San Francisco Stars #9:  Thirstybear Cask Amber with Perle

Date:  July 7, 2019  —

The Story—  Thirstybear is a product of the 90s explosion in craft that has held on well through the ups and downs of the industry since then.  They serve a good range of beers with a good menu with genuinely interesting and tasty tapas.  It’s a superb choice for a light meal and some good beers.

The beers are all organic, and, as with most organic breweries they can vary a bit.  Thirstybear does well with standard styles, though, and if you stay away from the gimmicks (Strawberry IPA), it’s hard to go wrong.  The winners included a nice Kolsch, a wheat bock and today’s featured cask amber.   It won’t be there when you get there, of course, but it does show that it’s worth giving whatever the current cask is a try.

The brewery is steps from the Moscone Center and a short walk from Union Square.

The Beer–  Flavors develop slowly, but rival a good UK cask, though with a firmer body than most UK casks muster.  Malt, soft toast with a quick entrance of some fruity hops lead to a slower developing creaminess and enough of a late bitter balance to make the next sip a pleasure.

Value —  Good.  Again, nothing’s cheap in SF except, maybe Tommy’s Joynt and Steam Beer at the Anchor Public Taps, but this is a decent value for a very nice organic beer.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We just got back from a week in San Francisco.   We hadn’t been there in eleven years and the remarkably vibrant beer scene we experienced then has become, well, even vibranter.   Ellie, poor girl, had to work long hours during the day while I got to roam the streets checking out the best places to find great beers.   At least when Ellie got off work I had places to take her before she crashed for the night.   We’ll post a week or two of Beers of the Day by the Bay before returning to research for our book on Inns and Breweries of the Mid-Atlantic.

Interestingly, the downtown area of San Francisco, while awash with beers from the surrounding areas, has few brewing spots of its own.  In that regard it reminds us of New York, where you have to leave Manhattan and go to Brooklyn to really find a nest of breweries.  Away from downtown, several brewery taps thrive and public transportation gets you almost anywhere.  Beyond the city limits, of breweries ring the city, and many of them produce exceptionally good beers and the myriad of tap houses all over town tend to focus on local beers.  Name the style you like and you can find an excellent version of it, though at a price.

We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers, and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

San Francisco Stars #8: Calicraft Oaktown Brown, at Hermitage Brewing, San Jose, California

Date:  July 6, 2019  —

The Story—  Calicraft Brewing is a relative newcomer in Walnut Creek, California.  Walnut Creek was an early leader in the first explosion of craft brewing – we visited Walnut Creek Brewing and a Faultline outpost in 1997.  But it was also one of the leaders in the first big decline; both of those places are gone, but replaced by a trio of newcomers in the second wave of craft brewing.  Calicraft brewed at Hermitage Brewery in San Jose for several years, and despite the fact it has its own digs now as one of the Walnut Creek trio, apparently still brews this popular beer at Hermitage

We tasted it at Keystone, a bar-restaurant across the street from the dazzling Marriott Marquis.   The Marquis has a fancier beer bar on the ground level, but we liked the intimacy of Keystone and the range of very local beers on their tap list.  It’s a short walk from Union Square and the cable car terminal at the Powell St. station.

The Beer–   Very roasty and chewy and dark “brown” ale.  Very dark roasts include, we think, some black patent.  It finishes with a tasty nuttiness with plenty of coffee and even some toffee on the way out.  It’s a stout of a brown beer, but very tasty whatever the name.

Value —  Good.  Eight bucks for an honest pint would be “fair” in many places, but it’s close to a “very good” price in San Francisco.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We just got back from a week in San Francisco.   We hadn’t been there in eleven years and the remarkably vibrant beer scene we experienced then has become, well, even vibranter.   Ellie, poor girl, had to work long hours during the day while I got to roam the streets checking out the best places to find great beers.   At least when Ellie got off work I had places to take her before she crashed for the night.   We’ll post a week or two of Beers of the Day by the Bay before returning to research for our book on Inns and Breweries of the Mid-Atlantic.

Interestingly, the downtown area of San Francisco, while awash with beers from the surrounding areas, has few brewing spots of its own.  In that regard it reminds us of New York, where you have to leave Manhattan and go to Brooklyn to really find a nest of breweries.  Away from downtown, several brewery taps thrive and public transportation gets you almost anywhere.  Beyond the city limits, of breweries ring the city, and many of them produce exceptionally good beers and the myriad of tap houses all over town tend to focus on local beers.  Name the style you like and you can find an excellent version of it, though at a price.

