Latest reviews from Stockton

“[10/29/08]“

DSG 2962 days ago

“Normally I just scroll past BJ’s locations these days, but I realized I still hadn’t tried their collaboration with Stone and figured I’d pop in and see if it was still on. Luckily, it was. Score.

Anyway, it’s pretty much your typical BJ’s these days...in a shopping center/mall and accessible easily from the street. Beer list is mostly the regular lineup with one or two seasonals and a couple of the usual guest offerings like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Sam Adams, and some light macro lagers. Fine enough.“

brokensail 3244 days ago

“This setup initially confused me. The bar is sort of a separate arm of Whirlow’s, but you can bring food/drinks between the two.

This place is sort of the de facto tap room for High Water Brewing at this point, it seems. But they also have about 20 other beers on tap besides the High Water stuff. They do flights, which is much appreciated. Bottles are also available to go and on-premise.

Bartender was really friendly and seemed to know what she was talking about with the beers, always appreciated.

Watched the Raider game and tried some new High Water offerings. Definitely worth a stop. Probably the best beer option in Stockton right now.“

brokensail 3244 days ago

“Too bad I never got to visit this place when Steve was brewing...

Large restaurant and space, big patio out front, and plenty of seating all around. Big U-shaped bar where I sat to have a beer or two and watch some brain damage inducing sporting events.

Seemed kind of empty, but whatever, it was Sunday at like 11am. Tap list isn’t too bad, but it’s kind of pedestrian in terms of the selection, though they did have some Altamont beers on tap. Unfortunately they weren’t as good as I normally find those same beers to be. A couple other random ticks, too.

Service was fine. Nothing too great. Seemed like the whole place was nursing a hangover and working on starting a new one.“

brokensail 3244 days ago

“Ah, another BevMo...

It’s pretty much your typical BevMo in terms of the layout, the pricing, the level of service, etc. Unfortunately the selection here is lackluster, even for this chain. And being where it is, the beers were not all that fresh on the things I checked (such as standard Firestone and Lagunitas products), so I didn’t really feel like taking a gamble.

I guess in a pinch, it provides a bit better option than the grocery store, but I suppose that’s debatable.“

brokensail 3244 days ago

“my main memories of this place were our smoking hot waitress and the fact that the Uberhoppy they sold us was old as dust. haven’t been back in a loooong time.“

slowrunner77 3319 days ago

“This place is pretty tiny and they have a fairly limited number of drafts, but the beers they have are pretty good.

Kind of a cozy neighborhood pub feel. A small bar with a few seats where you also order all food and beverages. A few tables along each side of the space and a small patio out front as well.

Being Stockton Beer Week (rolleyes.gif), the beer list featured a few interesting and unusual items such as a couple sour beers, including a new one from High Water, and a special cask from Drakes. Prices on these beers were kind of high, however, which was I guess to be expected.

It’s a pretty cool place and I’d definitely consider coming back here. Probably not the greatest ticking place just due to the limited tap real estate, but seems like they may get some of the more interesting beers to com into the area.“

brokensail 3330 days ago

“Stopped in with the girlfriend for dinner after the long drive up to Stockton. Sat at the bar, but they have a pretty good amount of regular restaurant seating as well as a patio.

As the name implies, this place is known for their burgers. They do have some other items as well, too. They’ll also substitute non-beef patties if you don’t eat (red) meat. Kind of a unique place in that they put a shit ton of extra cheese on the burger and it gets crispy and sort of forms an inch wide (or more) skirt of crispy/fried cheese.

The beer list was pretty decent during our visit, but it was Stockton Beer Week. Not sure how Stockton has a beer week with literally no breweries in the city limits or even all that close by. Jumped the shark, I suppose. Anyway, there were a bunch of Dust Bowl beers on tap including a special IPA with citrus made for Beer Week. They had some of the macro lagers as well. A handful of Karl Strauss and Lagunitas offerings, too.

