San Francisco Beer Tour

After watching Beer Nutz-San Francisco, my brother and I decided to spend July 4th to visit all the bar/brewery mentioned in the show.

Unfortunately, we were unable to get tour reservation at Anchor Brewing. Also, Magnolia Brewery was somewhat out of the way. In its place, we added Thirsty Bear brewery.

Our first stop was Beach Chalet. Located at the edge of Golden Gate Park, right next to the Pacific ocean, Beach Chalet is housed in a beautiful historic building, upstairs from the Golden Gate Park visitor's center. The restaurant had large windows facing Ocean Beach, looking out into the Pacific. Even though it was a foggy day, we enjoyed the view.

Beach Chalet offered 6 beers on their circle of ale selection: Hefeweizen, IPA, ESB, Red, Porter and 2 other beers I don't remember. Our favorite was the ESB, with the IPA a close second. The banana flavored Hefeweizen was actually decent, but I am not a fan of fruit beer in general.

The second stop of our beer tour was Rouge. Based out of Oregon, this brew pub had a San Francisco outlet located in North Beach. We ordered a 4 beer tasting set consisting of 200m IPA, Dead guy Ale, American Amber and a dark beer. We found the beer at Rouge too "hoppy" and not quite our taste. Their IPA, in particular, was too bitter. This was unusual, given I generally like a little hop in my beer.

Next stop was San Francisco Brewing Company. They did not have a taster set, so we ordered a small glass of all their beers: a lemony Hefeweizen, Albatross Lager, Emperor Norton Lager, IPA, Esteam, Brock, Ale, Stout and Porter. The Heferweizen here was too tart, in a bad way, so we quickly gave up on that. Both lagers was good. We especially like Emperor Norton. More malty than hop, it was a good change of pace. Their dark beers were all very strong. The stout was almost undrinkable. We liken the taste to Chinese medicinal stew. The porter was also bitter, but had a mild sweet after taste to make it more palatable.

Both Rouge and San Francisco Brewing Company are located a "touristy" North Beach. On most tables, we saw people with guide books enjoying their brews. Both venue were located in older buildings, but these buildings were not very well maintained. Instead of charming, both locale felt a little run down.

18 beers later, we came to the third stop of our tour: Thirsty Bear. Located next to the now defunct Hawthorne Lane restaurant, Thirsty Bear is located in the more modern/hip part of town. As we were tasting beer and having dinner, a steady flow of young professionals were coming in for food and drinks as well.

Thirsty Bear brew 8 beers: larger, wheat, brown ale, golden vanilla, ESB, IPA, Stout and the season brew Belgium white. Golden vanilla was quite special. It had a strong vanilla flavor on the nose and went down smooth. The Belgium white was golden in color, but had double the alcohol of most beer. It was quite good too.

We also ordered food off the Spanish inspired menu: grilled asparagus and spring onion with romesco sauce, ceviche and Valencia paella. The grilled vegetables with romesco sauce was great. The ceviche liquid was too tart, and overcame the sweetness of the seafood. The paella was tasty, but a little watery. We would prefer if it had a socarrat(the crusty bottom).

Our last stop of the night was 21st Amendment. Located near the base ball park, the brew pub looked modern. 21st Amendment offered the 8 beers: Blonde, Watermelon wheat, motor oil, darkness, cherry cider and 3 more which I could not remember.

I was looking forward to this stop because 21st Amendment offered a watermelon flavored beer. H's favorite fruit is the watermelon and I was wondering if she would enjoy the beer.

Unfortunately, at this time, both of us were feeling quite full from all the beers. We had paced ourselves and not drank on empty stomach, so we were not drunk or even high. But empty calories are still calories. Between the 2 of us, we could not finish the taster set! The watermelon beer came with a wedge of watermelon which gave the drink a strong watermelon smell. Upon removal of the garnish, we could still detect a hint of watermelon on the nose. I would have enjoy it more in a different occasion.

The cherry cider was not something I enjoy. It tasted like NyQuil.

We walked around the ball park area after our drinks before heading home.

Thus end our San Francisco beer tour! 34 types of beer in a day. This is definitely a personal record, one I don't want to break anytime soon:)