Sunday 10th of August 2014 07:03:58 PM

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This is more like it after visiting that other brewery one street over. This place was not crowded and the bar tender actually had time to talk....the first beer I had was the ALS Hoppy Copper, a beer designed with hops from the ALS and part of the proceeds go to support the ALS foundation. This beer has a good crystal maltiness and 6 different hops. This is as good a copper or red ale as I have had in a while, wish I could get more. The next beer was the Puddle Jumper Pale Ale. This beer has a good hop aroma and nice maltiness to balance, this is a good beer, somewhat slightly sweet maltiness with a good hop balance. The next beer was the Hop Therapy session ale, this beer has a nice aroma of malt and hops and has a slight orange citrus tint in the flavor profile. Another solid beer. The next beer was the Taylor Mt. Rye IPA, this is a tasty IPA with obvious rye malt , very well balanced. I'm getting more impressed with this brewery as the beers keep coming. The next beer was the Stonefly oatmeal stout, Nice toasty malt aroma and flavor, medium mouthfeel and silky as it's an oatmeal stout. I then had the Blarney Sisters Dry Irish Stout, this beer had more mouthfeel and flavor than the one I had one street over....
They have to coolest growlers, like a big black insulated Nalgene bottle, $40 filled...I gotta get one....

In my humble opinion, if you have time for only one brewery in Santa Rosa visit this one...They have glassware and coasters. Visited 8/3/2014.

Tuesday 11th of August 2009 12:12:41 AM

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Nine beers were available on our visit but it looked like there were spaces for more and that there are a lot more varieties that rotate through. The Bodega Head IPA we tried was quite good.

It’s a fairly modern building, in sensibility at least, with a peaked ceiling. There is a mezzanine area with dark metal railings and a pool table. On one short side of the space are nice large “saw tooth” bay windows. Seating is provided by booths, tables, and a long wooden bar with stools and a metal foot rail. The bar back consists of windows looking into the brewery. Floors are concrete and the ceiling is black with exposed wooden rafters and hanging antique bicycles. There’s an interesting modern mural of a bar scene on one wall and another art deco style mural of brewery workers by the door next to the patio. Another wall is corrugated metal and the rest is modern bricks (painted).

The crowd was both young people and families on our Saturday evening visit and it had a good pub feeling. The space overall is a bit worn around the edges, however. Food is pretty much of the generic pub variety (pizza, sandwiches, burgers, tacos, soup, salad) but we didn’t try anything so aren’t rating it.

Wednesday 24th of June 2009 09:19:50 AM

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Third Street Aleworks (TSA) had two unfair strikes against it before I even arrived. It was a Friday night in Santa Rosa with NASCAR crowds pushing most bars to capacity. Second, we had driven nearly 250 miles earlier that day and was stopping off for a beer after drinking several at dinner (at this point we weren't driving).

The atmosphere felt very corporate and/or like TSA is part of a larger chain. This is generally a bad indicator in my book. Service was hard to really evaluate as we pushed our way up to the bar and just ordered a couple beers. Tastes included the pale, IPA, IRA and stout. Out of the group, the pale was barely drinkable (actually, we left most of the pint behind), the IPA was average (drinkable, but not stand out like some beers tasted that day), the IRA was decent and easily the best beer we tasted at TSA, and the stout was average. We did not have anything to eat.

If I were stuck on the east coast, I'm sure we would be at TSA on a regular basis. But with such great breweries and beer bars in the area, this wouldn't be top on my list. Especially when one of the better breweries is only a short walk away...

Tuesday 9th of October 2007 01:12:40 AM

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With tasty grub, well done service and a fantastic beer sampler available, this location is highly recommended and sure to please as one of the many stops on your Beer Mapping journeys.

The selection of handmade craft beers were served up with excellent service and included styles such as Kolsch, IPA, a number of tasty German styles and the classic dark beers (Stouts, Porters, etc.). All the beers were pronounced with flavor and were not too light. The Indian Pale was fully hopped to a nice bitterness. We do recommend getting the beer sampler which gives you a sneak peek of five plus hand crafted ales and lagers and goes well with food. Check their website for seasonal ales and visit with a head start.

The menu was full of brewpub grub style eats and this location does have an excellent baked French onion soup which goes good with a Porter.

Look for billiards at this location and make sure to take a look at the outdoor seating in the patio. The outdoor patio seating area is situated in a larger coble stone alleyway area and gives you that feeling of eating outdoors street side.

Monday 20th of August 2007 12:43:07 PM

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I’ve visited 3rd Street several times and have always enjoyed the beer and food. There is a large bar area with an adjacent counter as well as table & booth seating on the first floor. Additional table seating is available in the loft (with pool tables, etc) and in the outside patio area.
Ten house brews plus a couple of area ciders were on tap when I visited. I liked the Blarney Sisters Dry Irish Stout but have also enjoyed the Stonefly Stout and Bodega Head IPA on previous visits.
The menu has a nice selection of Tacos, Burgers and Pizzas as well as some unusual starters, several sandwiches and more upscale entrees. I usually park on the street but there is a parking structure just a block behind.