Beer Hall Near Me at Pier 39: Humble Sea's Helles by the Liter

Humble Sea Brewing opened its first San Francisco taproom in May 2025 at Pier 39, in unit N-111 next to The Crystal Shop, and the house Munich helles is poured in a one-liter mug for $19. A half liter is $10.50, a 12-ounce glass is $7.50 and a 5-ounce taste is $4.50. The taproom opens at noon Monday through Thursday and 11 am Friday through Sunday. For a beer hall near me search at Fisherman's Wharf, this is the bayside spot where the lager comes by the liter.

Humble Sea was founded in 2014 and opened its first taproom on Swift Street in Santa Cruz in 2015, then grew into one of the most chased craft brands on the Central Coast, with Bay Area rooms in Pacifica and Alameda. The Pier 39 location was teased online for more than a year before it opened. The San Francisco Standard described every seat filling within 30 minutes on opening day in May 2025.

Joe White, Humble Sea's hospitality director, told the Standard that the team loves being on the water and that the views are pretty fantastic. Those two lines explain most of the appeal: you are drinking a serious lager program in a tourist pier setting, with the bay on one side and the pier's shops on the other. The brewery fits about 80 seated guests, and a heated patio takes the edge off the afternoon wind. Opening-day coverage also named Landline Shark, a lager, and Sunset Sesh, an IPA, among the first beers poured, along with a 14 percent barrel-aged stout called Mocha Ryething sold in 5-ounce glasses.

Humble Sea pours its lagers through Czech-style LUKR side-pull faucets, which build a tall, wet head of foam. White told the Standard the team makes sure the beer has never touched oxygen because mouthfeel matters. The house Munich helles, at 4.9 percent, is double decocted, naturally carbonated and horizontally lagered with Hallertau Mittelfruh hops, and the brewery notes it won Best in Show at the California Craft Beer Cup under its earlier joke name.

The October 18, 2026 draft list showed three lagers that all come in the same four sizes: Humble Sea Helles, Helle Gud, a 4.8 percent smoked helles, and Look Gud, a 5.2 percent Vienna lager. All three are $19 for a liter, $10.50 for a half liter, $7.50 for 12 ounces and $4.50 for 5 ounces. The helles can also be ordered as a shandy. If you came for the beer-hall experience, order the liter of helles and share the table.

Humble Sea built its name on what it calls foggy IPAs, its word for hazy. The second draft board on the same page lists beers like Socks & Sandals, a 6.6 percent foggy IPA with Citra, Centennial, Simcoe and Chinook, and Gnar Gnar Binks at 6.8 percent. West Coast options on the main board include Boardwalk Dreamin', Kookasaurus and Tide Pod, each $9.50 for 16 ounces or $7.50 for 12. Hot Gull Summer, a 5.8 percent pale ale with Simcoe and Amarillo, is $8.50 for 16 ounces.

For dark beer, Life Finds A Wave is a 4.3 percent dry Irish-style stout at $8.50 for 16 ounces, light enough to drink on a sunny patio. Violet Tide is the opposite: a 15 percent barrel-aged stout with coconut, ube and vanilla, served only as a 5-ounce pour for $10. Honest advice: order the Violet Tide only at the end of your visit, because at that strength one small glass is a full drink, and Pier 39 is a place you will want to keep walking.

There is no food menu at the taproom. When it opened, reports noted that guests could order from Taco Cantina nearby on the pier, and the rest of Pier 39 is lined with chowder bowls, crab stands and sourdough. The simplest plan is to eat first on the pier and then come for a liter of helles and the view.

Cans are sold to go as well, including the fruit-heavy Super Pops line, made with smoothie-style ingredients. If you are staying at a Wharf hotel, a few cans make an easy souvenir from a brewery that, until 2025, you had to drive to Santa Cruz, Pacifica or Alameda to visit.

Hours are noon to 9 pm Monday through Thursday and 11 am to 9 pm Friday through Sunday. Weekend afternoons are the busiest because the pier itself is at its fullest, so weekday arrivals right at noon have the best chance at a patio table with a bay view. The patio is heated, but fog can arrive fast, so bring a jacket even in October.

If every seat is taken and the line is long, the original San Francisco Brewing Co. taproom at Ghirardelli Square is about a mile west along the waterfront. If you want a full meal with your beer, that is a better choice anyway, since it runs a kitchen and Humble Sea does not.

Address: Pier 39, unit N-111, Beach Street and The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94133. The taproom sits next to The Crystal Shop and across from Swiss Louis Italian and Seafood Restaurant. Drivers can use the Pier 39 Garage at 2550 Powell Street, directly across The Embarcadero. The F Market and Wharves historic streetcar stops along The Embarcadero, and the Powell-Mason cable car ends a few blocks away at Taylor and Bay.

Who you will meet: visiting families finishing a day at the Wharf, Santa Cruz regulars who know the brand, homebrewers like the one the Standard quoted on opening day, who said he would rather drink a lighter beer that tastes really good, and locals who time a visit for a quiet weekday. After your liter, walk to the end of the pier to see the sea lions on K-Dock, or stroll east along The Embarcadero toward Coit Tower and the Ferry Building.