I Left My Glass in San Francisco

Apologies to Tony Bennett… as many of you know, this past week I traveled to San Francisco to attend a regulatory conference on behalf of my employer. Such trips present many opportunities including chances to interact with domestic and foreign regulatory officials and their staffs, catch up with friends and industry colleagues and last but not least what I like to call “Brew Tourism.” As I am confident you really have no interest in the regulations governing domestic and foreign reinsurers I will focus exclusively on the Brew Tourism aspect.

San Francisco, unlike Orlando, Florida and Grapevine, Texas presents the imbiber with an abundance of options. This past visit I arrived safely at my hotel and had a few hours to kill before my first meeting. This allowed my usual visit to World Beer on Folsom between 7th and 8th Streets. World Beer is an unassuming place with a few tables a few taps and a nice selection of bottled brews. As I had no time to imbibe I purchased three bottles brewed by Russian River (Three Belgian Style ales branded Perdition, Damnation and Salvation respectively) had a nice chat with the owner and then made my way back to the hotel to review my notes and prepare for my meetings.

Saturday was a long grind, numerous meetings a business breakfast and working lunch -- by dinner time I was numb and ready to enjoy a nice brew -- but where to go? Decisions, decisions… fortunately I have help. There is a small dedicated cadre of craft beer supporters that I have fallen in with. We met and decided to head across the Bay to Oakland for a beer and some dinner. First stop, The Trappist, a charming, impossibly narrow venue, with about 18 Belgian and Belgian styled beers on tap and several hundred more available in bottles. All beers were served in the proper style glass at an appropriate temperature for the style. We sampled and shared a Belgian Wit, a Trappist Quadrupel, a Belgian Brown, a Strong Golden and a Belgian Pale Ale. All were pronounced tasty and worthy of further exploration. The group decided we needed to grab a bite so it was on to another venue (The Trappist only having light cheese and fruit plates to offer).

Our next stop, just a short block away, was the Pacific Coast Brewing Company. A traditional Brew Pub with a standard pub fare on the menu. I had the Fish and Chips paired with their English Bitter which was on cask. Others enjoyed burgers and paired them with Pale Ales and Stouts. The Pacific Coast brews were solid and well crafted. Nobody was disappointed with their meal and we left satisfied and ready to hop on the BART and get back to the hotel.

Sunday started with an 8:00 a.m. meeting and several more that occupied my time until noon. The rest of my day was open until 5:00 so I headed ‘up country’ along route 101 to Santa Rosa and the Russian River Brewing Company. An hour and a half later I settled into a table with a nice glass of their Belgian Wit Beer paired with a Caesar Salad topped with Smoked Salmon. Russian River is a highly acclaimed brewery that brews traditional ales and stouts as well as a line of “Belgians.” Being pressed for time, I purchased a Growler of their “Blind Pig” IPA to share with the group and a bottle of “Supplication,” their homage to the spontaneously fermented brews of Belgium, to bring home, perhaps, more on this in another column.

I attended the reception at 5:00 hooked up with my colleagues and four of us hopped in a cab for Haight Ashbury and the “Magnolia.” At first glance Magnolia has a Psychedelic Logo painted on the façade that belies the traditional pub-like interior. Inside is austere, dark wood with some booths and both common and separate tables. The bar runs the length of the building and has about eight taps serving traditional keg beer with CO2 and four ales on “Cask.” Our server was both cheerful and well informed as to the nuances of each beer. I dove right into the Cask offerings I started with the Bluebird Bitter (fabulously refreshing with a wonderful mouth feel, a delicate natural carbonation and a pleasing, mildly hoppy aroma) and I also tasted their Mild and their Brown both were superrb. I elected to order a pint of the Brown and it paired rather nicely with the Quail and Spring carrots that I chose for my entrée.

All things considered it was a great visit so far, but the best was yet to come.