Welcome to The Rusty Alfa!

My dad and I have always shared a few things that have kept us close: motored vehicles, Rugby, and (after I turned 21) beer.  We shortly realized that there was no better place to incorporate all of these things than a Pub.  My dad had the benefit of having lived in England, so he had a good idea of what a Pub “should” be.

While our local pubs have always treated us well, we enjoyed finding new pubs and beers. The problem was, I never have been able to find a place that lists the pubs in the area.

With all of that in mind, I present to you my father’s 60th birthday present. The Rusty Alfa will set out to find and document all pubs we can find. While we will focus on pubs within a few hour radius of the SF Bay Area, California, we certainly will provide feedback on any other pubs we come across.

Each pub will be judged on 6 main metrics, with a score from both myself and my father:

• First Timer Friendly? (Yes or No) When you enter the pub as a stranger, do you feel welcome our out of place.
• Food (1-10) To get a rating of 10, there should be high quality food for anyone who might be in your group.
• Beverage (1-10) Any pub first and foremost must have a good beer selection. PBR (even though it is delicious) and Bud won’t cut it. There should be a full bar just to meet all potential tastes.
• Atmosphere (1-10)  To us, a good atmosphere would allow a nice layout that allows both private conversation and mingling with strangers. It should not be too dark/light nor too loud/quiet.
• Overall (1-10) This is a bit more subjective. What is the overall feeling do you get when you are in this place? How much do you like it?
• But Is It A Pub? (Yes or No)  Inevitably we will come across places that we like but aren’t as much of a “pub” as they claim.

We will provide both a brief overview of our trip to explain the context, as well as a short paragraph from each of our perspectives on the experience.

Please join us on what I know will be an amazing experience, and feel free to provide any commentary or suggestions!