Latest reviews from Alameda

“I love Humble Sea, so I stopped in after a BJCP class. 3minute walk from Almanac and The Rake. 17 taps including a couple of N/A beers. I got a fantastic BA stout, which was a little pricey at $9/5oz, but fantastic. Most 5oz pours are $4.“

wetherel 72 days ago

“Nice German restaurant on Alameda Island. Prices a little high $28/plate, but large portions you can split. Delicious and authentic. 16 beers on tap: all easy drinking traditional German styles, except on local beer. About 16 cans and bottle including a lambic, a Gose, and a Berlinerweisse. Highly recommended“

wetherel 233 days ago

“German restaurant just off the main drag in Alameda. Large space with plenty of seating both indoors and outdoors. They have about 16 draft beers along with a number of bottles. The vast majority of the beers are German, or at least German styles, but they have a few other things like some of your more basic Belgian imports. The food here is really excellent and again, focuses on German dishes. The portions here are generally quite big, so bring your appetite. The service and cocktails are also very good. Not a cheap place by any means and while the beer list isn't going to make your modern day beer nerd lose their mind, you get a great experience here and I would recommend it.“

brokensail 454 days ago

“This is a cool place Deserving of greater recognition. The rake is a tap room located inside Admiral maltings which is a craft malter that supplies craft malt products to a variety of local and regional breweries. The tap room highlights beers that have been made by typically small breweries using Admiral malts. In addition to 16 taps and a near guarantee that you'll find breweries you've never tried or probably heard of before they also have some small food items single cans in the fridge to take home a pretty large outside seating area with picnic tables and a few small tables inside as well. They don't do flights but they do serve half pours and they're more than half pours and they're more than happy to give you a small sample of basically anything you're interested in giving a try to. What's even better is that they are literally next door and actually share building space with almanac brewing which is in itself a great place to hang out for a beer now you have 2 reasons to make the drive-through the tunnel the Alameda.“

bytemesis 640 days ago

“Very nice brewery, located in beautiful Alameda island, right next to Admiral malt house. 20 taps: half hazy IPAs and half barrel aged sours. Tons of cans to go. Great destination. Highly recommended.“

wetherel 723 days ago

“Wow! This place is incredible. Many rare one off beers on tap. Beers from small nano breweries. BA beers. Right next door to Alamnac brewery and down the street from Faction and Alameda brewery. It is super cool to sit at a booth and stare at an indoor football field covered in grains being sprouted to convert into malt. The bartender is a super beer nerd. He tells incredible details about the beer your ordered. Free 5oz tasters and $4 8oz half pours. It’s like 2005 has returned.“

wetherel 828 days ago

“What an interesting beautiful location. On visited at the end of CoVid in January 2022. 6x5oz flights for $15, which is pretty good in the Bay Area. All seating is outside, with an incredibly gorgeous view of the Bay Bridge and San Francisco. Today was nice, but hard to shield IPAs from the sun, so I ordered stouts. Could be cold on miserable or hot and miserable on other days. Bay Area weather is great, so odds are good. Nice set of rotating taps. Very popular. The drive here is fantastic, passing by abandoned enormous hangars warehouses from bygone days of war.“

wetherel 828 days ago

“This place is in a very inconvenient location. An Uber from Oakland will set you back close to $20, and there’s no way to walk, so best to have a car to come here. It’s out in the middle of nowhere. We came right after the Covid reopening when only outside seating was available—and it was a hot day. The patio has absolutely no shady bits on it (no umbrella, no fans, etc.), so it is pretty uncomfortable sitting here. Beer-wise, they have 20 or so taps, but only one preset daily flight is available — no small pours or even samples otherwise. Super lame. So we ordered a flight—which contained fairly boring beers—for $13 plus tax, plus another glass of Berliner, which was good. Overall, many things to criticize about this place based on my visit: no shade, no custom flights or small pours, inconvenient location, subpar beer quality for ticking. Unless they fix most of these issues, I say this place is massively overrated and not worth your time. Skip it.“

mcberko 1040 days ago

“Located directly next to Almanac's tasting room in the warehouses of the old Navy base in Alameda. The bar is spacious with some solid outdoor and indoor seating, with windows overlooking the germination boxes of the malting floor. Service is great, friendly and super knowledgeable, with great suggestions and lots of knowledge. Selection is impressive, loads of beers from all over the local area made with their malt. Great spot, could spend a lot of time here if I lived close.“

