If there’s a defining feature to San Francisco’s beer scene these days, it’s that there isn’t one. No two breweries look alike, and that’s what makes the beer landscape so exciting. With the pre-pandemic craft beer boom effectively in the rearview, the dust has settled, and what remains are breweries that plan to be in the city for the long haul. The stories behind today’s best breweries in San Francisco are anything but straightforward, and everyone still standing has been around the block — even if some of these locations opened in the past year or two. It’s a tight-knit community churning out some of the best light, hoppy, dark and unusual beers in the entire country.
Fort Point
Now in its 10th year, Fort Point has become one of the most recognizable breweries in San Francisco. Known for sleek can designs, their KSA Kolsch is about as ubiquitous of a local beer as you’ll find these days, generously sprinkled throughout bars, restaurants, corner stores and markets alike. And while the brewery is located in the Presidio, it’s the Mission District taproom on Valencia Street that really serves as the heartbeat of Fort Point. Easily the freshest place to snag all of their beers like Lobos Hazy IPA, Sfizio Italian Pilsner and cool collabs like the Ganada Korean Style Lager, made with Michelin-starred Korean BBQ joint San Ho Won. For this year’s 10th anniversary, Fort Point is reviving a fan favorite brew from their past lineup each month, like Dipper Double IPA in September and Manzanita Smoked Altbier in November, with a sweet launch event for each.
Enterprise
Located in SOMA in the original Cellarmaker Brewing location, owners Cameron MacDonald and Jesse Hayter couldn’t have found a better ready-to-go spot for their one-year-old brewery. It’s a familiar space for locals, with eclectic DJ’s spinning records in the taproom. Meanwhile, Enterprise has wasted no time in getting their beer on taps in bars throughout the city. The flagship Pilsner is one of the most crushable beers in town, the Copper Ale might be the best homage to Anchor Steam to date and there’s even a Sourdough Stout on Nitro brewed in conjunction with next door neighbor Rize Up Bakery.
Woods Beer & Wine Co
It seems like there’s a Woods taproom on every corner of the city these days, and they’ve become fixtures in a number of neighborhoods with welcoming spaces and patios. From their early days of brewing the stalwart Morpho Hibiscus Ale with yerba maté, it was clear that owner Jim Woods had his head in more than just beer. Now, it’s a full-fledged purveyor of wine, too. And it’s the creations that blur the lines between the two that linger longest, like the Bonne Journee Saison aged in chardonnay barrels and the Divine Origins series of ales fermented with grapes. Finally, a place where beer and wine drinkers can truly coexist!
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Cellarmaker House of Pizza
While Cellarmaker’s brewing operation has moved over to the East Bay, their Bernal Heights pizzeria and tap room is still one of the best bar tops in town, loaded with their fresh, innovative beers. Early adopters in the hop futures game, Cellarmaker is known for some of the finest hazy and West Coast IPAs in the country. But don’t sleep on the Abel Tasman New Zealand Style Pilsner, and you can always get sour beers from their sister brewery, The Rare Barrel. After one of their Detroit-style pizzas, their chocolatey barrel-aged beers have never made more sense.
Standard Deviant
Hanging out at Standard Deviant’s Mission taproom feels like being in a friend’s cool garage with no shortage of amenities: a ton of fresh beer taps, big screen TVs, a rad outdoor patio, vintage couches and classic brewery board games. Cuatro is a full-flavored lager with chewy malt and a clean finish, their Kolsch just won a gold medal at the CA Brewer’s Cup and there’s a Horchata Cream Stout on Nitro that’s super fun. You can even get any beer in the house in a liter stein for $15 or less. Standard Deviant is nearing the opening of a bigger second Pier 70 taproom and factory with increased capacity and expansion of their barrel-aging program.
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Otherwise
You’re damn right San Francisco even has a certified gluten free brewery. While co-founders Aaron Gervais and Stellar Cassidy launched their first beer in 2021 (the refreshing CalRose Crisp Lager), this year marked the opening of the city’s first gluten free taproom. Located in North Beach in the old Churchkey bar space, Otherwise’s taproom is a cool place to share a pint of their new Coit Tower IPA, Goth Girlfriend Porter or the food friendly St-Sureau Belgian Blond with new and old friends alike.
Local
While a fire compromised Local Brewing’s physical location near the ballpark in late 2022, brewer and owner Regan Long keeps persevering to make some of the best beer in town. Both the 69 Pils and Loud and Clear IPA are prevalent around the city, including at the Chase Center for Warriors games and Oracle Park’s Gotham Club (if you’re fancy like that). A queer, woman-owned brewery, Local routinely drops their Gay Crush Tropical Blonde before Pride every year. And speaking of Tropical Blondes, there’s also an N/A version to go with a Hazy IPA in Local’s growing Buzzkiller N/A beer series.
Olfactory
The year-old Olfactory Brewing took over the old Triple Voodoo location in the Dogptach. Their lineup of interesting brews have a distinct palate, best expressed by a meticulous commitment to using the same malt largely across the board (from Alameda’s excellent Admiral Maltings just across the Bay and next door to the Almanac brewery where head brewer Phil Emerson led the way for 16 years). The Rally Rabbit West Coast Pilsner is delightfully hopped with both Nelson and Mosaic hops, while the 2055 Center Street is a light bodied West Coast pale named after the address of Olfactory’s even newer taproom in Berkeley. This spacious 3rd Street taproom is a perfect pre-game stop for the Giants, Warriors and Chase Center concerts.
Barebottle
Coming up on its eighth anniversary, Barebottle has expanded beyond their Bernal Heights brewery taproom to include an outpost at the Salesforce Park Beer Garden downtown. Often focusing on single hopped IPAs like Mighty Mosaic Hazy and Yakety Yakima Westy, Barebottle was started by home brewers and still offers up recipes on their website for some of their original beers for enthusiasts to tweak at home. And while San Francisco often lends itself to tight quarters, Barebottle’s expansive Bernal Heights taproom is widely-considered to be the most family-friendly brewery in town.
Laughing Monk
Don’t let the name fool you — it’s not all Belgian beers at the Bayview’s Laughing Monk. It’s in fact a fairly IPA-heavy house with New England-style standouts with fraternal names like Brother Ron and Brother Logan. I’ve always been a fan of their Berliner Weisse sours and relish in the pineapple and passionfruit flavors of the Book of Tropics. On the other side of the coin, the Holy Ghost Pilsner is as crisp as they come. Anchor Brewing alum Jen Jordan has been at the helm as head brewer for the past five years, and Laughing Monk continues to expand beyond the city with locations in Sunnyvale and Scotts Valley, too.
Anchor
Until this past June, the recently shuttered craft beer trailblazer was thought to be dead in the water. Previously owned by Sapporo for a tenuous five year stint, Anchor Brewing was driven to the ground by the Japanese beer behemoth who never quite harnessed how to keep selling Anchor’s flagship Steam Beer; they shut everything down in mid-2023. Enter yogurt billionaire Hamdi Ulukaya of Chobani, who just bought the brewery and has promised to bring it back to its glory days. It remains to be seen when and in what capacity that will look like, but pretty soon, locals who’ve been hoarding their last cases of Anchor Steam, Porter and Liberty Ale will have fresh brews to look forward to from this SF icon.
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