Are you a beer lover on the hunt for the best breweries in Sacramento?! Well, look no more!
Sacramento is a small, walk-able town that is filled with craft breweries. If you have a free day on your trip to Sacramento, I highly recommend checking out some of these local spots. Even if you don’t spend an entire day bar hopping the area, I would still pick at least one to check out!
What’s cool about these breweries is that they all have a casual, local feel to them. Most have yard games or board games, picnic style seating, outdoor patios, and constant events! The opportunities are endless for you to meet locals or fellow travelers on your trip to Sacramento.
When I traveled to Sacramento in Fall of 2018, I spent a full day Wine bar hopping, a full day brewery hopping and a full day checking out the famous sites. Before I get to the brewery list, I’ll go over some other things you should know before planning a trip to Sacramento…
There’s a chance that this post contains affiliate links. I may receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you), that goes directly towards little Rosie’s dog treats!
Where is Sacramento?
Sacramento is the capital of sunny & beautiful California, inland of San Francisco. To get to Sacramento, you can either fly into Sacramento International Airport (SMF) or you can drive from many of the nearby cities:
- From Reno, NV: 2.5 hours
- From Las Vegas, NV: 9 hours
- From San Francisco, CA: 3 hours
- From LA: 6 hours
If you are planning a USA road trip, this is a perfect city to break up your long drives and learn a lot about California’s history. If you want to read some more USA guides, click here to read more!
Best time of year to travel to Sacramento?
California is known for having year-round amazing weather, but it will ideally depend on what you are wanting to do. The summers can be very hot (90 degrees Fahrenheit +), and there are no beaches or lakes in the area to cool off at. I would recommend either Fall or Spring to get the sunny weather, great temperatures and fewer crowds!
If you already have your dates set and want to have a better idea of the weather around those dates, this site has a great weather report that is based on historical averages!
Where to stay in Sacramento
If you are only coming to Sacramento for the weekend, you will want to stay as close to the action as possible! Old town and downtown are the two main areas with the breweries, so you will want to stay somewhere in between them. For example, if you pull up the Golden 1 Center (where the Sacramento Kings play) in your map, this is a perfect area!
To make it easy on you, here is a budget, standard and luxury hotel in this area of town:
Budget $: HI Sacramento Hostel
Average $$: Holiday Inn Sacramento
Luxury $$$: Kimpton Sawyer
Things to Pack for Sacramento
I never want to bore you with a packing guide, so I always recommend 3-5 MUST HAVE’S for this specific itinerary!
If you plan to do a ton of drinking during your time in Sacramento, you will want to make sure you are preventing your hangover! I was born and raised in Las Vegas, so you can assume I’m an expert in this topic, ha!
Good walking shoes are a must-have for any itinerary where you will be walking a lot. Lucky for you, breweries always have a very casual dress code, so a cute pair of tennis shoes will go perfect! These are the shoes that I wear on EVERY vacation because they are unbelievably comfy.
Girls, there is NOTHING worse than your phone dying while you are in a foreign city while you’re drunk… nothing. Make sure you either have a phone charge or a portable charger with you so you never get lost! I bring a portable charger with me on every vacation because my phone always dies so fast taking pictures and using my maps.
Best Breweries in Sacramento
Stop 1: Alaro Craft Brewery
- Located at 2004 Capitol Ave (Midtown)
- OPEN Sun-Thu 11:30 – 10:30 & Fri-Sat 11:30 – 11:30
- Happy Hour Mon-Fri 2pm-6pm and Thu-Sun 9:30pm-Close
Alaro is a local, mom and pop brewery who opened their doors in late 2018. Even though it’s on the smaller size, they have a great restaurant area and offer brewery tours in the back! I came in with a large party and even though they just opened, they handled our large party with quick service and yummy food.
Ray Ballestero, part-time anesthesiologist, gave us a private brewery tour after we ate and showed us his passion that shines through every sip! It’s always so fun to hear of someone completely changing their career path, especially from a career that requires so much education.
