.Best Beer Hike

Who amongst us loves a good hike but does not also love great beer? The
place to combine the two is the Warehouse Cafe in Port Costa. Funky
does not describe it: dark, dilapidated, and populated with long-dead
taxidermied animals and patrons, the Warehouse nestles in Port Costa, a
one-street town that dead-ends at the Carquinez Strait. The Warehouse
is a hulking old cavern of a tavern, across the street from an alleged
former whorehouse. Outside, there is usually a line of old Harleys and
other motorbikes; inside, hundreds of beers from around the world, from
local microbreweries to obscure German brews. First-timers should order
at the antique bar in the middle of the cavern, because if you ask
nicely — and the bartenders can be bothered — you’ll get
escorted into a huge cooler to make your selection. Order a hearty
meal, wander outside, and watch the ships steam by, the quiet broken by
a cycle’s roar. The trail to the Warehouse starts at parks in Crockett
or Martinez. From either direction you hike through the Carquinez
Regional Shoreline Park until you hit Port Costa. Along the way there
are great views of the Delta; if you’re lucky you’ll spot an osprey
flying by with dinner in its talons. Listen to the trains rumble and
whistle below, and look north to Sonoma and east to Mt. Diablo as you
stumble back to your ride home.