jbruner 1604 days ago

“In an old Navy base area that is being re-purposed, so from the outside looks old timey. Inside there is a huge bar area with plenty of seating around, with complete view of a bunch of stainless fermenters. Variety of selection is straight up absurd, with every style of fresh and sour, even some barrel-aged clean stouts. Service was great, super friendly, super knowledgeable, and quick to service, even when busy. Awesome place, and in an area with a bunch of fun booze spots.“

jbruner 1623 days ago

“Another big industrial space with lots of barrels and tanks and things. Beers were generally excellent, as expected. Plenty of bottles and four-packs to take home. Flights available, prices depend on beers chosen. I am a big Almanac fan, so was fun to visit.“

explosivedog 1966 days ago

“Nice place. Plenty of seating with views of the brewery. Good beer and service. Fair prices. They have awing place next door, too bad I just ate.“

Sledutah 2163 days ago

“The beer menu on the web is constantly updated. A ton of beers that are high quality. They had the Boon 4 pack. That should impress. There’s some parking in the rear. Owner was on top of it. It’s a small space, but effectively utilized. Looking for quality ticks? Don’t miss it.“

bhensonb 2211 days ago

“Large spacious venue. Wood and steel decor. All the beers are tasty. I found 5 not in the database. Bringing food is a good idea. At 11:30 am it was hardly inhabited, and service almost instant. Parking is a bit tight. Unless you’re willing to walk a distance!“

bhensonb 2211 days ago

“Finally Phil! Glad to see that the barrel house is finally open. We stopped on a Sunday afternoon and the place was pretty hopping. Located right next to the craft malting place on the north end of the island, not far from Faction but further from the water. Big space, which is needed for all the barrel aging going on here. Lots of outdoor picnic table seating, and a food truck parked and ready. No food service inside yet, but I think they are gearing up for that eventually. Inside is a large space, a bit warehouse-like, lots of picnic table seating and a bar that seats about 15 or so. No table service - you order at the bar. There were only two beer servers, which made for lines and slow service, although it was with a smile when you finally made it to the front. They had a nice mix of IPA's and barrel aged sours, including a few that are taproom exclusives. All are available in three sizes ranging from taster to full pour. You can build your own flight of four at 2-3$ per pour, or you can go with one of the pre-set flights. They have cans and bottles to go as well. I am a big fan of Almanac's beer, and this visit did nothing to change that. Even my wife liked everything on her flight, which is highly unusual. I am gonna be back as often as I can. Excellent place; just work on expediting beer ordering.“

bytemesis 2255 days ago

“Big space - the building is massive. Lots of outdoor seating with a great view of the bay. They had a lot of beers but due to special event were tight with the tasters. So I certainly enjoyed the visit, and assume that when the place is less busy I might do better on the beer front, and not have to wait in a giant line. Really awkward place to get to without a car, too. Don't try to do this on public transit or foot.“

Oakes 2352 days ago

“ORIGINAL 2017: Came here on a nice weekend day. Great location, good outdoor space, but daaayum the lines were long. Complete disaster if you wanted to eat or drink anything. Food is limited to a stand outside, grilled cheese on this particular day. About 20 taps with beers generally slightly better than middling. When you wait 45 minutes to get your beer, they won't even let you get a custom flight of five pours. They limited me to three small pours. I'm a ticker, dammit you people! I have needs! This place is decent but I'm not going out of my way to come back. EDIT 2022: Better set up in the semi-post-pandemic era. Friday evening and they had a good crowd but were very efficient. There’s one standard flight and the rest are pints and such. Food trucks on site. Great view. I like it.“

nickd717 2390 days ago

“So I wish I could give the ambiance a 10, its an awesome view. The beer is lackluster. They have quantity for selection, quality, not so much. Bottles and drafts. If there’s a next time I’m going to try the distillery next door.“

vtafro 2528 days ago

“Visited during the RateBeer Best 2017 bus tour. Spacious brewery with lots of space outside and a nice view of San Francisco. Decent sized taproom, brewery area is quite large. Friendly service. Quite a few beers, two dozen or so. Decent variety of styles although there were quite a few being hoppy styles. Well worth checking out at least once if the weather’s nice and you have the time to make it out.“

GenDV138 2537 days ago

“Decomissioned Naval Shipyard with the entire skyline of SF smack in your face. Like hoppy beers? Good lord. This is an adventure. Coming to the Bay? MVP. Must-visit place.“

