I have no idea if this belongs here, but IMO beer is one of the coolest products ever made.
NORCAL:
My favorite brewery is Lagunitas (Petaluma, CA). They make 1 light beer, a pilsner, and everything else is strong, dark, malty, or above all else, super hoppy. I'm an IPA guy 100%, and Lagunitas hasn't ever failed to bombard my taste-buds with blissfulness. Some of my favorites are their Brown Shugga, HopStoopid, Censored, Maximus, Little Sumpin' Wild, Lucky 13, Undercover Shutdown, Lagunitas Sucks(a beer they brewed and named to make fun of themselves since they failed to deliver Brown Shugga one year), Hairy Eyeball, the list goes on... Lagunitas has really exploded in the last couple of years, but they will never lose their small-brewery personality. They have the chillest taproom area I've ever been to, and their tours are great (lots of free tastes).
Whenever I visit Lagunitas, I also always hit up:
Moylans (Novato, CA). They have an IPA, a double IPA, and a triple IPA lol. Just a restaurant though.
Russian River (Santa Rosa, CA). Pliny the Elder is my fav there. Another restaurant, but cool atmosphere.
Bear Republic (Healdsburg, CA). Pretty good beers all around. Hop Rod Rye-IPA mmmm. Restaurant again.
Marin Brewing (I forgot, CA). Nothing too special. Another restaurant.
CENCAL:
Firestone (Paso Robles, CA). Probably the best central Cali brewery. Their Double Jack IPA is ridiculously good. One of my top 5 beers of all time.
Sequoia (Fresno, CA- right next to me). General Sherman IPA is very good, I always try to catch them when they have Double Sherman on tap, mmmm.
Central Coast Brewing (San Louis Obispo, CA). Very small brewery, but very good. Only been there once.
SOCAL:
This is where the California microbrewery really exploded from. Too many to list, so I'll just name my top favorites.
Port Brewing/Lost Abbey (Marcos, CA). 2nd favorite taproom/area. Super chill, guys are very knowledgeable and friendly. Hop-15, in my top 5 favorite beers for sure.
Green Flash (San Diego, CA). Lots of great beers to choose from. Their Imperial IPA is one of my faves. Palate Wrecker also.
Stone Brewery (Escondido, CA). Similar to Lagunitas in the fact that they specialize in hop-dominant beers. Probably my second favorite brewery next to Lagunitas (sorry Port Brewing). Too many favorites here to list. Self-Righteous IPA, Ruination IPA, a plethora of anniversary-type IPAs. Great tour too w/ lots of free tasters.
Honorable Mention for SOCAL: Ballast Point (San Diego, CA), and Alpine Brewing (Alpine, CA).
Possible my 3rd overall favorite Brewery (sorry, again, Port Brewing, I guess your 4th- or 5th) is Knee Deep (somewhere in Nevada). Relatively new, but their Hoptologist beat out Russian River's Pliny the Elder last year (that's a big deal). Their Hoptologist is WOW, their Hop Shortage is WOW, but their Simtra is WOW. Too bad it's like $13 at my Bevmo lol (for one freakin 22oz bottle).
Ok, I'll admit this turned out to be a much longer post than I meant to make, and I'm extremely thirsty for a beer now, even though it's 2:30am.
That said, I'm not just an IPA guy, I also love Stouts, Porters, Barleywines, Red Ales, Brown Ales, and much more. I still need to make a trip to the Sierra Nevada brewery one day, as well as Lost Coast, and tons of others.
So, what beers do you guys love?
