Beer in San Francisco

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Bearcat Brewmeister

Pour, Drink, Pee, Repeat
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I am taking a vacation to San Francisco and plan on visiting some brewpubs or taking a brewery tour while I am there. I have been there twice in the past for a few days on business and have visited 21st Amendment (my IPA recipe started as an attempted clone of their 21A IPA and then evolved). Does anyone have any other recommendations of places to go or places to avoid? I have seen some recommendations on sites like Yahoo, but I trust all of you more. Also some restaurant recommendations would help too. I am staying near Union Square and plan on walking or taking muni/BART/cabs other than a day or two where we will rent a car.
 
I can think of 2 in San Fran. Check out Anchor Brewery, they run tours Mon-Fri. The other is Speakeasy Brewery, they make some fine ales.

Across the bridge is Lagunita's and Bear Republic Brewing.
Another good brewery is Drakes in San Leandro.
 
If you are getting out of town head to Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa & Downtown Joe's in Napa.
 
Just dropped the SWMBO off to go there this morning. She's bringing me goodies back from Anchor, and she is going to find some other places to go. I'll pass these along
 
That show Beer Nutz did an episode in San Francisco. They went to the Anchor Steam factory and a bunch of other places I can't remember. I think Speakeasy was the one that I thought looked really cool. I believe that was the place that brewed a beer that was unique because it didn't use any hops.
 
Bearcat Brewmeister said:
Also some restaurant recommendations would help too.

My friend is taking me and the wife to Forbes' Island Restaurant (hope I spelled that right) when we are out there next week. He says it's not only interesting but the food is consistantly good. You'll probably need reservations.
 
Just thought I would provide feedback on my trip to San Francisco. Maybe someone will use the search function and come across this and find it useful.


Stopped at Magnolia (SF - Haight Ashbury) for lunch and some beverages (got a sampler of 6 beers plus a pint of IPA).

New Speedway Bitter - an English Bitter served from a cask. They used Golden Promise instead of Maris Otter so I thought it would be a little interesting. Unfortunately, it also had a good deal of wheat in it, so I didn't think it tasted much like a bitter.

Prescription Pale Ale - a Cascade-only PA. Hop levels were moderate but balanced well between bitterness, flavor, and aroma. Unfortunately for me, wheat found its way into the grain bill again.

Cole Porter - a porter with a medium high to high hop level from Cascades and EKG. This was one of their better offerings, and surprise, once again wheat is in the grain bill, but either to a much smaller extent or it is just masked by the roastiness and hops.

Kalifornia Kolsch - OK, so you might get the feeling that I don't care much for wheat beers by now. So what on earth would make me get a Kolsch? Well, I keep telling myself that I should branch out and educate my palate more and acquire a taste for beers with wheat in them. I drank some of this, but apparently, my palate needs more schoolin'.

Stout of Circumstance - best of the seven I tried. Heavy toffee aroma, roasty, yet some sweetness. Very smooth and creamy - flaked oats in there. They use chocolate, roasted barley, black malt, and crystal in it.

Darkstar Mild - also very good. Surprisingly dark, quite malty, and a bit of warmth to it despite low alcohol level (3.6% abv).

Proving Ground IPA - strong hop flavor and some but not a lot of aroma despite dry hopping. Also some interesting spiciness from hops - turns out they use Saaz in conjunction with Cascade and Columbus. Wheat in this one too, but masked by the hops - barely could pick it up when it warmed.

General impressions: Not bad, but not great either. Every beer doesn't need to be some type of hybrid mixture of grains or hops - one or two signature beers would have sufficed. If I was a wheat beer drinker, I might have thought more highly of this place, but given that I am not and the it appeared in beers where it doesn't belong IMHO, I would give the place a 6 out of 10. Food (usual pub fare) was decent.


Rafter's Grille and Brewery (San Rafael):
Quick lunch and beer on the way to wine country. Had the IPA - quite good with plenty of C hops. Fairly deluxe menu for a place that makes beer - food more of a focus than the beer apparently, but the IPA was pretty good.


21st Amendment (SF- SOMA) - I go here every time I am in SF since I am usually staying nearby for work and it was the first place I had a beer with Simcoe hops on tap. Very disappointing this time - no 21A IPA on tap, my main reason for coming to this place. I had an unremarkable bitter with fish and chips and left.


Rogue Public House (North Beach) - Had an awesome Italian dinner around the corner and stopped in for a few afterwords. SWMBO thought the place smelled of urine - I thought it was no worse than the city buses. Figured I would grab the chance to try some of the beers I liked in bottles fresh from the tap. The Mocha Porter tasted fairly close to its bottled cousin - I must be getting a fairly fresh supply. Even though I never had the bottled vesion to compare it to, I tried the St. Rogue Red - very good. Lots of hop flavor and aroma for a red, but I guess this would qualify as an American Amber - grassy and citrusy.


Good trip to SF - beer places visited: 4, wineries: 2. Score one for the good guys.
 
a kölsch isn't a wheat beer...it's more of a hybrid (ale yeast that works at low temperatures with clean profile would be the best way i could describe it)

sounds like you had a good trip. anyone that comes this way should definitely hit me up!! my rye stout is going fast, but i got some more plans and would like some feedback!

:mug:
 
So... just got back from the trip. Two things San Francisco does really well: Sourdough bread and Beer!

Not to go into too much detail.... but here is a list of what I tried (that I could remember).

Stone IPA
Hop Czar IPA
Lagunitas IPA
Prohibition amber
Anchor Porter
Pliny the Elder IPA
Back in Black IPA
Madness IPA
Brew Free or Die IPA
Old Glory Strong Ale
Fireside Chat Winter Ale
Anchor Steam
Pyramid Hefeweizen
Blue Star Wheat
Moose Drool Brown Ale
Scrimshal IPA
Racer 5 IPA
Full Sail IPA


I did a quick tour of 21st Amendment and also visited Toronado. Thanks for all the advice!
 
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