YOU could be forgiven a bit of indecision when ordering a drink at Beer Revolution in Oakland, Calif. While its coolers glisten with bottles of the world’s choice beers, the bar offers a list of exquisite and rare brews that changes daily  it could take an enthusiast months (or a visit to a potentially far-flung brewery) to catch some of them again.

Painted a deep red appropriate to its name, Beer Revolution (464 Third Street; 510-452-2337; beer-revolution.com), which opened earlier this year, is the latest in a growing number of tasting bars in northern California and Oregon that combine a hyperactive tap list with an exhaustive selection of bottled craft beers that patrons can sample in-house or take away. “There’s a huge craft brewing movement  every month there’s a new small craft brewery opening,” said Rebecca Boyles, a co-owner of the shop with her husband, Mark Martone, who is known as Fraggle. “There’s literally a beer revolution going on,” Mr. Martone said.

Hillary Safarik, a local who was enjoying a bottle of Wipeout  an India pale ale from Port Brewing Company in San Marcos, Calif.  at a table on the shop’s sun-baked deck, agreed. “It used to just be guys at a bar drinking some gross beer, lagers and stuff,” she said. But things have changed, she added, “Beer has become the new wine.”

Craig and Beth Wathen looked to wine bars for inspiration when they opened City Beer Store (1168 Folsom Street, Suite 101; 415-503-1033; citybeerstore.com), a spare loft in the SOMA district of San Francisco, in 2006. As is generally the case at tasting bars, the bottles are displayed by style rather than by brand. “The tasting bar gives you a relaxed atmosphere where you can ask questions,” he said. “Take a sour beer: You can describe it, the way it tastes and where it comes from, but at a certain point you just have to taste it.”