With so many high-quality breweries, taprooms and beer venues to choose from in Sonoma County, a beer lover can easily get overwhelmed. To help our fellow beer geeks out, we’ve decided to pick out a few of our favorite local spots – town by town. First out is Petaluma – click through the gallery for all the sudsy details.

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Harvest time in Wine Country has traditionally meant grape picking and winemaking but with the growing popularity of craft beers, hops are becoming our region’s “other” hot crop. As hop varieties and flavor profiles proliferate in beers, brewers have begun to follow the lead of grape vintners and wine bottlers before them by planting their own hop farms to gain more control of their ingredients and finished products. And it’s no surprise that some of the brewers who are taking hop harvesting the most seriously are those who started with grapes. Here are nine Sonoma brewers who swapped wine for beer.

Barrel Brothers Brewing Company, Windsor: Wesley Deal and Daniel Weber
Brothers-in-law Wesley Deal and Daniel Weber both previously worked in wine. Deal worked as assistant winemaker for two years at a winery in Healdsburg before becoming inspired by his father-in-law’s love for home-brewing. He then decided to study brewing science at U.C Davis. Weber worked in sales and marketing in the wine industry and took an equal liking to the beer world when likewise inspired by the same father-in-law, Tom Sather.

Deal’s and Weber’s love for the brewing craft led them to take their hobby to the next level when they opened Barrel Brothers Brewing Company in Windsor. Recently they have begun working with fellow brewer Steve Doty of Shady Oak Barrel House to bring the characteristics of the Sonoma terroir to beer. On their two acre hop farm north of Windsor, the partners plan to create a spontaneously fermented lambic series to share with local beer lovers and travelers alike.

Barrel Brother’s Brewing, 399 Business Park Ct, #506, Windsor 95492, 707-696-9487, barrelbrothersbrewing.com, @BarrelBrothersBrewing

Carneros Brewing Company, Sonoma: Armando, Jesus and Pedro Ceja
Brothers Armando, Pedro and Jesus Ceja grew up in Napa Valley working for their father in the vineyards and learning the wine trade. After paying homage to their father by building a successful winery, the brothers are now tapping into beer at their Sonoma Valley microbrewery Carneros Brewing Company, located near the Ceja Family Vineyards. Head-brewmaster Jesus Ceja graduated from the brewery science program at U.C Davis, and previously worked at Coors in Golden, Colorado, AB-inBev, and Red Star Yeast Company.

The brothers have planted their own hops on the brewery property so that they can obtain nothing but the best ingredients for their beers. Guests of the brewery can enjoy views of Carneros Valley, picnic in the beer garden by the pond and sip on handcrafted ice cold beers.

Carneros Brewing, 22985 Burndale Road, Sonoma, CA 95476, 707-938-1880, carnerosbrewing.com @CarnerosBrewing

Fogbelt Brewing Company, Santa Rosa: Paul Hawley and Remy Martin
Co-owners and co-brewers Remy Martin and Paul Hawley grew up working in the wine business – Martin worked grape harvests in California and abroad; Hawley worked at his family’s winery, Hawley Wines in Dry Creek Valley. The two began brewing together during a trip to New Zealand’s wine country, where they were working the harvest. Martin then studied brewing at U.C Davis while Hawley continued to work at his family’s winery.

Four years ago, just before opening Fogbelt Brewing, Hawley planted a quarter acre of hops on his family vineyard in Healdsburg. With farming in his blood, he knew this was the best way to both understand and control the quality and variety of hops for the brewery. Fogbelt Brewing now hosts the “Wet Hop Fest,” an event that features beers brewed with locally harvested hops.

