Drinking in San Francisco

Zeitgeist

Beer Garden / Dive Bar

Party Earth Review Born as a biker haven, Zeitgeist has evolved into an institutional dive that attracts everyone from Harley loyalists to skinny-jeaned bike messengers with its mix of surly bartenders, solid beer selection, and expansive graffiti-laden courtyard. Beneath the venue’s unmistakable logo – a Playboy bunny with a skull instead ... more

199 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94103

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NightLife at the California Academy of Sciences

Culture / Drinking Activity

Party Earth Review Anyone yearning to geek out inside a multimillion-dollar science museum with the added bonus of booze should head to Golden Gate Park on Thursdays for NightLife at the California Academy of Sciences. Since 2009, the Academy has stayed open late once a week to give the 21+ crowd full run of the place, with an ever-changing ... more

55 Music Concourse Drive
San Francisco, CA 94118

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Southern Pacific Brewing

Bar / Brewery

Party Earth Review Teeming with tanks of soon-to-be beer in a sprawling space that holds more than two hundred people, Southern Pacific Brewing is a station-sized temple to local brew. Celebrating the Mission’s industrial past – SP rail once passed through the area – this warehouse-turned-bar and brewery boasts a lofted indoor dining area ... more

620 Treat Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94110

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ThirstyBear Brewing Company

Bar / Brewery / Restaurant

Party Earth Review Tapas and beer are on the menu at ThirstyBear Brewing Company, a cavernous brewery and restaurant that gets chock-full of city denizens in need of Spanish cuisine and freshly brewed pints. The round wooden tables that surround the central bar and line the exposed brick walls are taken over by tech workers and tourists at ... more

661 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA 94105

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Magnolia Gastropub & Brewery

Gastropub / Brewery / Pub

Reviewed by Lucie D.

"The first time I hit Magnolia was for brunch- and oh would I hit it again. Good food, not insanely outstanding but not disappointing at all. A fairly ..." more

1398 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA 94117

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Zeitgeist - Beer Garden | Dive Bar in SF

Day or night, there are lots of fun ways to enjoy the varied drinking activities in San Francisco. Whether it’s sampling fine wines in a cool, underground grotto or lazing about in a fog-covered beer garden, drinking in SF can be as sophisticated or as downright grungy as you could possibly want.

NightLife at the California Academy of Sciences is about as signature a San Francisco drinking experience as you can get. The Academy stays open late once a week to give the 21+ crowd full run of the place, with an ever-changing series of themed events and several temporary bars spread throughout the gigantic building.

Perhaps less unique but still a signature staple of the city drinking scene, Zeitgeist features a spacious Munich-meets-Sex Pistols beer garden where more than two dozen picnic tables host a big, boisterous mass of young creative types and urban bad boys downing suds and digging AC/DC on the stereo. Though its bartenders are known for being brusque, the wide beer selection and wider potpourri of revelers gives Zeitgeist one of the most welcoming spirits in the city, and should be part of any extended drinking activity in SF.

Less tattoo-laden drinkers who still want some hops can venture to ThirstyBear Brewing Company, a cavernous brewery and restaurant in SoMa, while wine lovers craving a trip to Napa Valley can save themselves the hour trek by popping into subterranean Press Club, which regularly hosts in-depth tasting events.

The sky’s clearly the limit when it comes to drinking in SF, fog or not!