We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers, and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

San Francisco Stars #7: Russian River Pliny the Elder, Santa Rosa

Date:  July 5, 2019

The Story—  Vinnie Cilurzo starated brewing at Blind Pig in Temecula in 1994. his Blind Pig IPA was one of the first huge-hopped West Coast IPAs — brewed not so much because he had a vision, but because he knew the hops would cover any defects of his fairly primitive brewery.   A few years later he moved to the Russian River Vineyards to put their new brewery on the map.  Within a few years, Russian River decided to give up brewing and sold the name to Vinnie and his wife Natalie and they moved to Santa Rosa to establish a brewpub that became a mecca for hop heads throughout the country.

In 2000 Vinnie received an invitation for a double IPA festival, a style he didn’t brew.  The first Pliny the Elder became a cult classic, repeatedly winning the “Best Beer in America” in polls of readers of Zymurgy magazine.  His ability to improvise made him one of the pioneers of craft brewing, but many of his later innovations were much more studied.  He’s done path breaking work in creating some of the best American sours and has found new ways of getting more and different flavors from hops.

Pliny is still in production, but among beres of its reputation, it’s one of the hardest beers to find.  It shows up in Philadelphia occasionally (Vinnie’s brother lives there) and the brew pub and in a few selected bars.   We encountered it at the City Beer Store in San Francisco.  (See more about that remarkable beer venue here.)  We had tasted it at a tasting at DA’s RFD multi-tap, the sister bar to Washington’s storied Brickskeller in 2005.  We thought it was as special as advertised, but we were even more impressed with our tasting this year.  Maybe because so many IPAs seem to be engaged in shark jumping contests, we loved the reminder that innovations don’t have to be gimmicks.

Disclaimer: We’ve known Vinnie and Natalie for many years and they are two of the most gracious human beings that walk the earth.   Even if his beers weren’t among the best in the country we’d probably really like them.  Happily, they are among the best in the country.

The Beer—   this could be “Piney” the Elder, but there’s so much more.  This big, deep, flavorful masterpiece that had such a huge influence on so many other brewers shows the complexity that most of the imitators just can’t captures.  The fruit shows citrus, expectedly, and a bit of South American papaya, which we didn’t expect.   — Maybe the oils and resins help create the impression of pine and pine wood, and all of it is richly fulfilling.  Just a touch of saltiness gives a nod to the 8% abv, but you almost have to look for the booze.

Value —  Very good, even if you have to sell you watch to get it.  It’s $16 an honest pint, but many have paid far more for far less.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We just got back from a week in San Francisco.   We hadn’t been there in eleven years and the remarkably vibrant beer scene we experienced then has become, well, even vibranter.   Ellie, poor girl, had to work long hours during the day while I got to roam the streets checking out the best places to find great beers.   At least when Ellie got off work I had places to take her before she crashed for the night.   We’ll post a week or two of Beers of the Day by the Bay before returning to research for our book on Inns and Breweries of the Mid-Atlantic.

Interestingly, the downtown area of San Francisco, while awash with beers from the surrounding areas, has few brewing spots of its own.  In that regard it reminds us of New York, where you have to leave Manhattan and go to Brooklyn to really find a nest of breweries.  Away from downtown, several brewery taps thrive and public transportation gets you almost anywhere.  Beyond the city limits, of breweries ring the city, and many of them produce exceptionally good beers and the myriad of tap houses all over town tend to focus on local beers.  Name the style you like and you can find an excellent version of it, though at a price.

We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers, and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

San Francisco Stars #7: Russian River Pliny the Elder, Santa Rosa

Date:  July 4, 2019  –> moved to July 5th

The Story—  We took the 4th off to celebrate the nation’s birthday and get our first taste of Tuppers’ Hop Pocket Ale in almost 5 years.  Cheers, All!

The Russian River story will post on July 5th.

The Beer–

Value —

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We just got back from a week in San Francisco.   We hadn’t been there in eleven years and the remarkably vibrant beer scene we experienced then has become, well, even vibranter.   Ellie, poor girl, had to work long hours during the day while I got to roam the streets checking out the best places to find great beers.   At least when Ellie got off work I had places to take her before she crashed for the night.   We’ll post a week or two of Beers of the Day by the Bay before returning to research for our book on Inns and Breweries of the Mid-Atlantic.

Interestingly, the downtown area of San Francisco, while awash with beers from the surrounding areas, has few brewing spots of its own.  In that regard it reminds us of New York, where you have to leave Manhattan and go to Brooklyn to really find a nest of breweries.  Away from downtown, several brewery taps thrive and public transportation gets you almost anywhere.  Beyond the city limits, of breweries ring the city, and many of them produce exceptionally good beers and the myriad of tap houses all over town tend to focus on local beers.  Name the style you like and you can find an excellent version of it, though at a price.

