brews. So, here are the Best Breweries in San Francisco!
Overall, there are a lot of breweries and beers available, so it will take a lot of “effort” to sample even a small portion of them. But where better to dig in and get started than in San Francisco, which has about 30 breweries, we are fortunate enough to name our neighborhood favorites.
Park Chalet Garden Restaurant
The spacious dog-friendly grass at Park Chalet, where live music is frequently performed, maybe its main draw, but the hand-crafted ales and lagers are all more than enough of a reason to go to the beach. There is something for practically every type of beer drinker among the fairly conventional brews, which include honey wheat, West Coast IPA, Kolsch, etc. The beers are only available here, but you may take them home in a growler.
Of course, you can also find them at Beach Chalet, the restaurant that inspired the name of the beer, but insiders know that Beach Chalet is for tourists and Park Chalet is for the rest of us.
Cellarmaker Brewing Company
Without a doubt, Cellarmaker is San Francisco’s most well-known brewery, and not just because of their fantastic flagship brew. In fact, the reverse is true. Cellarmaker’s founders and brewers say they wouldn’t enjoy brewing the same few beers repeatedly, therefore they instead frequently brew small batches of novel brews. Although you can’t always expect to find the beer you enjoyed the last time you visited, you can bank on three to four of the taps to be pouring some of the hoppiest IPAs you’ve ever had. The cozy tasting area has 12 beers on tap.
Advice: 1. If you want to take some beer home, bring your growler. 2. There are nine beers on tap at Cellarmaker House of Pizza in the Mission, where you can get some of the greatest Detroit-style pizza in San Francisco to go with your beer.
Black Hammer Brewing
Black Hammer Brewing is the place to go if you enjoy obsessing over beer. Two individuals who were chemical engineers and award-winning home brewers created the beer, and they both liked Burning Man enough to make a veiled allusion to its site in the name of their brewery. Together, they use a combination of conventional techniques and scientific research to produce a wide range of ales and lagers.
With 12 fermenters and a garage-style door that rolls up for fresh air and sunlight, the brewery doubles as a terrific place to work from. The beers are rotated daily when inspiration strikes. Black Hammer is also responsible for the Castro’s beer garden and sausage haus Willkommen, despite not being a brewery.
Anchor Brewing Company
The fact that Sapporo acquired this venerable brewery, which produced the first craft beer in America, in 2017 shows that it is still—and always will be—a beloved staple of the San Francisco beer scene. It has been operating for more than 125 years. Public Taps (an indoor/outdoor location across the street from the brewery), where you can purchase beers specifically produced for the space. It is where you should go if you want to consume your beer without spending an hour learning about it first. Try some of those for sure, but don’t be afraid to also order the traditional Anchor Steam Beer.
Yes, we are aware that almost every grocery shop in the Bay Area sells it but fresh from the keg, it tastes even better.
Fort Point Beer Co.
In 2014, Fort Point entered the San Francisco beer scene and quickly gained fame. Its approachability is the key to its accomplishment. Like that thoughtful, sensible, and approachable high school student who is genuinely pleasant to everyone. The primary brewery is housed in a historic Crissy Field structure that formerly served as an Army motor pool but cannot provide food or drink to the general public.
However, you can still enjoy the beer at Fort Point’s premier beer hall in the Mission. Which has 20 taps, 10 of which are guest taps, and a food menu that focuses on SF-style seafood. Including Dungeness Crab Rolls and Cioppino, and loads of space, including dog-friendly outside tables. After your weekend farmers market shopping, do you feel like a beer? The Ferry Building also houses a quaint Fort Point kiosk.
Standard Deviant Brewing
Look no further than this relaxed brewery located in a former auto body shop on 14th Street. If you’re looking for “a great place to smash a few cold ones.” Here, you’ll find a wide variety of rotating beers. Including tart Saisons, crisp Mexican-style lagers, and West Coast IPAs that are all served ice cold. This is the place to go if you truly want your beer chilled. On the weekends, there is additional shuffleboard and cuisine from nearby eateries and food trucks.
Barebottle Brewing Company
Since this large taproom is kid-friendly and features games that people of all ages will enjoy. Such as shuffleboard, ping pong, pinball, and more. Barebottle is very likely already as much a part of your vocabulary as the names and jobs of all the Paw Patrol pups if you have kids and prefer hazy IPAs. The area feels particularly vibrant on the weekends when it’s full of both people and dogs because dogs are permitted as well. You can also bring your own food. But if you’d rather not, there’s always a food truck or pop-up serving you great bites. In terms of what to eat, a tasting flight is a great place to start.
Seven Stills
One of our favorite places in the city is Seven Stills (a play on the seven hills of San Francisco). Which produces craft beer and craft whiskey that is distilled from craft beer. The best thing to do is compare the flavors of a beer and the whiskey produced from it. Which you can do at the expansive main facility where the magic happens. They also make vodka, gin, and canned cocktails.
You can find wonderful meals, 20 beers on tap, and a full bar. Also a billiards area, a beer garden, and guided tours and tastings at that enormous location. If you reside on the opposite side of the city, the Outer Sunset taproom is undoubtedly basic in comparison. But it still serves street tacos, three guest taps, and five taps of Seven Stills beer (plus flights).
