Beer: Sonoma & Mendocino Counties, CA

How do you get to the heart of the craft brew craze? Go taste at the source in Northern California. Start in Petaluma, about an hour north of San Francisco, and snake through the two counties that are currently home to some of the most exciting beermaking on the planet. Slip through wine country’s back door to taste toasty lagers, mouth-puckering sours, stouts the color of crude oil, and the West’s signature brew, the hoppy India Pale Ale. Bud country this is not.

More: California's best craft beer