The service was really good and friendly and quick. Prices for the food and beer were pretty decent. Not cheap, but not going to break the bank...pretty much what you expect from a fancied burger place these days.

Since there isn’t really a whole lot to do, beer-wise, in Stockton, it’s a solid stop.“

brokensail 3330 days ago

“A Stockton place rating...and it’s not for Valley Brewing Co (RIP brewing aspect, anyway).

Small liquor store in a little shopping center/strip mall sort of deal. Beer selection is not large by any means. The micros make up a few cooler doors and a small bit of shelf space. Selection is pretty basic here with stuff like Lagunitas, Dogfish, Stone, Sierra Nevada, etc. 6 packs and some bombers. Strangely I saw the likes of Golden Road, St. Archer, and Black Market here as well from down south. A couple Bruery beers and some more interesting things like Almanac sour offerings and a couple of your basic lambics like Beersel. The real treat, though, was a set of 559 Brewing’s Bourbon Barrel Ale, which I of course purchased given my "excellent" history with them.

There isn’t much (good) beer offered in Stockton, so this is kind of your best bet in the immediate area, as far as shops go.“

brokensail 3347 days ago

“Wow! No more Valley Brewing Company. When Steve left to start High Water Brewing everything worth going for left. I have fond memories of this place. Now it’s just a shell. A facade of a Brewery.“

mrhoppy 4050 days ago

“Bar with lots of open space and probably 15 feet or so to the ceiling. They had 3 housetaps and a few others like Sierra Nevada. When I asked for samples I got the three house taps for free, so value for money cant get any better.“

saxo 4439 days ago

“Stopped by while in Stockton. Sampled 7 brews for 7 bucks. The pours were about 5 oz. Not a bad deal. Unfortunately Uberhoppy was not on tap.“

MattH 4756 days ago

“Large bar/restaurant facility with a good sized patio and banquet room that seats more than 100. The ambiance is one of a sports bar with lots of signed jerseys displayed and about a dozen TVs througout the restaurant. Valley prides itself on its use of Belgian yeast to make Belgian style versions of American beers. The beers are good and a sampler is worth trying. I thought the India Red Ale, Stout, and Bourbon Barrel Barleywine were the best. I went on a slow, rainy day and the place was pretty empty. The service that day was disappointingly slow and the staff not very knowledgable about Valley’s beers. Decent food menu selection including appetizers, pizzas, salads, sandwiches, and burgers but food was pretty average. There’s entertainment on certain nights. Overall I like the place and woudl definitely go again.“

HighWine 5080 days ago

“Stopped by on my way to my parents house. Fairly nice atmosphere for a brewpub. Decent selection of Valley Beer’s, like Uberhoppy, no guest beers from what I saw. Service wasn’t great, bar tender didn’t know much about the beer. Average pricing.“

JohnnyJ 5091 days ago

“Great beer. Definitely the best brewery in the Central Valley. I hope they find someone as skilled and passionate as Steve to continue what he has done, or it will decline until they sell to a chain or it goes under just as the rest of Stockton has done. As far as the restaurant goes, it is very accommodating for groups. No problem with a "party of five" or fourteen. The food is very good bar food. The service is often sub-par, mediocre at best. Nice girls, but get a notepad and write down the orders.“

beer209 5111 days ago

“Stopped in here for a sampler on 8/7/10. Had a moral dilemma here considering the way they shafted their head brewer recently, but this spot was on the itinerary for months before the trip happened and I figured maybe we’d get to try some of the last beers he brewed. Decent looking bar and restaurant. Didn’t try the food. Service was okay. Beers were overall pretty good, with IPA, Uberhoppy and Black Cat Stout as the standouts. Worth the trip.“

JaBier 5139 days ago

“This location is a run of the mill sports bar, loads of sports paraphelia, Wayne Gretzky posters, large screen TVs. Service was fast and friendly. The beer was OK, run of the mill selection, so I was dissapointed not having access to the highly rated one offs. Next time, I’ll go to the brewery.“