For their beer flight, you can either choose to do a custom flight of 3 beers or you can opt in to taste all 10, like me! I think it’s definitely worth it to taste all of them because they are all so unique and different from each other.
Okay, so don’t judge me for being a total nerd and finding this the coolest part… See those tubes? They link up directly to either the beer kegs or vessels, are then plumbed underground and link right up to the tap behind the bar. So neat!
Stop 2: Fieldwork Brewing Company
- Located at 1805 Capitol Ave
- OPEN Monday-Thursday: 12pm to 10pm, Friday-Saturday: 11am to 11pm, and Sunday: 11am to 10pm
- Happy Hour NO happy hour 🙁
Fare warning, Fieldwork is home to the largest flight ever! Seriously… look at those things! I would recommend splitting one of these and not trying to drink the whole thing (and fail), like me.
Even though this popular brewery has locations all over California, they started in Sacramento! It’s cool to see a local brewery become so successful and grow like Fieldwork did.
Something that they are known for is their PB&J beer, which actually tastes just like a PB&J sandwich! Very, very strange but somehow good? It’s one of those you either love it or you hate it type of beers!
Stop 3: Golden Road Brewing
- Located at 1830 L St
- OPEN Sun-Wed: 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM and Thurs-Sat: 11:00 AM – 12:00 AM
- Happy Hour NO happy hour 🙁
Golden Road is an adorable, outdoor brewery that would be a perfect spot when the weather is nice. It has lawn games, heaters, fire pits and the thing that calls all Instagram lovers in… the twinkly lights!
This is another brewery that was born in California (LA to be exact) and has grown to multiple locations throughout California, including Sacramento.
Unfortunately, when I traveled to Sacramento in late 2018, it was during the deadly California fires! The air conditions were awful (as you can see from the picture below), so the brewery was closed. I did get to take a peak inside and got serious FOMO, but now I have a reason to come back to Sacramento! 🙂
Stop 4: Big Stump Brewing
- Located at 1716 L St
- OPEN Mon-Wed 11a–10p ,Thurs 11a–11p, Fri-Sat 11a–12a, & Sunday 11a–10p
- Happy Hour NO happy hour 🙁
Big Stump had my all-time favorite beer, Llama Drama Pineapple Hazy! Instead of a flight, I ended up just getting a glass of this beer and was not disappointed! Since I am not a huge beer person, I typically like a light and fruity beer and Big Stump had a ton of options for me.
This brewery has picnic style seating with board games, making it a perfect spot to meet other people. They also host events constantly like Vinyl night, Trivia and private events. You can read their current events here!
Stop 5: Sacrament Brewing
- Located at 1616 J St
- OPEN Mon-Thurs 11am-11pm, Fri-Sat 11am-2am, and Sun 11am-11pm
- Happy Hour They have a constantly changing happy hour that is
This three-story brewery is the perfect last stop considering they have an expansive food menu that is sooo delicious! They have happy hour that changes often, so if you are planning a visit I would recommend calling to get accurate happy hour info (916) 492-2850.
The downstairs “cellar” area is more for flights and a brewery vibe while the upstairs feels more like a full bar / restaurant. If those floors don’t suit you, they also have an adorable rooftop area! In all honesty, this stop had my least favorite beer of the day, but it is a great spot for large parties to hang out and watch a sports game!
Okay, that’s a wrap! These are the BEST breweries in Sacramento, which includes some lesser known, big name and sports breweries to give you a well-rounded trip! If you are stopping in Sacramento for the weekend, don’t forget to check out my guide on Wine Bar hopping in Sacramento!
If you are planning a USA road trip, here are some more guide I think you will love 🙂
- Big Sur Road Trip
- Unique things to do in San Francisco
- San Francisco Hotels with a view
- Quick Guide to Monterey
Thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂
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3 comments
This is awesome! I’m so glad I found your blog. I’m currently planning a honeymoon for someone in this area, and your posts will be so helpful!
Riley, thanks so much for reaching out! They will love their vacation, be sure to check out my other post on Wine Bar Hopping in Sacramento as well! 🙂
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