beernesday

well, that was a fun trip to san francisco! then home to a crazy short work week in which i think i did two week's worth of work so there was no time to talk about how many fabulous beers i drank in sf! and now i'm of to gcbf to drink even more fabulous beers! it's hard to be me...

i'm off to san francisco this weekend for weekend #1 in a row of 3 that i will be out of town for in search of beer (there are many heavily armed people and dogs at my house while i'm gone, btw) i'm playing in a soccer tournament - with beer in hand - most of the time i'm there but i still have grandiose plans to hit some of the following: mikkeller city beer 21st amendment cellarmaker brewing toronado pi bar magnolia brewpub monk's kettle i haven't been back to sf in a long time like years... maybe five of them i used to go there alllll the time but then i got busy doing other things and going other places and now most of my friends have left the city just in time for it to go totally beer crazy so many beers so little time always the same old story

anchor and 21st amendment are expanding oh, spring in san francisco... 24 hours makes a contest to find canada's favourite beer and from fox news (sorry about the source) a list of wines high in arsenic

san francisco is no longer a viable place for many businesses the next on the list to close is the abbott's cellar i never made it there, but i sure did love my visit to the monk's kettle, its sister watering hole The Abbot's Cellar Closing End of January ...

there is a craft beer connection to this year's super bowl showdown its not just the ravens vs. the 49ers its heavy seas vs. 21st amendment, anchor brewing and anderson valley click here for heavy sea's big words click here for 21st amendment's take on the bet me, i'm cheering for the 49ers but i have no beer riding on the outcome of the game so it'll be a good day for me either way!

and buy me some craft beer! you know craft beer has really arrived when cbs compares world series participants by the beers they drink ! no wonder i'm a giants fan, they have much better beer (and more choice overall) at their stadium! and now i'm jonesing for a russian river blind pig ipa thanks a lot cbs!

stillwater artisinal ales will be getting a brick and mortar address this year brian strumke won't be brewing there though of love and regret, located in baltimore, will be styled after san francisco's city beer with a pub downstairs and a provisions store upstairs "Renovations started a week ago and is expected to end sometime in the Spring. He described the bar's look as "Old World modernism."  "I want it to feel like you're walking into one of our labels," he says. "Like a feeling of intrigue."" pub grub, 23 taps, casks, stillwater ales... sounds perfect to me (except for that pesky part about it being really far away from vancouver!)

craftbeer.com visits 21st amendment

only toronados in s.f. made it to the top ten list representing the west but hey, if you're travelling in the u.s. any time soon you should check out this list of the best bars for beer geeks

oh how i wish i was going to be in san francisco i would love to go back to the  monk's kettle for a beer and wine pairing dinner !

oh how i wish i was going to be in san francisco on august 8th i want to go to the stillwater / evil twin dinner at monk's kettle it sounds like a once in a lifetime confluence of awesome The Menu Reception:  The Debut of the "Debutante" - Stillwater - Saison - 5.8% ABV First - Bellweather Farms ricotta gnocchi, with Maine lobster butter and chervil Paired With - "Ryan & the Beaster Bunny" - Evil Twin - Saison - 7.0% ABV Second - Roasted & pickled summer roots with celery root and tasso gratin Paired With - "Stateside" Saison - Stillwater - 6.8% ABV Third - Pan seared veal sweetbreads, with plum butter, preserved grapes and bee pollen Paired With - "A Saison Darkly" - Stillwater (Brewed at Sint Canarus) - Dark Saison - 8.0% ABV Fourth - Grilled rib-eye of Bison, with bintje potatoes and chestnut purée in a spruce demi-glace Paired With - "Before, During & After Christmas" - Evil Twin - Imperial IPA - 8.0% AB...

and more swag i brought back from 21st amendment in san francisco: brew free or die ipa and back in black glasses brew free or die ipa t-shirt

this is the lovely 21st amendment brewery t-shirt i brought back from san francisco for bridget: hop crisis - front of shirt hop crisis - back of shirt

finally, post #2 about my afternoon at 21st amendment brewery in san francisco i mean, it was only two weeks ago now... let's talk about the beers! they have a couple of different menus within the restaurant, one for the beer garden (all cans and kegs served into plastic cups) the main bar, and one for the loft bar main bar menu loft menu beer garden menu i began with a wee taster of the hell or high watermelon wheat ale (4.9%, 17 ibus) as i am not a big wheat fan in fact i think like most of us i am somewhat wheat intolerant crisp, watermelon notes are right on... not too much but definitely enough there to make you feel like summer i can see why this one is such a huge seller for them i also had a taster of my server's favourite, the old glory red ale (7.3%, 70 ibus) made me want a pint of it though, it is a total pleaser hoppy, just dark enough to keep it interesting my plan of attack though was to work my way through the ipas so i decided that ...

