San Francisco Cocktail Week: Turning Beer into Whiskey and More

San Francisco has long been a nexus for experimentation and innovation with alcoholic beverages, from wine and craft beer to creative cocktails. The Mimosa, Mai Tai, Irish Coffee, Pisco Punch, Cosmopolitan and even the venerable Martini are all reputed to have early ties to the Bay Area.

In May 2007, three San Francisco bar owners—H. Joseph Ehrmann of Elixer, Jeff Hollinger of Comstock Saloon and Duggan McDonnell of Cantina—concocted San Francisco Cocktail Week to celebrate San Francisco’s ongoing love affair with mixed drinks. Now in its sixth year, the San Francisco Cocktail Week benefits the Barbary Coast Conservancy for the American Cocktail (BCCAC), a non-profit organization begun by the founders of Cocktail Week dedicated to preserving the cultural heritage of saloons and cocktails in San Francisco. It’s located at The Boothby Center.

Craft Beer Into Whiskey

All alcoholic beverages undergo a fermentation process to convert sugars into alcohol. For beer, the journey typically ends with the addition of hops, while whiskey continues to distillation, a process that separates alcohol from water. But some distilleries are experimenting with making whiskey from craft beer.

At Cocktail Melee on Sept. 17, Marko Karakasevic of Charbay Distillery in St. Helena will talk about his “hop whiskey,” called R5 Aged Whiskey, made from Bear Republic’s Racer 5 IPA. According to Charbay, 6,000 gallons of Racer 5 was distilled in double copper alambic charentais pots for nine days before being aged for 22 months in French oak to produce 590 gallons of whiskey. K&L Wine Merchants describes R5 Aged Whiskey as “a wonderful crossover for the beer geek/whiskey geek.”

Another whiskey maker, St. George Spirits of Alameda, which also will be at Cocktail Melee, distills Sierra Nevada ale into a single-malt whiskey.

Cocktail Melee should be a good opportunity to learn more about spirits, with educational spirit and cocktail classes throughout the event. In addition to Charbay and St. George, distilleries will include Hangar One Vodka, House Spirits, Craft Distillers and Oxley Gin.

Karakasevic will also present a seminar discussing his R5 Whiskey at The Beverage Academy on Wednesday.

Bottle-Ready Beer Distilled into Whiskey

The Story of R5 Whiskey, Clear and Aged Styles

Wednesday, Sept. 19, 5-8 p.m.

The Beverage Academy, 501 Jones St., San Francisco

$25

Cocktail Melee

Saturday, Sept. 22, 2-5 p.m.

Cigar Bar & Grill, 850 Montgomery

$35 in advance, $45 at the door

The Artisan Tasting

Cocktail Week actually kicks off, appropriately enough, in a brewery: the seminal Anchor Brewing Company, one of the pioneers of craft beer and still going strong. At the Artisan Tasting event, patrons will explore Bay Area artisan spirits paired with food. Distilleries, including Square One, Hangar One Vodka, St. George Spirits, Craft Distillers, Oro Pisco, Old World Spirits, Sgt. Classic Rum, Tempus Fugit and Charbay, will show off their spirits along with special cocktails.

The Artisan Tasting

Monday, Sept. 17, 6-9 p.m.

Anchor Brewing Company, 1705 Mariposa St.

$45 in advance (no tickets sold at the door)

PROMO CODE FOR 20% OFF

The promo code ALLBREWS is good for 20% off of tickets to The Artisan Tasting at Anchor Brewing Co. (http://sfcocktailweek.com/artisan_tasting.html)

Spirited Food Trucks

The spirits/food pairing theme continues on Tuesday with Spirited Food Trucks, which combines two Bay Area’s obsessions: food trucks and mixed drinks. Rye on the Road will serve bottled cocktails, Elixir will dispense carbonated cocktails out of soda siphons, Jasper’s Corner Tap will provide kegged cocktails and 15 Romolo will serve cocktails canned onsite from the Can Van. Patrons will get a food voucher for the food truck of their choice.

