October 3, 2009
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.

August 31, 2009
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.

August 10, 2009
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!

July 1, 2009
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.

June 28, 2009
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.

May 9, 2009
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.

April 21, 2009
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.

January 2, 2009
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.

November 19, 2008
Nice place, TV’s all around, cool patio, and quality beer.

October 31, 2008
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.