Pacific Coast Brewing Company (Oakland, CA)

Initial Review, 2003-06-08: One of my favorite brewpubs on the East side of the Bay. This place is semi-hidden away on a side-steet, well within walking distance from Jack London Square (which is the best place to park, to be honest), in a section of Oakland that seems to be a far cry from the ugly reputation the city has on the whole.

Very traditional pub atmosphere, with no pretenses of trying to be anything but a good solid old-school pub. No yuppy-like flair here, thankfully. Ussualy the bar is open enough to immediately grab a pint, but have never had to wait too long to grab a table, either. Good service, as well.

Solid selection of ales, with the Killer Whale Ale being probably my favorite of the bunch. But all are good, and I've never had a beer that was seved too cold or that had to be returned.

Very old-school in the food department, as well. Menu emphasizes the local waterfront seafood selection (the fish-n'-chips dish is always good), with a good selection of other offerings.

Worth checking out if your anywhere in the Oakland/Berkeley area.
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Re-Review, 2009-06-17: If there was one place that disappointed me the most, it's this one. I knew Buffalo Bills was going to be semi-crap, but at least I knew that going in. With PacCoast Brewing, though, I expected A LOT better! I used to point out this place to folks traveling to the Bay Area as being destination worthy. I used to site them as a stellar example of a brewpub making great beer on a Malt Extract system.

But that was then, and now is..., well, now.

This place was across the street from the Conference Center, and, by extension, my hotel room 13 floors above the Conference Center. So this was an obvious place to meet up with my homebrew mates (most of whom drove up from SD). But I think my first of three visits over the course of the five day trip set the tone for me.

The Blue Whale Ale (aka yet another "Strong Amber Ale") wasn't perfect, but okay enough to sip on while watching the Oakland A's beat up on the Dodgers. But my follow-up beer? Good lord, the Grey Whale [Pale] Ale sucked!  Buttery gym socks, anyone? Sent that beast back, and wound up with a Killer Whale Stout. It's an axiom in homebrewing circles that Stouts are very good beginners beers, since they tend to hide most flaws. This beer was no exception: unremarkable, but drinkable.

Considering the proximity of this place to the NHC, they should have made a killing, packing in homebrewing geeks, and wow'ing them interesting with ltd. ed. house and guest beers. But it was telling that we never saw a huge crowd here -- crawling distance to the NHC or not.

(Also, if the best you can do to tout your beer is to mention an award the beer received 10+ years ago, you might want to think about some revamping, eh?)

In the same way that I set the bar low for Buffalo Bills, I set the bar high for this place. And overall, it failed.

//TB