I'm looking to do a bit of beer tasting as part of a larger event. I would like to do 3-4 interesting (ideally northern california) beers. This is part of a marketing event so ones with interesting/unique branding. Any suggestions for:
1. Particular Beers/Microbreweries
2. Shops that would have knowledgable staff either on the Peninsula or SF?
Thanks!
karlos
Mar 18, 2004 03:29PM
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You would certainly want to include Anchor Steam and Sierra Nevada as they are probably the two oldest and best established micro-breweries in Northern California. Anchor Steam more or less invented the micro-brew phenomenon. Besides, they both make great beers and ales!
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Redwood City: K&L and Beltramos, both on El Camino. Beverages and More is a chain and has a large beer selection.
San Francisco has its own microbrewery and is often credited with the rebirth of regional brewerys: Anchor Steam. Anchor Steam produces 3-5 beers, and a couple of other alcoholic beverages.
My favorite beer is an ale, produced by Sierra Nevada (located in Chico CA), I like their pale ale, I think they produce 3 ales, plus a holiday ale.
There are many CA microbrewery's that do not sell by the bottle, just by the keg.
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Agree that Anchor Steam should be included. It's not only what started it all, but it's still very good.
Can't say that I agree on Sierra Nevada, Pale Ale or otherwise. I very much dislike their beers.
Avoid Gordon Biersch.
Others that I like that are from slightly smaller productions but are still widely available around here:
- Anchor Old Foghorn
- Boonville Amber Ale
- Bear Republic Racer 5
- Red Tail Ale (Mendocino Brewing Co.)
- Lost Coast Downtown Brown
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What do you dislike about Sierra Nevada beers, and why should a person avoid Gordon Biersch?
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I suggest avoiding Gordon Biersch because their beers are not very good. I've been to a few of their brewpubs probably about a dozen times and tried most, if not all, of their beers, and never once did I find one that was good. They're just not in the same league as the other brewers mentioned here.
I find Sierra Nevada beers lack balance and finesse. There's a ton of flavor in them, but I find them jumbled and harsh, with several unpleasant flavor notes. This is especially true with the Pale Ale (I'd rather drink just about any other beer than SN PA), but also true with the others I have tried: Porter, Wheat, Stout, IPA, maybe a couple more. I have not tried every one of their beers so it's possible some of them are exceptions.
-Nick
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I won't argue with your personal taste, but I would point out that Sierra Nevada is widely known to produce world-class beers, so I would have to recommend that a person try them.
Gordon Biersch produces German-style beers, and one would expect them to differ from most of the products mentioned in this thread. Dan Gordon has formal education from Weihenstephan, a highly respected brewing school. I don't know the exact relationship these days, but the G-B restaurants were sold off, with some level of involvement from Gordon and his partner, Dean Biersch. Gordon and Biersch continue to operate the larger brewery that produces their beers for sale outside the restaurants.
That was probably more than you wanted to know, so I will be quiet now. :)
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A while back I got the details on the relationship between Gordon Biersch Brewing Company and Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants:
Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...
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Personally, I have nothing against Sierra Nevada. It's just that with so many excellent choices here, theirs is near the bottom of my list. And Gordon Biersch is NOT a bad beer, just nothing extraordinary. At the ballpark, if you have the choice on a hot day between a major, Sierra Nevada and GB, I'll take the GB every time. Just a shame they don't do the garlic fries anymore. The ones they have now suck royal.
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Lagunitas, Lagunitas, Lagunitas- a superior line-up of brews, particularly in the 22oz bottles, and get a load of that label prose! Smokin'!
The 22s are largely seasonal- look for the Hairy Eyeball and the GnarlyWine in particular if there's any left. Maximus was a year-round offering but I hear they will no longer bottle it in favor of keg distribution, which I look forward to. In the 6-pack I'd go for the Kronik, er, "Censored..."
I'd second the Anchor as an absolute must, and Racer 5 is excellent as well.
Now I'm thirsty.
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100% agree with you there.
EVERY beer produced by Lagunitas kicks ass on every other bottler in the region. None of their beers suck, and the Censored, Hairy Eyeball and Maximus are just amazing. More locally, the Speakeasy beer line is fantastic, as well as the Magnolias and 21st Amendments. Can't say a bad word about the beers at that place on the corner of Columbus and Kearny either.
Almost forgot, Racer 5 is way above average.
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If I had to choose just one Northern California craft brewer -- now *there's* a depressing thought -- it would probably be Anderson Valley Brewing Co., not just for the below-mentioned Boont Amber but also for the hoppy, well-balanced Belk's bitter.
Speaking of which, the Boonville Beer Festival is coming up May 8. I've never been, but it's always sounded like fun.
Link: http://www.avbc.com/news/boontbeerfest.html
Image: http://www.avbc.com/beers/Belks.jpg
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overlooked and unmentioned is Speakeasy on Evans Street down by Candlestick and the housing projects.
