Beer flights and beer samplers

[hyperbowler]

Now that the beer week crowds have dispersed, some friends and I were hoping to do an SF pub crawl. We're doing this to taste lots of beers rather than to get drunk, so we're targeting places with beer flights.

We were hoping to focus on the Mission District so we could interweave a taco crawl and not have to worry about transportation. That's not looking so good... I've been unable to find any places that have beer flights in the Mission. Anchor Brewery was our best bet, but we wanted to do this on a Saturday and they're not open on weekends.

Here's what I've come up with so far. Any others, especially in the Mission district? If not, we'll probably nix the idea and stick to pints.

Have flights:
Rogue Brewery: $8.50 for 4 beers, 40 on tap
Thirsty Bear: $10 for 8 beers
Anchor & Hope: $13 for 6 beers (15 oz. in total)
21st Amendment: $4 for each 2 oz. sample (better off w/ full beer...), 9 on tap
The Page, half pints, 21 on tap
Magnolia: $10 for 6 beers, over 15 beers via cask/taps
Social Kitchen and Brewery: $6 for 5 beers (varies per month)
Beach Chalet: $1.33 per sample, ~8 house brews

Don't have flights but have good stuff on tap:
Toronado, Rosamunde, Pi Bar, Alembic, Zeitgeist, Monk's Kettle

[chuckl]

I'd suggest you consider half-pours instead of tasters. With a taster, you get between 2 and 4 oz, with a half pour it would be more like 5+ ounces, which will allow you to better evaluate the beer as it warms in the glass. Figure a half pour would cost half of a regular pour, so $3 for most beers. In my opinion, a good pub crawl would start at Lucky 13 on Market, where you could compare dogfishhead 90 with pliny the elder, for instance, then over to Toronado, which is about a 10 minute walk, and back down to Zeitgeist. Toronado has like 48 taps, Zeitgeist over 40 and Lucky 13 around 25, I believe.

[hyperbowler]

Half-pours are a great idea! I called back the no-flight places, and most of the them did half pours. That'll be great for taste, and, depending on how many people we have, more appropriate for portion size.

Actually, I found an earlier comment of yours very helpful and have added some more from that post in the appended list below:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6932...

Financial District
Pizza Orgasmica, $1.25 per 4 oz. sample, 10 on tap

North Beach
Rogue Brewery: $8.50 for 4 beers, 40 on tap

Soma
Thirsty Bear: $10 for 8 beers
Anchor & Hope: $13 for 6 beers (15 oz. in total
)City Beer: 7 oz pours available, 15 on tap
21st Amendment: $4 for each 2 oz. sample (better off w/ full beer...), 9 on tap

Tenderloin
Show Dogs, $2 per 4 oz. sample, 10 on tap (from popular microbrews, nothing special)

Mission
Zeitgeist: half pints
Monk's kettle: occasional flights, allows tasting before purchasing, half pours for 20 oz. beers
Southern Pacific Brewery $5 small or $7 large pour, 5 or 6 beers per flight
Benders Bar and Grill: nothing
The Radish: $10 for 3 samples
Rosamunde: none, but allows tasting before purchasing
Pi Bar: half pints

Castro/Haight
Lucky 13: nothing, but allows tasting before purchasing
Toronado: half pints
The Page, half pints, 21 on tap
Magnolia: $10 for 6 beers, over 15 beers via cask/taps
Alembic: half pints

Nopa
Bistro Gambrinus: half pints, 22 on tap

Sunset and beyond
Social Kitchen and Brewery: $6 for 5 beers (varies per month)
Beach Chalet: $1.33 per sample, ~8 house brews

Excluding: Suppenkuche & Biergarten (crowds), La Trappe (expensive), Churchkey (don't want to be in North Beach for 5PM opening)

[pane]

I forgot to mention Shotwells--we went there last night to check out the debut of the poutine cart, and I'm always surprised by how good their selection is. They are an easy walk from Southern Pacific, so that's an easy "crawl" link.

[hyperbowler]

Southpaw BBQ: half pours, good selection including a house porter

[Robert Lauriston]

I don't think Beach Chalet, Thirsty Bear, or 21st Amendment have enough interesting beers to make tasting that many fun.

Same but less so for Magnolia, their beer is excellent but at least the last couple of times I've been in not varied enough to make six interesting.

[hyperbowler]

I've not had their beer so it's disappointing to hear Thirsty Bear isn't worth it. But yeah, Beach Chalet and 21st Amendment's beers aren't stellar and, short of the murals at the Beach Chalet, those breweries are at inconvenient locations making them even less desirable.

Yeah, I like Magnolia enough that I'd double up on some selections if I didn't like the rest of the choices!

Some more places with samplers:

Show Dogs, $2 per 4 oz. sample, 10 on tap (from popular microbrews, nothing too great)
Pizza Orgasmica & Brewing Co., $1.25 per 4 oz. sample, 10 on tap

[Spatlese]

This brewpub opened fairly recently - haven't been there myself, so I can't say with certainty that they have sampler flights, but it might be worth investigating.

http://www.southernpacificbrewing.com/

[pane]

About Southern Pacific, Lessley and I went there separately--she loved it, I found it horribly crowded (and loud!). Here's that thread: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/831166

City Beer Store is awesome, but not near a whole lot (except for Bloodhound, which does have some interesting beers on tap)--depending on how far your crew wants to walk, you could do City Beer Store + Southern Pacific + Monk's Kettle (for food plus beer)