Hawley continues to help out at the family winery. He is constantly reminded that the two industries, wine and beer, have different challenges, “With wine, the main production period is once a year during harvest. With beer, we are always in production-mode, allowing for more experimentation and perfecting of the process and beers, but a lot more scrubbing tanks. After a while, brewing twice a day, you wish you could just have a couple months of heavy production and make enough to last a year. Beer has a shelf life though and wine just gets better with age. I love making barrel-aged sour beers because it feels more like wine-making than brewing…”

Fogbelt Brewing, 1305 Cleveland Ave, Santa Rosa 95401, (707) 978-3400, fogbeltbrewing.com, @FogbeltBrewing

Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa: Vinnie Cilurzo
Russian River Brewing Company co-owner, brewmaster and Pliny creator Vinnie Cilurzo grew up in Temecula, CA, working in the barrel room at his family’s winery, Cilurzo Family Cellars. After realizing he had more passion for hops than grapes, Cilurzo made the leap to beer and, after acquiring investors, opened Blind Pig Brewing in Temecula, in 1994. It was at this time that he perfected the original recipe for what was to become the famous Blind Pig IPA.

Cilurzo then moved to Northern California where he became head brewer at Korbel Cellars’s Russian River Brewing Company. When Korbel bowed out of the brewing business, Cilurzo accepted rights to the Russian River Brewing Company (RRBC) name and all of the recipes in lieu of a severance package. In 2004, Vinnie and his wife Natalie opened the RRBC brewpub on 4th Street in downtown Santa Rosa. Natalie, who left a job in the wine industry after the pub’s opening, now oversees the business side of the brewery and brewpub while Vinnie oversees brewing and distribution. A new brewery in Windsor is slated to open in the fall of 2018.

Russian River Brewing Co., 725 4th St, Santa Rosa, CA 95404, (707) 545-2337, russianriverbrewing.com, @RussianRiverOfficial

Seismic Brewing Company, Santa Rosa: Christopher Jackson
Christopher Jackson, son of philanthropist Barbara Banke and the late Jess Jackson (founder of Kendall Jackson), has adopted his parents’s love for a grape-to-glass approach in wine and applied the concept to his grain-to-glass philosophy at Seismic Brewing.

In partnership with friends Patrick Delves and Andy Hooper, Jackson’s dream to build a sustainable brewery, operating on a clean and green scale to produce the highest quality beers, has come to fruition. Jackson’s custom-brew house is built with energy efficiency and a “clean to can” approach. The brewery emphasizes the three “P’s” of sustainability: “people” (by paying and treating employees fairly while providing a healthy work environment), “planet” (by maximizing energy and water efficiency), and “prosperity” (by adopting a policy to partner with the community and local businesses). While the brewery does not currently have a taproom, Seismic beers can be found on draft at Confluence Taproom in Santa Rosa, Brewsters Beer Garden in Petaluma, and other establishments throughout the Bay Area.

Seismic Brewing, 2870 Duke Court, Santa Rosa, California, CA 95407, 707-230-5014, seismicbrewingco.com, @SeismicBrewingCo

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Okay, so we all know the joke about sidewalks rolling up at 9p.m. in much of Sonoma County, but one more spot is now staying open until midnight for you night owls.

Brewsters Beer Garden has announced a weekend menu available from 10p.m. to midnight that includes a hearty burger, chicken sandwich, hot wings, grilled corn and a trio of cocktails including a strawberry margarita and “Balls of Fire” cinnamon whiskey. 

But here’s what really spoke to our inner inebriate in search of sustenance: Poutine. Fries, brown gravy, garlic thyme sausage, Wm. Cofield cheese curds and parmesan. If you’re not familiar with Cofield cheeses, they’re the British cheesemongers that recently moved into the Barlow. The Cofield gents are in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their Sonoma County cheese making, currently, so if you’re all about the cheddar, look them up

The Cofield gents are in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their Sonoma County cheese making, currently, so if you’re all about the cheddar, look them up at Kickstarter and donate.

Want more late night eats? Click here for another 24 spots open past 9p.m.

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For as long as people have been drinking beer and wine, beer has been regarded the inferior beverage. Wine is “classy,” it takes time to craft and age, a refined palate to appreciate, and is often paired with fine food. Beer is less expensive, often comes in a can, and you can find it anywhere. But, with craft beer now taking the center stage – even in Wine Country – many connoisseurs are heading out to explore hoppy drinks. However, there are still a few wine lovers who aren’t quite ready to make the leap to beer – it’s not fruity or oaky enough, it’s too bitter. If you happen to be one of those people, we’re here to change your mind. Click through the gallery above for five Sonoma breweries that will leave wine lovers begging for more. 