Mercutio 2541 days ago

“Visited on Friday noon with RateBeer Besr tour 2016. Really great place! We were lucky and there was no fog so we had a great view of San Francisco! Indoor and outdoor seating. Inside there is a smaller room with the bar and the taps and a very large room with many tables, a lot of wooden barrels and the brewing equipment. We had all the beers in flights (24 I think). Good service and prices. Dont know about food.“

rouhlas 2636 days ago

“Visited with RateBeer Besr tour 2016. Fantastic view of SF. Nice layout with plenty of seating. About 20 or so of their beers on tap. No "home runs", but everything was decent.“

RobertDale 2639 days ago

“Far, far off the beaten track. I think you have to have a car to get there. Fine selection of around 20 of their beers on tap. You can get a flight of five but you don’t get to choose yourself. Nice large outside area with a view of the bay. If you manage to get all the way out there, don’t miss the gin destillery next door“

Skjonne 2816 days ago

“Small shop just off the main strip in downtown Alameda (and not far from Alameda Island Brewing).

The beer is pretty much all stored in coolers, which is quite nice. Large selection of singles from all sorts of different breweries and ranging a lot of different styles. They also have some special bottles out on the shelves and behind the counter, things like limited releases from the Bruery, Firestone Walker, and others I can’t recall. Prices are all very fair. They also do weekly tastings which alternate between wine and beer/cider, so that’s pretty cool (those are complimentary). Wine selection is also solid.

Really friendly people and fairly knowledgeable as well. Would stop here more often but getting here is kind of a pain sometimes.“

brokensail 2973 days ago

“Was expecting another dumpy warehouse brewery, but nope...big facility in a commercial area/downtown Alameda. Really a quite nicely done, modern facility. Very open, big bar, lots of seating, windows into the brewhouse.

They had a pretty good selection of beers, tried a handful of them. Only really cared for one or two, the others I just thought were mostly mediocre. Too bad... Would be nice for these guys to improve.

Some board games and stuff to play, just a few snacks to eat, but I guess you could probably bring your own food in? Probably not a place I’d hang out at just because the beers aren’t that great, but a well done facility.“

brokensail 3009 days ago

“Clean spot close to the Park St. bridge. Clean beer and helpful staff.“

fidel 3132 days ago

“I pretty much agree with Mike’s review below. Read that for details on the place itself.... I have to say I really enjoyed talking with the brewer and his family while I worked my way through the flight. They’re very nice people who obviously love beer and care about their product. The brewer, his wife and brother in law are the only employees. All three have been through the Cicerone program, so they can talk beer with a good amount of knowledge. They were open about some of the beers that they’re still dialing in. Hopefully they do, because a couple of them were subpar IMO. Mostly the hoppy stuff. The others were good especially the Alt, coffee porter and Kentucky common. They have several 40 barrel fermentors and a legit brew house, so we should be seeing their beer around the Bay soon, but I’ll be back here whenever I’m on the island visiting Faction because of the family-like friendly atmosphere.“

joeneugs 3183 days ago

“Its odd that this place has no reviews after being in business for a year. Its pretty close to Alameda Island Brewing, so hopefully there is some spill over, because this place is indeed legit. I honestly was not expecting much, but I walked out with six bottles, including the new Allagash Cuvee. Most of the bottles are in a row of coolers on the right side as you enter, but there are more scattered about on the walls, and some on display sort of behind the counter. Well curated. The owner was friendly, and amusingly curious about what beers I was selecting. This is not the largest beer store in the world, but it is certainly the best on Alamada, and if the quality stays up, it is one of the better places in the greater Oakland area. Oh, and if you are planning to go to Alameda Island Brewing, stop here first. He has $2 off coupons for beer flights. Prices are quite good. There is street parking readily available. While Santa Clara Ave. is metered, you can park around the corner on Broadway for free.“

bytemesis 3187 days ago

“This place hasnt been open that long, but there is some money behind it. The building is pretty nice, and inside there is a lot of room, with tables and a relatively small bar. Brewing equipment in plain view in the back. They have 10 taps running. Flights of 5 are available, either a they-pick for $7 or a you-pick for $10. I should note that all beers are also sold as single samples, for prices from $1.50 to $3, so depending on what you want to try, you might be better off not going with the flight. Staff is really friendly, but kept trying to tell me what kind of beer I like. Beers were in general decent. A couple were solid, a couple were fair, but no real major flaws at least. This will be an interesting place to watch, and now there are two reasons to go to the island. No food available other than chip bags and assorted bars. Street parking around the corner was not too difficult.“

