Top Craft Brewery Destinations in Napa and Sonoma County

This post first appeared on thebeeroness.com

“It takes a lot of good beer to make good wine,” The bartender at Bear Republic in Healdsburg, California, right in the heart of Wine Country, jokes as he pours a Café Racer IPA for a waiting customer. Vintners are a frequent after work crowd in the brewery taprooms around one of the most well respected wine regions in the United States. As a result, the beer has become world class, a mecca for beer people, and a hub for beer tourism. If a couple of airports and a few chipper flight attendants can’t stand in your way of a great beer, where Napa Valley meets Sonoma County is the perfect destination to cut your beer tourism teeth. Here are the top locations for grabbing a pint of local beer in wine country.

A “flight” of craft beer.

Russian River. With a beer so sought after, it’s release causes traffic to shut down, every hotel in the area to be booked to capacity, and an 8 hour wait to get in the doors just for one 10-ounce pour, this brewery is on every beer travelers list. Russian River Brewing draws beer tourists from all over the globe to the sleepy little town of Santa Rosa, California. Even if you can’t make it to the release of their sought after triple IPA, Pliny The Younger, every beer they make is world class. Ask for a Blind Pig, many beer geeks claim it’s just as good, or even better, than the one that causes a wee bit of mass hysteria during it’s February release.
Bear Republic. This small brewery in Sonoma county is all heart. With a gorgeous space, bartenders that remember your name, and several awards winning beers under their belts, this is a great place to stop in for a pint. Bear Republic always has new and one of a kind beers on tap, ask your friendly beer slinging bartender what he recommends and he’ll pour your something that you’ll probably never have the opportunity to sample again.
Lagunitas. Don’t let the outside of this Petaluma brewery, housed in an industrial park, fool you. Once you get inside it’s a gorgeous location with a beautiful patio, perfect for an afternoon of pub grub and outstanding beer. This is a brewery well known for their “A Little Sumpin’ Sumpin Ale”, but they also do several variations of this hoppy beer that are only served in a very limited release. Ask if they have any new variations of A Little Sumpin’ on tap, or just let the bartenders pour you a flight (that’s beer speak for a beer sampler platter), and see what you like!
Napa Smith. Napa Smith is the only production brewery in Napa, this is where you go when you’ve tired of wine tasting and just want a cold pint. Napa Smith has thoughtfully brewed all of their beers to pair well with food, following the mantra “Brewed for food.” They offer a large flight of 10 sampler beers, making that a great place to start when deciding what you want to drink for the evening.
Third Street Aleworks. This charming little brewery sits down the street from Russian River, making it a great stop on a Santa Rosa pub-crawl. Sick of those hopped up bitter West Coast beers? You’ve come to the right place. Third Street has award winning stouts and porters, perfect for those who dig the dark brews. Try their Black Cat Porter or the gold medal winning Blarney Sisters’ Dry Irish Stout.

Bottling beer the old fashioned way – a bottle at a time.

Jackie Dodd’s beer infused recipes earned her a spot as a finalist for Saveur Magazines Best Original Recipes, 2014 as well as the top honors for Best Beer Coverage in 2015. The Beeroness was also a finalist for Better Homes and Gardens Best Food Blogs, 2015. She has been seen on The Today Show, Lifetime Network, CBS News, as well as interviewed in print publications such as Imbibe, Bite and The San Francisco Chronicle. She also writes for Parade Magazine, Draft Magazine and Whisk Magazine. She is also the author of The Craft Beer Cookbook and the newly released Craft Beer Bites Cookbook.