Summer is for beer gardens. Fortunately, Sonoma County has them in abundance, with the Wine Country bonus of excellent beer and top-notch food. Here are some favorites if you’re craving an afternoon of brews with your crew.

Twin Oaks Roadhouse

In continuous operation since 1926, this ramshackle-looking roadhouse and watering hole is one of Sonoma County’s best-kept secrets. Owned by HopMonk Tavern, well-known for its beer gardens in Sebastopol, Sonoma, and Novato, Twin Oaks has kept its historic charm while offering stellar fried chicken sandwiches and live entertainment for those who appreciate its charms. (The property is currently listed for sale.) 5745 Old Redwood Highway, Penngrove. 707-795-5118, hopmonk.com/twin-oaks

Lagunitas Taproom

Sink into the trippy scene that is Lagunitas, through and through. The tap room and “beer sanctuary” is a casual spot hidden in the shadows of the brewery complex. There’s great pub grub, a swag-filled gift shop, a small music venue, and the hoppy IPAs that have made them famous. 1280 N. McDowell Blvd., Petaluma. 707-284-1020, lagunitas.com

Brewsters Beer Garden

The most beer-garden-y beer garden in Sonoma County. Big enough for an Oktoberfest crowd with loads of picnic tables, live music, plenty of beer (and cocktails), with kids and dogs welcome. Plus, solid eats. 229 Water St., Petaluma. 707-981-8330, brewstersbeergarden.com

Old Caz

Most breweries are bare-bones places with a funky college-dorm aesthetic and sticky tables — and we like it that way! But Old Caz has upped its game with a swanky new spot with high ceilings, matching chairs, hand-built tables, and usable bathrooms. Wow! The lunchtime bar menu and top-notch food trucks are the cherry on top. Don’t worry, the butt-kicking IPAs keep it real. 1500 Valley House Drive, Suite 110, Rohnert Park. 707-665-6668, oldcaz.com

Russian River Brewing

If there’s a heaven for beer drinkers, it’s at the 85,000-square-foot Russian River brewery in Windsor. Book a guided tour and tasting, then head to the outdoor beer garden where you can choose from roughly 20 signature brews on tap and a full pub menu. The dog- and kid-friendly patio is a great spot to hang out and dream of next year’s release of Pliny the Younger. 700 Mitchell Lane, Windsor. 707-545-2337, russianriverbrewing.com

The Block

Hidden behind an auto parts store in an industrial part of Petaluma, The Block is a tiny-but-mighty beer garden with nearly 30 taps and a full cocktail menu. Tacos Don Pepe and Jackie Boy’s Barbecue are on a rotating lineup with Fire Slice pizza served six days a week. 20 Grey St., Petaluma. 707-775-6003, theblockpetaluma.com

Tisza Bistro

Though it’s just a handful of stout wooden tables and bistro seats beneath draping twinkle lights and Weihenstephan pennants (Germany’s oldest brewery), Munich is in the air at chef Krisztian Karkus’ German and Central European eatery. Grab a Bavarian pretzel, currywurst, or a Weiner schnitzel sandwich and choose from five German beers on tap, plus cans of Stiegl Radler (grapefruit juice and lager) and malty Korbinian. Prost! 165 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. 707-291-5193, tiszabistro.com

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Fire up the oompah bands and gather ‘round for schnitzel sandwiches, ice-cold Pilseners and wurst, because the Beer Garden at Tisza Bistro in Healdsburg is open.

Though it’s just a handful of stout wooden tables, bistro seats under twinkle lights and Weihenstephan pennants (Germany’s oldest brewery), Munich is in the air at chef Krisztian Karkus’ Hungarian/German eatery.

“We’re moving a little more toward German food. People really recognize it,” said Karkus of the newly launched beer garden menu.

The al fresco space is open from noon to 5 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday. Karkus and his wife/co-owner Alena Rebick also have a stand at the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market on Saturdays.

The small garden is bustling with diners even on a quiet Monday afternoon. Here, Karkus’ much-loved pork schnitzel comes in sandwich form between a split pretzel bun stuffed with creamy cucumber and a heavy dousing of tart lingonberry jam ($18). It’s messy through and through, which Karkus says is precisely the point: “I didn’t want it to look too perfect.” Served with a light summer salad and an easygoing Spaten Lager ($9), you’ll be fueled up for a marathon-length “Verdauungsspaziergang” (or digestion walk) around the Dry Creek Valley. Or at least to downtown Healdsburg’s Noble Folk for some ice cream.

The housemade bratwurst ($18) is a must-try, even if you’re not a huge sausage fan. Karkus’ pan-fried pork wurst puts the stuff at backyard barbecues to shame. In fact, I’ve never had a softer, more mellow brat that works perfectly with housemade sauerkraut and pillowy potato dumplings. It is served with a side of sourdough-fermented “sun pickles,” an Eastern European pickling method that uses the sun, salt, water and a slice of bread (and no vinegar) to create a tart but nonaggressive condiment.

Like a good lager or Kölsch, nothing on Karkus’ menu has to punch you in the taste buds to make an impression. However, watch out for the mustard served with the brats. It will flash flood your sinuses quicker than a desert rainstorm.

I’m also a fan of the currywurst ($18), made with the same bratwurst, sliced into pieces and laid over beer-battered fries and caramelized onions with a curry-spiked ketchup. This classic German street food can easily stand up to darker beers or even an IPA. Living up to its name, the beer garden has five German beers on tap, plus cans of Stiegl Radler (grapefruit juice and lager) and malty Korbinian.

You will, of course, need to order the fresh pretzels ($6), soft and chewy twists of dough with fat seeds of coarse salt. Karkus whispers an aside, “You don’t ever put mustard on pretzels.” He almost seems offended that anyone would suggest such a thing. Though, he points out they’re served in the beer garden with whole grain mustard and a ramekin of soft butter — the preferred condiment.

The menu also includes a cheeseburger ($20), grilled ham and cheese on sourdough ($17) or a simple chicken club ($19). There’s also an iceberg wedge salad ($16), fries doused in porcini mushroom sauce ($9) and German-style cheesecake with a pretzel graham crust ($10). Smoked salmon latkes ($17) from the dinner menu are also a winner.

The new beer garden is a quiet respite and a friendly spot where you’ll likely overhear local gossip (I hear a Healdsburg bakery is expanding just nearby). Or have a solitary moment with your thoughts and a cold beer. Either way, “Prost!” to Tisza Bistro’s tasty new outdoor offerings. Stay tuned for details on Tisza’s official Oktoberfest plans this fall.

165 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, 707-291-5193, tiszabistro.com

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Wine Country is also beer country — with plenty of local brews and outdoor patios to park your caboose and sip an IPA or two. Click through the above gallery for six of our favorite beer gardens in Sonoma County.

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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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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.

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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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