bytemesis 3188 days ago

“had to drive through the hood to get here, but it was worth it. view of weeds on cement, but then the bay just past that. hoppy and strong beers were fantastic, the others fair to midland. busy, but good service.“

slowrunner77 3258 days ago

“Cool place with good beers. Really crowded when we went. Hard to get there without a car.“

empedokles 3259 days ago

“This place was super busy when I went, but the line moved quickly. They had a large selection, at least 20 beers on tap. They do growler fill ups but I didn’t bring mine, instead I got 3 4 ounce pours, the chocolate milk stout was super good and actually tasted like chocolate milk. My wife and I both had a great time and said we’d come back. Super cool giant building with horse-shoe tossing and other activities inside. Prices are higher, but it’s the bay area, it’s expected“

ffbot 3288 days ago

“You can’t stumble on this place: you have to drive to Alameda, go as far out as you can go, enter an old naval base, and find the place deep in the warehouses. It’s fantastic, though: clean and delicious beers, primarily IPA/APA styles. There are multiple seating options: stay around the tables at the bar area; go to the rear of the warehouse (where the barrels and fermenters are) where foldout tables, cornhole, and a small bar are set up (about 1/3 of the tap selections as the main bar); or the outdoor patio right by some food trucks. Service was swift. Tasters were pricey, so I’d stick with splitting full pours with others if you’re ticking. I’d go out of my way to come back!“

italarican 3290 days ago

“Great stop. Alameda Runway (where Mythbusters film most of their crashes) right next to St George’s Distillery and a winery tasting room. Huge facility run by Roger Davis (ex Drakes and Triple Rock). 18-20 House beers on tap during my visit, more than half of which were APA, IPA, DIPA or hoppy Pils. All that I tasted were excellent quality (better than some of their debut beers from a year ago). One or two of their IPAs are among the best hoppy beers coming out of the Bay Area. Parking was adequate. Weekend vibe was festive with live music, a mobile BBQ smoker and a happy crowd. Great location next to the distillery; cannot wait to return. Highly recommended.“

BMan1113VR 3299 days ago

“Visited February 8, 2015.

Finally stopped in after looking at this place on the map during my last couple trips to SF. It’s not convenient to get here at all. There is a bus that takes you from Oakland to somewhere near the brewery but it still takes forever and requires some walking. As mentioned in another rating the speed limit is painfully slow through much of this side of the island. As it turns out the fastest way to actually get here is from the peninsula via the ferry. Once here though you can kill time drinking good beer or walking next door to the distillery and the winery. Realistically though the brewery is all that you’ll need since many of the hoppy beers are pretty solid, and if it’s not cold and rainy you can sit outside and look over the bay. Kind of an interesting view since there is about a quarter mile of asphalt beyond the fence. It is a former naval base that has been left alone since there are some local animals that live here now.

I was really not expecting this many taps but there were about 20. They do individual tasters but they aren’t cheap. I tried the remainder of the new to me Defcon series as well as some of the new hoppy beers. The Two Hop series is pretty good as are some of the other IPAs. Way too much stuff to try if you’re drinking any more than an ounce of each one. I had a good time talking with the employees at that tasting room. One of them was someone I had met somewhere at some other beer festival in the past. Turns out he used to work at White Labs in San Diego and I have this feeling that he’s the one that used to let us split the taster glasses there (White Labs has TONS of new beers on and it’s a chore to work through them all). Super nice guy. In the end I bought half a dozen tasters and a growler. Great place, just don’t know how often I’ll get back onto the island.“

t0rin0 3343 days ago

“You can get here by public transit and walking, but it’s a lot easier if you just drive. Just a note as I typically try to talk BART when I’m back up in the Bay Area and doing any sort of beer tour. Also note that the speed limit on the island is pretty low (25 in a lot of places), so be careful.

The brewery is located in a building which I would assume was a former naval warehouse, given where it is situated on the island (that is, amongst all the abandoned naval buildings). Doesn’t look like much from the outside other than the fact there are a lot of cars and people outside.

The space is pretty well done. Big patio seating area with tables. A number of tables in the main tasting room, and a decent sized bar to order from. You can’t really sit there. Only gripe I had was that it was pretty crowded when I visited and the line went out the door (also making it difficult for people to enter/exit).

They have a ton of beers on tap. Luckily they do tasters of any of them/flights. They also have a pre-set flight that you can do. Unfortunately, the pale hoppy beers were great but everything else was kind of meh. Tasters are about $2 each, so it can get pricey if you want to try everything.