the fourth stop on my little san francisco pub crawl and the last stop where i took any notes or photos was gestalt, a bike courier bar a couple of doors up 16th from monk's kettle totally down to earth food and decor i want to know how they came up with a vegan tuna melt... the vegan brats are amazing - i don't think any meat-eater could find fault with them (my very cocky notes read:  "i challenge any meat eater to NOT be satisfied by the vegan brats here.  challenge.  it's open.  name your price.  but be willing to LOSE!" - i think it is a very good thing this was the last of the notes i managed to take!) unfortunately they were out of my first two choices (wipeout ipa and tricerahops) so i went with one i've had before in a bottle, lagunitas hop stoopid delicious and oh so hoppy also quite a high alcohol percentage (which seemed to be the theme of my night - ouch!) stacey had the pilsner, alison had a weihenstephan (dark wheat) and alex went...

the third stop on my mini san francisco pub crawl was monk's kettle on 16th between valencia and guerrero its a narrow bar featuring a great beer list and a tasty food menu (soon to be followed by a brewery in the neighbourhood) check out the beer list , the menu and the bar ! i had me a retribution imperial ipa, 9.5% and only $4.75 for a pint i love the united states of hoperica! found it to be a bitter little number and guess the ibus must be pushing 100 on this one stacey tried the redor pilsner (brasserie dupont, 5.0%, $11.00) alex tried the grand saison farmhouse ale (grand teton brewing, 7.5%, $5.25) and alison tried the reality czeck (moonlight brewing, 4.8%, $5.75) frankly by this point in the crawl i am amazed that i was still keeping notes at all and here they are: far too small for its own popularity, no wonder they want to expand. but i like it - pretty taps, nice bar, booths to sit in, very pretty bathroom, even though its just a onesy, divine b...

city beer is a beer store extraordinaire in san francisco located on folsom between 7th and 8th city beer features a gazillion craft beers from all over the world and several taps to drink from while you shop! just check out the incredible selection of beers on offer: like a kid in a candy shop its rebecca in city beer store! i think i am in love with the stillwater labels must investigate this brewery more thoroughly... and these were the beers they had on tap when i was there (june 23rd...): we tried the lagunitas, the allagash, the drakes and the lambic not each one, just one each! i am trying the lambic in this photo, ordered by alison i ordered the lagunitas double ipa, which she is holding in this photo i guess alex lapped us cuz his black ipa looks empty... (not pictured is stacey, who had the allagash) it was a wonderful atmosphere everyone was smiling and chatting and getting drinks we were drinking while we perused the shelves it w...

while i was in s.f. i didn't have time to get to all the lovely beer places i had dreamed of but i did get some lovely beers to go which i enjoyed at various events i went to i mean if there's a budweiser beer garden why wouldn't i bring my own alternative beer to it??? on friday i imbibed the stone double bastard which may have been a little too much for me after the excesses of thursday i shall have to revisit this one another time overwhelmingly hoppy, quite boozey it kicked my ass and my taste buds! then on satuday i enjoyed my four-pack of hop crisis from 21st amendment hoppy, surprisingly refreshing and so conveniently sized in a four pack as six would have knocked me on my ass again! sunday we actually had to purchase a budweiser in the beer garden in order to get a cup good thing it was hot and anything beerish was refreshing! once i had choked down the budweiser, i poured me a dogfish head midas touch i had been wanting to try this one for a...

how many posts can i get out of my visit to 21st amendment brewery in san francisco? well, i took lots of photos and five pages of notes! located at 563 2nd street, it is very close to giants stadium meaning that they get a huge crowd before and after games and they have a special license on game days to open a beer garden in the street next door sa-weet! because i went on a game day i didn't get to have a tour of the brewery itself but since they have a glass wall between the brewery and the pub, i got to see the brewery the interior is all wooden beams and exposed duct work and cinder block walls there is a bar, a lower seating area and a loft bar over the kitchen and like i said, on game days there is a beer garden outside during the giants game the beer garden looked like this: and this is the lower seating area and bar after a game: and this is the disco ball in the brewery!!: thus endeth post #1 about 21st amendment brewery

just randomly walking down 2nd street on my way between the bart from the airport and 21st amendment brewery as in very shortly after arriving in san francisco on a thursday afternoon i passed an indian restaurant whose curtain protecting their beer stock had fallen i was stopped in my tracks checking out the beers they had on offer and i was impressed: delerium tremens shipyard ipa kingfisher taj flying horse duvel please excuse the intense glare in the photo, it was the best i could do in the circumstances! go figure! i felt like this was a very good sign of the beer delights in store for me for the rest of my beer vacation in san francisco!