The Slumbering Lungfish Dybbuk Hostel and All-Night Boulangerie

Get in your car and drive north. When you hit Vancouver, try any beer from Granville Island Breweries, or Grasshopper or Warthog beer from Calgary-based Big Rock Brewery. Yum.

I've been there! My friends and I were visiting the bay area (from Chicago) and stopped there before going to Gilman Street to fulfill all our high school punk rock fantasies. You're absolutely correct, the beer there was awesome. If you're even in the Midwest I recommend Chicago's homegrown Goose Island or Kalamazoo Michigan's Bell's Brewery (especially if it is the summer and you can get Oberweiss).

Lore,

There are some places in the Bay Area that have Lost Coast on tap. I was just in Ben & Nicks (Rockridge), they have some beers from there although I didn't look for Downtown Brown. I'll let you know if I run into it somewhere else.

California, especially the north, is great beer country and Pyramid's one of the better breweries out there. If you like lighter beers along the lines of Newkie Brown (which has the reputation here in the UK akin to what Schlitz does in the US), Bear Republic does Pete's Brown Tribute (nothing to do with Pete's Wicked Ale), and Avery does a nice brown also.

1. Hefeweizen with lemon: ew ew ew.
2. Hefeweizen straight out of the bottle: ew ew ew!

Hefeweizen is supposed to be lovingly poured in one of these glasses, or, failing that, another tall glass that is capable of holding the full half litre. Before pouring the last bit, swish the bottle around to dislodge the yeast at the bottom of the bottle (if there's none, you did not buy bottle-fermented beer and should demand your money back), since that's where the flavour is.
I'm from Bavaria, where this stuff was invented. We know how to enjoy this.

Correction: Bell's makes OBERON in the summer, not oberweiss. It's really not a bad domestic weiss.

Your Pyramid comments take me back. In the late eighties I helped my sister move from Cleveland out to Seattle and was amazed at the number and variety of microbrews available. One of the first beers I tried there was Pyramid Hefeweizen and it remains a sentimental favorite. I agree with you on the lemon--it adds too much acidity and detracts from the creamy yeastiness that's why you're drinking it in the first place. Edmund is right as well--you definitely need the swirl and pour into a tall glass.

Yes, come to Seattle and try our microbrews! We have SO MANY awesome breweries in the Pac NW that you can't possibly go wrong if you just keep drinking... Hit me up when you get here and I'll even buy you one so I can pick your brain and tell you in person over and over again how funny The Brunching Shuttlecocks was and how you should bring it back. I really miss those arbitrary "Good or Bad" things. Anyway, beer. Good stuff. Up here. Try the FishBowl (Olympia), Jolly Roger Taproom (Ballard), and the Elysian (Capitol Hill) for starters.

We have a local brewery that every year makes an Irish ale for, unsuprisingly, St. Pats. This year is fantastic. If you can find it in your area look for Boulevard Brewery's Irish Ale. I give it 4 stars.

I've always enjoyed a good hefeweizen when I'm in the Northwest. I suggest you try the Widmer Brother's version, though. I prefer it to the Pyramid.

And I find it benefits from a very tiny bit of lemon. The massive wedges most people cut just overwhelm the creamy yeastiness, but a very small amount compliments it very nicely. It adds a little bit of tartness that I find quite pleasing.

Heck yeah about Bell's. I came of drinking age in Grand Rapids, just north of Kalamazoo, and became a fervent follower of their beer. Only when I moved away, to Philly, did I discover how exceptional it is, insofar as I have yet to find anything around here that begins to compete, plus I've heard from various people who've never lived in Bell's country but know of it as good beer.
I served Oberon at my wedding (which was in the summer), but their porter is probably my favorite beer.

Speaking as a former brewer at Pyramid, and one of the people who suggested Lost Coast in the first place, avoid Pyramid. It's one of the two dirtiest breweries I've ever worked in. Plus, and a telling point, while I was there none of the brewers would drink the beer--I traded my monthly case to my landlord to pay my utilities.

In Berkeley, I'd suggest Triple Rock up on Shattuck. Good beer, usually two styles on their beer engine as well as the usual CO2 dispense types, and the head brewer Christian is a cool guy.

Or visit Riverside and have one of my beers, once I get this place on its feet again.