Spirited Food Trucks

Tuesday, Sept. 18, 6-9 p.m.

SoMa StrEat Food Park, 428 11^th St. San Francisco

$45 in advance, $55 at the door, with food from the trucks available for purchase.

Best of the West

Wednesday will feature some of the best bartenders from San Diego to Washington State, including Kevin Diedrich of Jasper’s Corner Tap & Kitchen in San Francisco, Annalisa Huante of Cincin in Reno, J.R Starkus of RM Seafood in Las Vegas, Christian Siglin of Craft and Commerce in San Diego, David Shenaut of Ronin-Mercenary in Portland, Naomi Schimek of Spare Room in Los Angeles, Chris Sinclair of Red Rabbit in Sacramento and Andrew Friedman of Liberty in Seattle.

Best of the West

Wednesday, Sept. 19, 6-9 p.m.

Tradition, 441 Jones St., San Francisco

$45 in advance, $55 at the door; VIP table for four for $100 per person.

Totally Awesome East Bay to the Max

Thursday will highlight the best bartenders from the East Bay creating “classic” concoctions from the 1980s (Slow Comfortable Screws, Fuzzy Navels and Slippery Nipples) reimagined for contemporary drinkers. A DJ will re-create an ‘80s ambience with music from the decade. Period costumes are encouraged.

Totally Awesome East Bay to the Max

Thursday, Sept. 20, 5-8 p.m.

The New Parish, 579 18^th St., Oakland

$45 in advance, $55 at the door

The Legends Awards

On Friday, the second annual Legends Awards will recognize the Bay Area’s top cocktail innovators, influencers, mentors and historians. The event will re-create a 1960s experience with special tableside cocktails and punches, dinner and show.

The Legends Awards

Friday, Sept. 21, 7:30-10:30 p.m.

The Swedish American Hall, 2174 Market St., San Francisco

$85 in advance and $95 at the door

The California Altered State Fair by Jupiter Olympus


On Saturday, Jupiter Olympus will hold an adults-only state fair-style event that will feature games, food and contests “from the midways of our youth, finally made inappropriate for children.” Cocktails will be inspired by the bounty of California and “the fried crap of the county fairs”: a Salt-Water Taffy Old Fashioned, a Manhattan Sno-Cone, Smoked Watermelon Punch and Jupiter Olympus-made vegetable liqueurs in kale, radish/fennel and corn on the cob flavors. The winner of the California State Cocktail will also be announced at the fair. Festive attire is encouraged.

The California Altered State Fair by Jupiter Olympus


Saturday, Sept. 22,
8-11pm


Mission Dispatch, 1975 Bryant St., San Francisco


$45 in advance and $55 at the door

St. George Spirits: 30 Years to Life

The grand finale of Cocktail Week will be held at St. George Spirits, which is celebrating its 30^th anniversary with a prison theme in which “the Bay Area’s most dastardly outlaw bartenders will be serving up criminally delicious cocktails using St. George’s stolen-from-Kentucky Breaking & Entering Bourbon and in-the-clear gins.” Expect outdoor games in “the yard” of St. George Spirits, a prison tattoo station, squirt gun target practice and live music by Hot Pocket. Food will be available from food trucks. Shuttle buses will be available to and from the Ferry Building and West Oakland BART ($5).

St. George Spirits: 30 Years to Life

Sunday, Sept. 23, 1-5 p.m.


St. George Spirits, 2601 Monarch St., Alameda


$45 in advance and $55 at the door.

In addition to these main events, Cocktail Week will feature Spirited Dinners at Michael Mina, Twenty Five Lusk and Millennium.

Black Lily

The official cocktail of SF Cocktail Week is the Black Lily, an homage to legendary San Francisco eccentric Lillie Hitchcock Coit (1842-1929), created by Remy-Cointreau mixologist Kyle Ford.

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Cointreau

1 oz Fernet Branca

.75 oz fresh lime juice

Method:

Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice. Shake into a rocks glass. Garnish with orange peel.