All that said, the service is great and you absolutely cannot get a better view at a beer venue in the Bay Area. Particularly if you sit on the patio or near one of the windows inside and get a great look of the Bay Bridge and the San Francisco skyline.“

brokensail 3388 days ago

“Located on the water in an old navel base building. The view of San Francisco is amazing. Nice tasting room connected to the brewery with 20 taps of great beer, and great service.“

fidel 3436 days ago

“(Visited 08/2014): Faction Brewing is located at the former US Naval Air Station in Alameda on Monarch Street. Parking is available behind the building, and the lot offers a fantastic view of San Francisco.

The exterior of the building is pretty nondescript in a warehouse sort of way. Inside opens to a tasting room with some high tables on the left and a bar on the right. The brewery is viewable by exiting in the back of the tap room toward the restrooms. The taps are visible behind the bar and have papers for each beer with a logo and description above them.

Faction has around 20 beers on tap, with several year-round brews and a bunch of seasonals, series and specials. Samples are available too. On my visit there was an abundance of Pale Ales and IPAs, Defcon I-IV, a couple 2 Hop Pales, Anomaly Milk Stout, Barleywine, Ales for ALS and a few more. The beers I tried were all enjoyable.

Service on a busy Friday night at the bar was good. There was a constant line of people but the bartender always had time to get the next samples and chat.

Faction does not serve food.

Overall I really liked this place between the awesome setting and extensive beer list. I would definitely make it a point to visit again. “

Dogbrick 3494 days ago

“The tasting room is really coming around now. They finally put in enough seating a few weeks ago, so there’s enough space to relax and enjoy the sampler or a pint. First of all, this place is difficult to get to. It’s really not all that far from downtown Oakland, but there’s something about taking that Webster tube that makes you feel like you just went through a time warp. Once in Alameda, you have to wind through some residential areas and then all the way out to the old Naval base. It’s a bit of a pain, but really doesn’t take much time if you’re in Oakland. Once you’re there, its seems like the kind of place you’d go to ransom a hostage or something, but the ambiance inside is pretty nice. There are great views of the Bay and the SF skyline from the tasting room, and its really quiet and peaceful out there. Usually Claudia is running the bar, but sometimes disappears for a few minutes to go help the brewers. I guess they operate on the honors system during these times, but that’s cool. They offer flights of all the beers as well as pints. They do 64 and 32 oz. growlers and will fill other glass as long as the logo is covered. The beer was all really good, especially the hoppy stuff, which was world class IMO. I’ll be making regular visits here.“

joeneugs 3670 days ago

“Fairly quick stop on my way back from Rare Barrel. Great location, I feel like I could sit here and watch myth busters. Crowded on a rainy saturday afternoon, but it is during beer week I guess. Tasting room is fairly spartan, but there is a bar and seating, so that pretty much covers the essentials. You can look out into the barrel room as well. Tap list is not extensive, pretty APA/IPA focused, but what they have, at least what I tried, is stellar. Alpine-esque. Growlers to go, but no bottles (yet). There was a Kern River Brewing truck in the parking lot when I was there --- future collaboration?? Tasters are like 2$/per 5oz, and they sell pint glasses with faction on them for $3.“

bytemesis 3727 days ago

“Located in the old Alameda Naval Base. A small sign on the street, the tasting room in located on the bay side of the building. Nice view of the bay before the fog came in. They have 6 beers on tap, you can get 5oz samplers, pints or growler fills. A nice tasting room, not a lot of people were there when I was and it was still pretty load. They just got some nice tall tables in, just opened up the patio. The beer was all above average.“

Sledutah 3736 days ago

“This new brewery and tasting room are located on the old Alameda Naval Air Base with sweeping views of San Francisco and the SF-Oakland Bridge. This place is not that hard to find with a GPS, just remember it is at the back of the building, and no sign up yet on the building itself. Place was packed, kind of loud, industrial, but the views and the beers were good. Ordered the sampler of their current 6 beers; all above average. This is their first month open, and it looks like they will be around for a long time. Claudia, one of the owners, was pouring beer and took the time to chat with our group. You could tell she really enjoyed what she was doing.“

larryLSB 3770 days ago

“Cool spot. When I went there was nothing great, but more than a few very good daily drinkers.“

AgentSteve 4428 days ago

“This place has a cool feel. Kind of place if you lived in Alameda that you would go to on a regular basis to have a beer with your friends. They have a pool table in the back and a few pinball machines. The bar has about 13-14 beers on tap - mainly micros and a few of the better imports. Cool atmosphere. Also - CASH only!“

pinkzambia 6003 days ago