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For the past 15 years, the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) has polled readers of Zymurgy magazine (a publication by AHA) to compile the annual cult list “Best Beers in America.” For the last eight of those fifteen years, Pliny the Elder from Santa Rosa’s Russian River Brewing Company (RRBC) has been voted the number one beer in America.

This year, however, a Michigan beer has managed to impress the 4,000 voters enough to knock Pliny into second place. Two Hearted Ale from Bell’s Brewery in Galesburg, MI, took the top spot on AHA’s 2017 list. The Michigan brew had been voted the number two brew for the last two years and, this year, Bell’s Brewery also made the number five spot with Hopslam, a triple IPA that is now available in cans.

Bell’s founder Larry Bell started as a homebrewer in the 1970’s in the Michigan town of Kalamazoo. In 2001, the company expanded and built a new brewery and larger production facility in Comstock, MI. Since then, the brewery has increased distribution, including California in 2015, making Bell’s beers readily available to beer drinkers across the U.S.

Russian River brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo first brewed Pliny the Elder in 2000, for the first double IPA festival in Hayward, CA. The beer, brewed with Amarillo, Centennial, CTZ and Simcoe Hops, is named after Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher Pliny the Elder – the uncle of Pliny the Younger). The beer is sold at the Santa Rosa brewpub, both on draft and by the bottle and is produced in limited quantities. Because of the limited production, the beer is only available for purchase in select states and cities including California, Philadelphia, PA, Colorado and Oregon. Pliny the Elder is smooth, clean and well balanced with floral aromas and notes of pine and citrus.

Here are the top 10 beers in America, according to AHA (the “T” indicates a tie):

1. Bell’s Two Hearted Ale (Comstock, MI)
2. Russian River Pliny the Elder (Santa Rosa, CA)
3. Founders Breakfast Stout (Grand Rapids, MI)
4. Three Floyds Zombie Dust (Munster, IN)
5. Bell’s Hopslam (Comstock, MI)
6. T6. Founders KBS, Kentucky Breakfast Stout (Grand Rapids, MI)
7. T6. The Alchemist Heady Topper (Stowe, VT)
8. T8. Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA (Bend, OR)
9. T8. Sierra Nevada Celebration (Chico, CA)
10. Ballast Point Sculpin IPA (San Diego, CA)

To see the full Best Beers in America list, click here.

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Father’s Day can be a tough gift-buying holiday. What do you get for the dad who has everything – from all the power tools he’ll ever need to the perfect “man’s” grill? A fine leather wallet or gift card might suffice, but nothing says “I love you Dad” like a day spent with family – beer in hand. Click through the gallery above for Sonoma beer venues to take your Dad for some barbecue, live music and – of course – great beer this Sunday.

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Beerfest: The Good One has been serving up Bay Area brews and festivities to beer lovers for 25 years. This Saturday, June 10, it is time for this year’s Santa Rosa event. Click through the gallery above for highlights from previous years’ events. 

As the beer flows freely and and the bubbles rise, Beerfest guests will be treated to live music entertainment and tasty bites. And all of it for a very good cause: the event benefits Face to Face, a non-profit that works to end HIV in Sonoma County while supporting locals living with HIV/AIDS.

The Beerfest event organizers have gone to great lengths to ensure that attendees will have the opportunity to sample some of the best beers in Northern California, all in one place. The large and diverse array of craft breweries and cideries represented at the festival will be pouring a variety of beer styles: sours, wilds, IPAs, Sessionables, Pale Ales, Barrel-Aged beers… the list goes on. Here’s what you need to know:

THE BREWERIES

Participating Sonoma County breweries will include: Russian River Brewing Company, Seismic Brewing, St. Florian’s Brewery, Fogbelt, 3 Disciples, HenHouse Brewing, Barrel Brothers, Third Street Aleworks, Moonlight Brewing, Bear Republic, Cooperage, 101 North, Stumptown, Crooked Goat, and Lagunitas.