Lubiere 5466 days ago

“Great venue. Great service. Damn good beers. Damn good burger with damn good yam fries and a hot dip. Got to talk to the owner for quite awhile. The whole place just reeks of enjoyment.“

bhensonb 5499 days ago

“Nice old brick building, very friendly staff. Food was excellent; I had the Blu and Black burger with yam fries. I had never had any except one of the standard Valley brews so I tried a sampler. All solid brews except maybe the mild. I really enjoyed my stay and especially the UberHoppy bottles I got to go!“

IrishBoy 5520 days ago

“So here we are we thought, at the mythic Valley Brew. Well not quite it seems, as we learnt later when asking if they had bottles to go (nope, perhaps where the brews came from. Ah, they are not brewed here? Nope, on West Fremont at the other end of the city, perhaps they’ll be opened tomorrow.) So basically, we were at the pub, so we might as well eat and try a few beers. No problem with the beers, most staple are fairly standards, but the barleywine is fruity à souhait while the IPA are classic examples. Besides, the building looks like it has potential with its high brick walls, but the way its set up and decorated with a truckload of sports posters, flags, articles and accessories just does not appeal to me. Even worse, those annoying TVs which are everywhere spit out loud sports news which echo all over the place. Not very pleasant. As far as the food goes, it was decent pub fare, so not particularly pleasant. The service was helpful and well intentioned though. The idea is that things are no longer happening here. You need to visit the brewery and it is not going to be a fun evening party over there, so you might as well come and visit the whole pub if you sleep in town.“

Rastacouere 5560 days ago

“A great seemingly-historic (and I hope it is) building in a very pretty little town. The drive from the freeway to here is just a retired homebuyer’s dream. Really nice original brick work on the walls, good spread of NorCal sports memorabilia. The beers on when I drove out were a crushing disappointment, but what can you do? All out of bottles too - F!! But the food was solid (while being $2-3 too much without telling me that it was special - local? organic?) and the barman seemingly on the spot. Will go back.“

ajm 5563 days ago

“I think I caught this place on a bad day. They had all their regulars, but nothing special on tap except an Irish Red. The server was very friendly, but it took forever to get our beer sampler. I think she was confused as to what we were asking for. Anyway, the food was just OK. I got a jamacain jerk chicken sandwich, which was tasty, but thrown together pretty sloppy. Food is definitley an afterthought here. The beer was very good. The black cat stout was excellent and the IPA was superb. A few other good ones too. I’ll most likely make the 45 minute trip out here for a growler of the IPA pretty soon.“

joeneugs 5613 days ago

“Pretty spacious with a big center bar and outside patio. Our server was really nice but slightly spacey when it came to the beers. Pretty good spread for a brewpub with a great IPA and barrel-aged RIS on. Several fruity and wheat offerings that weren’t exactly beer-geek targets, but I can imagine anyone coming in here and finding a beer that they would dig. The biggest drawback was the lack of their Belgian and sour-style beers on offer. I’ve had them at other places and they are amazing, but there was nothing to be found on my visit. I guess the limited nature of barrel-aged stuff makes it so it won’t always be around, but you won’t find the kind of crazy selection that you would get up at the Russian River brewpub. The food was relatively conservative but definitely good. I would make a stop by anytime I was driving up I-5 if for no other reason than their IPA is so good, and you never know when something new and crazy might be on.“

