Brewpubs in San Francisco

In light of smata67 posting on Denver: I am in SF all week, where should I go? I tried to get a reservation for an Anchor Steam tour, but all booked up. I think I'll hit up the 21st amendment brew pub...

Not a brewpub, but I highly recommend Tornado. Was recommended to me on this forum when I was out there a while ago. It's a hole in the wall, but have more taps than any place that small should have, and also have a fantastic selection of brews. It's up in the Haight/Ashby area.

Otherwise most places out there have a pretty good selection either way, the hotel I stayed at had Pliny the Elder on tap , plus a number of other good beers, became a big fan of anchor steam while I was in SF

Oh, and the kitty cat club was right down the street from Toronado, it sounds a kind of gay(hey, it is SF), but when I stopped by everyone(customers) were all decked out in 1920'ish dress and lots of swing dancing going on. I just happened to walk in on my way out of Toronado, but it was definatley one of the cooler bars i've been to, ok selection of beers too.

Awesome, I have heard of Tornado but forgot about it. I will keep an eye out for all these places!

21 Amendment is great choice as stated. I would also recommend:

Public House
24 Willie Mays Plaza, San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 644-0240 ‎

Never had a drink here but I love Rogue:

Rogue Ales Public House
673 Union Street, San Francisco, CA 94133
(415) 362-7880 ‎

And of course my all time favorite place to get a pastrami sandwich and a beer:

Tommy's Joynt
1101 Geary Boulevard, San Francisco, CA 94109-6815
(415) 775-4216 ‎

I would check out speakeasy brewery.

If you're a fan of beligians definitely go to la trappe. HUGE SELECTION

Not a brewpub, but Monk's Kettle in the Mission District has an insane beer list. Both taps and bottles.

Thirsty Bear has some great beers.

If you are looking for people to meetup with shoot me a PM. I'm always down to grab a beer.

Speakeasy Brewery is open on fridays to the public. Starts at 4pm and they usually have a tour. If I remember right, pints are $3, and the brewers are always chilling with the crowd. They have a great Triple IPA only at the brewery.

Thirsty Bear also has great brews and great guest brews.

I would avoid the food at Rogue, but their tap list is amazing.

I would checkout Elizabeth Street Brewery http://elizabethstreetbrewery.com/. Shoot them an email or follow their twitter feed to findout when they are open. They brew 10 gal batches and then offer their beer for free in their basement bar and ask for a donation instead (get around permits and licensing).

Magnolia Pub is also worth checking out.

Russian River brewery in Santa Rosa (30 min north of SF) would be my first choice. Decent pub, but their beers are outstanding and you won't find a better selection of sours. Very out-of-the-ordinary selection.

Get these on tap, and much more:

Pliney the Elder
Consecration

+1 on RR if you have the opportunity

thirsty bear has an english-style brown aged 6mos in makers mark barrels on tap right now. one of the better beers I've ever had fwiw.

ditto on RR, 21A, rogue, and toronado. haven't been to monk's kettle yet but its been on my list.

tasq said:

Thirsty Bear has some great beers.

Click to expand...

And great food.

If you're down there next year...

http://beernews.org/2010/11/heretic-brewing-to-open-in-san-francisco-next-year/

Great to see the local spots for a great city. Iandh, will have to send you a PM next time I am in the city, and out of staid Marin. ;0

Definitely Sparky, i'm always interested in meeting a fellow homebrewer for a beer.

I live 5 blocks from the Anchor Brewery. Maybe someday I'll reserve 10 slots for a tour and organize a HBT meetup...

If you like IPAs, I definitely agree Russian River is the choice. When I was in Cali for my honeymoon, RR had 3 IPAs on tap, each with a very different & delicious flavor profile...Pliny the Elder, Blind Pig IPA, & Russian River IPA.

Oh, and I brought home a Double Daddy DIPA from Speakeasy & it was really good too. Next time I'm out west I'll probably make a stop there to try their other brews.

I highly recommend Magnolia on Haight and Masonic. That's the best brewpub in the city, in my opinion. You can also try Social Kitchen and Brewery on 9th and Iriving. They are fairly new but have an interesting selection.

check out www.pubquest.com for every craft brewery in SF and the surroundings...worth the trip to Santa Rosa (as someone mentioned) as well as up to Lagunitas and Bear Republic...several other small ones in the bay area too...cheers!

Magnolia has gone a bit upscale, the food is about twice as expensive as it used to be and the service can be hit or miss. They do brew excellent beer, I've only had one slightly green IPA with excess diacetyl there.