We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers, and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”

San Francisco Stars #6:  Freewheel English IPA.  Redwood City, California

Date:  July 3 , 2019  —

The Story— Freewheel Brewery’s mission is to “fuse English tradition with American audacity” and they do a good job– though their best work may come when the hew closer to the British styles.  The brewery and kitchen are in Redwood City near Palo Alto, but we ran into their beers all over San Francisco. and respected them, but a British IPA at City Beer Story almost prevented us from moving on with the rest of the planned activities of the evening.  We hope we’ll get a chance to get to the brewery taproom and sample their beers on beer engines.

City Beer Story is a remarkable combination of multi-tap, upscale bottle shop and modest cafe that from humble origins has developed into one of the city’s most respected beer purveyors.  A long bar sits in from of about 40 taps, though duplicates reduced the number of available beers to about half that when we were there.  It’s a bar that makes no pretense of pandering to the Millercoors masses or even those to seek a wide range of craft beer.   They know what styles and they like and they pour great examples of them.  The beers on tap on our visit included 2 “light” beers (a pils and a farmhouse), three darks of various sorts, a half a dozen sours and fully 14 IPAs.  While the number of beers on tap and in the store are substantial neither approaches the variety you can find elsewhere.  As long as a decade ago some California multi-taps offered 100 choices and some stores stocked thousands of beers.  What makes City Beer special is that the care with which they select what they sell.   Of the half dozen beers we tried there, we rated five “above average.”  (The exception was fine, also, just not above average).  This very English style beer was served so appropriately on cask.

Tucked into that big range of IPAs was this English style gem.   Many breweries across the country claim to make a British IPA, but that often involves throwing some Fuggles into a pretty American recipe otherwise.  Brewer Orion Lakota a former stone cutter from Vermont, nails the style.  Recent research has shown that original British IPAs may well have been as heavily hopped as modern American IPAs and were probably a good deal stronger than modern British IPAs.   When the British imposed sky high taxes based on original gravity of beer (which is directly linked to a beer’s final alcohol content) nearly all styles dialed back the booze and they stayed dialed back at least until the recent craft revolution.  Today you can find plenty of US style huge-hopped 7%ers in England but the UK style remains restrained.  In a country where pale ales can settle in below 4%, beers approaching 5% are considered strong.  This balanced sessionable ale (4.8% abv, 45 IBUs) builds on British Marris Otter malt, but includes American hops; still, it drinks like a trip to London.

The Beer–  Hello UK! Nutty and biscuity malts greet from the beginning.   Maybe its the authenticity of the malt, but the big brace of American hops show more floral notes than fruit here.  It’s all in balance and a joyful celebration of aroma, clean mouthfeel and good taste.  Ellie’s comment after a hard day of work was “iwannagobacktoengland.”  She was in a fairly foul mood, for her, until her first sip of this curative.

Value —  Excellent.  Seven bucks for an honest pint of a beer this good is the best you can hope for in this very expensive city.

Values:  “fair” is a good beer at an above market price, “good” is worth the money, “very good” is a bargain, and “excellent” is a steal.

We just got back from a week in San Francisco.   We hadn’t been there in eleven years and the remarkably vibrant beer scene we experienced then has become, well, even vibranter.   Ellie, poor girl, had to work long hours during the day while I got to roam the streets checking out the best places to find great beers.   At least when Ellie got off work I had places to take her before she crashed for the night.   We’ll post a week or two of Beers of the Day by the Bay before returning to research for our book on Inns and Breweries of the Mid-Atlantic.

Interestingly, the downtown area of San Francisco, while awash with beers from the surrounding areas, has few brewing spots of its own.  In that regard it reminds us of New York, where you have to leave Manhattan and go to Brooklyn to really find a nest of breweries.  Away from downtown, several brewery taps thrive and public transportation gets you almost anywhere.  Beyond the city limits, of breweries ring the city, and many of them produce exceptionally good beers and the myriad of tap houses all over town tend to focus on local beers.  Name the style you like and you can find an excellent version of it, though at a price.

We’re often asked to share our tasting notes on over 33,000 beers; this blog is in answer to those requests.   Not all our notes, though.  The great beer writer Michael Jackson admirably followed the Thumper Rule, and we’ll try to do the same.  (“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.”)   All the beers we post are from the top half of our ratings and most are from the top quarter.   Of greater value, we think, are the stories behind the beers, and we try to give you enough about the brewery, the style and the places to find great beer to help you on your own beer journeys.   At CulturAle Press we try to write books and publish posts that will help you “Drink Well and Travel Safely.”