SamGamgee 5631 days ago

“Nice big (fenced) courtyard with picnic tables and a few groups of folks having a pint & a smoke. A big tap room with a separate dining room. Nine standard drafts, 3 of which they were out of, and 2 seasonal/special brews. Luckily the UberHoppy was on draft.. Big IBUs (no one knew the figure) not particularly balanced, which was fine with me, but very well constructed. I can’t believe I didn’t get a growler... We also tried their "Barleywine." It was nicely put together as well. We didn’t have any food, but it looked like pretty typical pub fare. It’s only about 4 miles off the 5 or the 99 and well worth the detour whether heading north or south. I will definitely stop there again.“

stoad 5740 days ago

“Nice place, TV’s all around, cool patio, and quality beer.“

fidel 5784 days ago

“Definitely one of the better brewpub experiences I’ve had: the RIS, Uberhoppy, and Thunder Ale were the seasonals on tap when we stopped by. RIS was excellent, especially. Outdoor patio, sunlit bar area, great service and free small samples of anything you’d like to try (or $7 for a sample platter). Hung out with AgentSteve, DSG, aspidites, and KrausenJockey after lunch, which only added to the experience. Great stop, fantastic hosts, and just one of the most exciting breweries out there right now.“

kmweaver 5803 days ago

“Very cool place, more like a sports bar. TV’s everywhere, was able to catch a lot of college football. Had three beers out, but they had Uberhoppy and the RIS, which was all that matters really. The bartender was extremely helpful, always checking up on us. Very good burgers, had the bacon blue cheese burger, awesome. They had a real nice outside patio as well, didn’t get out there (wanted to stay close to the taps.) Very cool.“

Hophead22 5833 days ago

“Sports bar decorated with lots of memorabilia. Very good food and friendly service. Great beers.“

sunevdj 5964 days ago

“I think I hit this place on an off day (for me.) The service here was EXCELLENT! They had just run out of the Whiskey Barrel aged stout, but they made a great effort to track down if they had any in the back. The style is definitely sports-bar. If that’s your thing, you’ll like that aspect of this place. They didn’t have any others besides the standard selection - out of Uberhoppy and the Stout. The food was better than usual pub fare.“

Taverner 6002 days ago

“Pretty cool spot. T.V.’s everywhere. OK food one time, not so good the next. Their beers have turned to crap. Servers don’t know what they are pouring. I won’t ever be back“

AgentSteve 6027 days ago

“Large high ceiling bar area full of sports memrobilia was a bit on the dark side. The beer selection was’nt bad with about 9 beers available. The service was good and the people knowledgable. Did’nt eat so can’t comment on the food. Met one of the brewers and he went in the back and dug up a bottle of their Grand Cru and one of Decadence12! The Grand Cru was amazing and the 12 was good also!Very cool pub well worth checking out!“

Ratman197 6317 days ago

“Visited here on 3/3/07 from 3pm-7pm. Upon arrival, the interior is large and cavernous and warehouse-like. There is a lot of sports memorabilia on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. While I like sports, the littering of memorabilia seemed kind of garish. The bar is on the left, while there is a large patio with tables on it. There are also some video games and such on the right. Several TVs and large screens are present as well. Bathrooms are small and a bit run down. Initial service was good, but the bartender I had left and the replacement was not overly attentive. Granted, it was a little bit busier. They had 10 beers on tap and no seasonals (they ran out of their Uber IIPA 2 days prior, which I was looking forward to having). The menu was quite large and seemed rather impressive. I wasn’t overly hungry, so I ordered the Jalepeno Cheese stuffed pretzel, which was ok at best. It definitely tasted like freezer. Either way, the beer was good, which is all I really care about. For those of you visiting here, be careful as Stockton is a dangerous town and has the 2nd highest car theft rate in the nation. I have been here twice since my initial rating and I must say that they have the worst food I have ever had at a brewpub. Ridiculously salty.“

DYCSoccer17 6410 days ago

“Went there with a great buddy of mine (aspitides) and sampled most of the beers that were on tap. Excellent atmosphere (very friendly, sociable people), good food (although I admit I didn’t have anything too extravagant) and EXCELLENT selection of beer/liquor and really excellent service with friendly people all the way around. I will definitely be returning for all they have to offer.“

GG 6818 days ago