One of my favorite beers can currently be found on tap at Monk’s Kettle: Firestone Walker’s ‘Lil Opal. It’s a farmhouse saison, with a funky nose, but a very mild taste.  It’s wheaty, with hints of citrus and apricot, and almost no phenolic kick.  Since it’s a Small Beer with only 3-4% alcohol, it’s also perfect refresher the [...]

I love soup dumplings.  Also known as “Shanghai” dumplings, these little dumplings are filled with delicious soup and ground pork.  Think about it – while deconstruction and miniaturized tasting portions have become all the rage in fancy restaurants these days, the Chinese have been doing just this for ages, long before there were sous vide machines or food blogs to [...]

    Steve of Beer By Bart pretty succinctly covers the reaction most people have to Russian River’s Sours.  Vinnie has developed a way with wild yeasts that I think is largely unmatched.  His event at Toronado provided a great opportunity to taste some of his rarer creations.  One of the big highlights of the night included Erudition, a three year old [...]

    Don Barkley, a New Albion brewer, has recreated the classic New Albion Ale for SF Beer Week.  I stopped by City Beer to pick up a few bottles of Firestone Walker’s Reserve Porter to for Jen to braise short ribs in, and while there tried a pour of the official Beer of SF Beer Week. [...]

       Anchor Brewing kicked off SF Beer Week today with the launch of a new, very limited beer: Our Barrel Ale.  It’s a special blend of their ales no Steam Beer here – and aged in their own Old Potrero Rye Whiskey barrels. They hosted the event in the brewery to celebrate, which brings me to an awkward admission: even [...]

    Strong Beer Month is here!  With all the excitement surrounding SF Beer Week, it’s easy to let the genesis of this event, Strong Beer Month, slip right by.  Each February, 21st Amendment and Magnolia Brewpub Gastropub collaborate on a series of high alcohol beers, and release them upon a waiting San Francisco beer crowd.  It’s the perfect hyper-local beer experience, since [...]

    I’m really digging the new Coney Island Lager series from Shmaltz Brewing.  Enough so that we’re featuring two of their beers at the SF Beer Week Beer Dinner. The Albino Python is being served alongside of local squid stuffed with house-made chorizo and squid in risotto, and then we’ll be featuring the new Human Blockhead with a special [...]

  When I was at GABF, there was a constant, crushing crowd in front of the Lost Abbey, Russian River, New Glarus and Dogfish booths.  As soon as the doors opened, thirty or so people would dutifully line up in front of their stalls, empty glasses ready.  I can’t blame them – the best breweries in the [...]

  Every year, Anchor releases their Special Christmas Ale, and every year, it’s just a bit different. The spices, the beer recipe, and the tree on the label all vary, making each a unique snowflake.  I think this sort of experimentation is  great – and it makes for a particularly exciting vertical tasting.   Jeff, a member of the BABC, [...]

“In my opinion, it’s the best beer festival on the west coast”      This bold claim came from Tim, of William’s Brewing as well as a member of the BABC Homebrew Club.  Tim’s a big proponent of wild and brett beers, so for him to insist that this the best festival says a lot.  With [...]