Notorious for the very heavily hopped Big Daddy IPA-
available bottled and on tap numerous places in SF.
The Speakeasy Brewery has frequent Friday Evening
all-you-can-eat-and drink events when the LA Dodgers
play here.
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I agree! When I asked a similar question last year, a couple of people pointed me to Speakeasy, and their Prohibition Ale went over very well at my event. BevMo carries it, along with a good selection of other local brews.
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Anchor is not a microbrewery in the same sense as the others. It sprung from the rescue of a failing one-time major regional producer of draft beers by Fritz Maytag, who brought in QC and began bottling it for the first time. The bottled Anchor Steam doesn't have the character of its unpredictably lambic predecessor, IMHO, but Anchor produces some fine specialty brews (love the Liberty Ale) and can be credited with introducing the Christmas Ale tradition in the US.
The original U.S. microbrewer in modern times was the now defunct New Albion Brewing Company of the mid 1970's. The oldest survivor is probably Sierra Nevada, which produces a truly classic Pale Ale and one of the world's greatest Porters. Close behind would be Mendocino Brewing Company with its Red Tail Ale, Eye of the Hawk Summer Ale, and other birds. I think MBC has some of the New Albion legacy in it somewhere.
The most knowledgeable beer person around may be Dan Noreen at the Sonoma Wine Exchange in Sonoma (no slouch on wines or Armagnacs, either).
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About that New Albion-Mendocino connection: Michael Jackson (that is, the aficionado of beers, not boys) writes that after New Albion went under, a couple of its employees used its equipment and yeast strains to help found Mendocino Brewing in Hopland in '83.
As for Anchor Steam, I've always enjoyed it, and I'd love to have tasted its predecessor. (Probably not too much of it; I gather it was super-carbonated.) But as an unreformed hophead I give the nod to the Liberty Ale. Anchor released it early on as a Christmas beer before adopting the heavier style, with flavors of spruce and spice, for the holiday special.
Image: http://www.anchorbrewing.com/images/l...
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For some real adventure, I like going to Magnolia, on the upper Haight in San Francisco, and Triple Rock in Berkeley. They both brew on premises, and don't bottle their beer, so you will have to buy a jug from them there. Since they both make very small batches and have eclectic clientelle, they are far more willing to be experimental, and really push the limits of hops, maltiness, etc. or try to recreate ancient styles, like Magnolia's Gruit.
Frankly, most of the beer around here, and I'll pick on Gordon Bierch as an easy target, is a little too least-common-denominator. By trying to please as many people as possible, they approach mediocrity.
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As for bay-area brews, there are two AWESOME varieties brewed by Anchor:
Anchor Foghorn... incredible barleywine
Anchor Porter... a gem of a porter, a bit on the sweet side and that's all to the good.
The above two are BENCHMARK brews, as good as any in their style.
Anchor Liberty is also good but not quite at level of the above 2, IMO
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Pacific Coast Brewing, on Washington Street in Old Oakland, has been quietly serving their own quality beers, as well as other micros and imports, for fifteen years. Their hoppy Blue Whale is probably the crowd fave, although I lean more to the Imperial Stout, black dynamite. Decent menu, for the "slow food" crowd.
Link: http://www.pacificcoastbrewing.com
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While it's southern, rather than northern, the Stone Brewing Co of San Diego gets my current vote for best bottled lineup in the USA. My research hasn't been exhaustive but is representative for what's available in Bay Area stores.
I'm amazed that they're from San Diego, but maybe they're just good brewmasters that like that climate. You would think better beer came from a more out-of-the-way rural area with good clean water or something. That might be pure marketing though.
Local and often outstanding is Bagel Beer. Their Everything IPA has been very good at times. The guy worked at Boulevard, which may have educated his palette a bit, and I've hung out with him once or twice. Nice guy/beer. He likes wine too.
I believe beer is a very variable thing in general, with unmarked vintages from month to month. Often equipment and plants change, people change, the beer has no choice but to change. And our palettes and circumstances change.
So I find that when I say something like "Helleketelbier is the best" I occasionally find something that changes my mind, if momentarily.
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Where can I find Stone beers in San Francisco?
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Hi Nick,
Whole Foods, Tower Market, and a few other places have them. They have painted-on-the-bottle designs with fun graphics and names like "Ruination" (hop juice, and great) "Arrogant Bastard" "Double Bastard" and they also have an Imperial Stout and a Barleywine-style ale which is outstanding.
I would go with the Ruination and the Barleywine to get a lay of the land, but caution: these are "meditation beers" along the lines of meditation wines, I wouldn't pair them with many foods. They will overpower just about anything (including your brain) although that may be what you want in some cases...
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The Bastard beers are by Stone!? Okay, I've had those. It's been a while but I've had them.
Plumpjack Noe Valley has them, including several large format bottles (magnums and beyond).
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