Beer enthusiasts will also be able to sample the wares of a host of North Coast and Bay Area breweries including: Anderson Valley, Lost Coast, North Coast, Mendocino Brewing, Redwood Curtain, Napa Smith, Drakes, Pacific Brewing, Hermitage, Dust Bowl, Oak Park Brewing.

Out of state breweries making the trek to the event will include: Georgetown Brewing (of Manny’s Pale Ale fame) from Seattle and Deschutes from Bend.

THE ENTERTAINMENT

Three Bay Area bands will take the stage: San Francisco psychedelic soul rock band Down Dirty Shake, a “time traveling band from the lost universe of soul”, Loco Tranquilo – a psychedelic band that floats latin on a “hypnotic sea” of percussion, spacey and jazzy in its transcendence, and The New Moldy Figs – named for a fermented fig derived jazz pejorative which they’ve turned on its head into a badge of honor and some terrific music – featuring Bobby Black.

THE FOOD

Local food vendors will showcase their specialties with complimentary treats (while supplies last): Andy’s Market will bring fresh local produce, homemade dips, and veggie pizza, Molsberry’s Market will serve grilled tri-tip sandwiches, BREW will serve their nitro tea and nitro cold brew and Trader Joe’s will provide a variety of snacks.

Additionally, food for purchase will be available from: The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen, Pilón Kitchen, Fat Boys Hot Dog Co, Roundtable Pizza, and Tibbs Beef Jerky.

WHEN: Saturday, June 10, 1-5pm

WHERE: Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Rd, Santa Rosa 95403

TICKETS: Purchase VIP tickets for $60 to enjoy early access to the event, or purchase general admission tickets for $50 for a l:00 pm entry. Commemorative beer glass and unlimited samples included. To purchase tickets, visit the website here.

The post What Not to Miss at Beerfest – The Good One in Santa Rosa appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

There’s a lot of fun on tap in June in Sonoma County. Click through the gallery above for nine beer events not to miss.

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Those lazy summer days are almost here and with them the long, soft and delicious twilight evenings that call out for a cold beer with friends, to the tunes of live music. Kickstart the summer music season with this list of brew pubs and beer venues where you can rewind while taking in the sounds of the wide variety of bands available in Sonoma County.

THE LOCAL BARREL, Santa Rosa
Local Barrel presents live music every weekend on Saturdays starting between 8-9pm, and Sundays starting at 5pm. Below is a list of the latest lineup:

June 4, 5pm: Matt Bradford – Blistering dobro and gritty lyrics – a blend of folk, Americana, pop, and blues.

June 11, 5pm: Emily Hamilton – Soft vocals, acoustic guitarist, singer-songwriter.

June 17, 8pm: Robert Herrera and Ian Sherer – Local duo dishes out jazz, acoustic guitar, and rock and roll covers.

June 18, 5pm: Joe Clopton – Influenced by Nirvana, Sublime, Jack Johnson, Elliott Smith and Bob Marley, this Santa Rosa native is prepared to rock your Father’s Day.

June 24, 9pm: The Aces Reunion Show – This popular Sonoma County blues band are itching to squeeze out some sparks after ten years apart.

Local Barrel Taproom, 490 Mendocino Ave #104, Santa Rosa, facebook.com/TheLocalBarrel @TheLocalBarrel

BREWSTERS BEER GARDEN, Petaluma
Brewsters embraces the local music scene with its large outdoor space. This summer’s shows include:

Every Thursday, 5-8pm: “Bourbon & Bluegrass” – Enjoy a different bluegrass band every Thursday while Brewsters highlight a special bourbon in either a flight or special cocktail.

June 2, 5pm: The Hucklebucks – Picture a generous helping of West Coast jump blues, fold in an ample sampling of New Orleans rock n’ roll.

June 3, 3pm: Arizona and the Volunteers – Shake in a variety of blues, rock, soul, jazz, metal, then stir a lullaby or two into the mix.

June 4, 3pm: Todos Santos – the band blends Harmony driven roots, intermingles a little jazz, country, latin, blues, and then weaves in an original tune or two.

Brewsters has live music Fridays at 5pm, and every Saturday and Sunday starting at 3pm. Check their website under the calendar section for specific band dates.

Brewsters Beer Garden + Restaurant, 229 Water Street North, Petaluma, 707-981-8330, brewstersbeergarden.com @BrewstersBeerGarden

SONOMA SPEAKEASY, Sonoma
Enjoy some of the best blues-, Americana-, and country musicians Sonoma has to offer while partaking of a wide and varied selection of beer and wine. Upcoming acts include:

June 2, 7:30pm: Dan Martin and Noma Rocksteady Band – A San Francisco reggae, ska, and rocksteady band.

June 2, 6:30pm: Bruce Gordon – A jump, swing, and blues band to keep you movin’!

June 3, 6:30pm: Full Circle – A popular local cover band featuring keyboard, electric guitar and electric mandolin.

June 4, 5pm: Brandon Eardley – A mix of reggae, rock, folk, and blues.

Every Sunday, 8:30pm: Sonoma Acoustic Blues Jam, where anyone who wishes can have their turn in a jam session with other local artists and talents.

Doors open an hour before the show starts, unless otherwise noted. For a full list of musical acts, visit their website.

Sonoma Speakeasy, 452 1st Street East, Suite G, Sonoma, sonomaspeakeasymusic.com

HOPMONK TAVERN, Sebastopol
Live music every Friday and Saturday nights and some shows mid-week. Check calendar for upcoming events. Admission is $10 per person and most events are friendly for all ages.

June 2, 9pm: Train Wreck Junction – This band steams full speed ahead while flirting with a variety of country music eras.

June 4, 8pm: Parcivillian – An ample blend of rippling folk, punchy rock, stinging blues, and hard groove funk music.

HopMonk Tavern, 230 Petaluma Ave, Sebastopol, hopmonk.com

BREW COFFEE AND BEER, Santa Rosa
There’s more to brew than coffee and beer, like live music in the quaint little cafe just outside of downtown Santa Rosa. Check their Facebook page for upcoming events.

June 5, 7pm: Eileen and the In-Betweens – A five piece social justice indie folk band blown into the Bay Area on a southwest wind. Based out of New Mexico, this is a band of enchantment.

Brew, 555 Healdsburg Ave., Santa Rosa, 707-303-7372, brewcoffeeandbeer.com, @BrewCoffeeAndBeer

ST. FLORIAN’S BREWERY, Windsor
St. Florian’s offers fun for the whole family in the parking lot beside their brewery. Check their Facebook page for more events.

June 17: The Renovators – A Sonoma County rock n’ roll band playing  great covers for you to rock you.

St. Florian’s Brewery, 7704 Bell Rd, Windsor, 707-838-2739, stflroiansbrewery.com, @StFloriansBrewery

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BottleRock Napa Valley drew 120,000 music lovers over the three day Memorial Day weekend. As eighty bands served up a torrent of tunes on the festival’s four music stages — Maroon 5, Warren G,  House of Pain, Foo Fighters and Tom Petty fan favorites — festival food, wine, and craft beer helped to keep the energy up. The best local eateries served savory and sweet dishes for foodies while the Bay Area’s finest breweries provided ample wherewithal to wash it all down… oh so smoothly.

“I just love the beer selection this year; my favorite — Barrel Brothers HibisKISS beer — is a perfect brew for a sunny day,” enthused Jen Polston of Santa Rosa.

While brew aficionados tended to the ecstatic in their excitement for BottleRocks’s beer garden; brewers leavened their enthusiasm with a grain of the pragmatic. Partner John Lilienthal of 101 North Brewing, suppliers of Heroine IPA for the last three years, commented,

“It’s good exposure and worth the marketing dollars for us because they (festival-goers) buy enough beer for us to break even. And all craft beer was in the beer garden, so craft drinkers knew exactly where to go.”

Lagunitas, a sponsor of the three-day event, while no longer technically “craft” after their buyout by Heineken, continues to serve up some incredible beers. Despite Lagunitas’s disqualification as a “craft beer” due to brewery size, we’d like to unofficially grandfather them into the “craft” category — for their long and pioneering history as a Sonoma County “craft beer.”

Check out the gallery above for an inside look at the fun all the craft beer drinkers were having at BottleRock Napa Valley this year. 

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