For a complete list of San Francisco Cocktail Week events, including updates, visit sfcocktailweek.com.

 Photos courtesy of Gamma Nine (http://gammanine.com/).

Social Kitchen Is on the Rise

One of the most difficult maneuvers for a neighborhood restaurant to execute is “the turnaround.” After investing heavily in startup costs, a restaurant gets off on the wrong foot and despite repeated attempts just can’t seem to get its footing, year after year. The people in the neighborhood eventually lose patience and the restaurant just sort of sits there, mostly empty.

Such is the case with the brewpub that a couple of years ago was re-christened Social Kitchen, on 9^th and Irving in the Inner Sunset. Bringing in talented brewmaster and cicerone Rich Higgins seemed to signal brighter days ahead. But even though Higgins made some very good beer, the kitchen still seemed out of step, stuck in the fried bar food formula that’s almost become a parody of itself. Despite promises of cuisine a la biere, the stereotypical pub grub from a revolving door of chefs never lived up to Higgins’ L’Enfant Terrible and Rapscallion Belgian-inspired ales and his German-style Social Kolsch and Old Time Alt.

That may be changing with the arrival of chef Chris Wong, who left Luella in an attempt to resuscitate the dining experience at Social Kitchen. Even though Higgins moved on earlier this year, he left the brewing in the very capable hands of Kim Sturdavant. Over the past several months, Sturdavant, who had previously made beer at Marin Brewing, has put his own stamp on the brewery. Whereas Higgins worked mostly in the German and Belgian traditions, with a nod to English-style ales, Strudavant brews unapologetically in the tradition of English session beers, like bitters, milds, pale ales and porters. Sturdavant, who honed his craft brewing beer in England, is a big fan of British malt and hops like East Golding, which are more subtle and less assertive than the West Coast varieties that have risen to prominence over the past few years. And he’s even importing English ingredients to make his tasty brews.

Most importantly, chef Wong and brewmaster Sturdavant are on the same culinary wavelength. Recently, Social Kitchen introduced a Sunday brunch menu that reflects Wong’s culinary ambitions for comfort food paired with Sturdavant’s delicious interpretations of British-style ales. Together, they are inventing a New World twist on British pub food, pairing dishes like Wong’s beer-braised short rib hash or pork belly fried rice with Sturdavant’s food-friendly Ramsgate Rye PA pale ale. American pale ales, and especially IPAs, are frequently too bitter to pair well with many dishes, but the Ramsgate Rye tastes like it might complement just about anything on the menu. And typical of English session beers, it is relatively low in alcohol while still being full of flavor.

In the short time that Wong and Sturdavant have been collaborating, they’ve managed to finally accomplish the cuisine a la biere that Social Kitchen aspired to but never quite attained. They’ve got a huge challenge ahead of them in changing the perception of a much maligned neighborhood restaurant and in finding their audience. In the past, Social Kitchen tried to be everything to everyone and ended up being unsatisfying.

But if management sticks with their talented chef and brewmaster and lets them evolve together, they might establish Social Kitchen as a beer/food destination along the lines of Belgian gastropub Monk’s Kettle or brewpub Magnolia, which is heady praise indeed. Social Kitchen definitely deserves another look from beer and food lovers, and not just those residing in the Inner Sunset.

Celebrate Earth Day with beach cleanup and party

If you're looking for a way to help out Mother Nature and party at the beach on Sunday, check out this Earth Day Block Party Celebration.

Trumer Pils is teaming up with the local chapter of Surfrider for an Earth Day cleanup at Ocean Beach on April 22, from 10 a.m. to noon, immediately followed by a free block party at The Riptide from noon-6 p.m. The Bone's Nikki Blakk from FM 107.7 will emcee the festivities, and kids are welcome to help with the cleanup and attend the party.

After cleaning up the beach, attendees will be able to enjoy eats from a variety of local food trucks and other vendors, organic spirits from Green Bar, German-style pilsner from Trumer Pils and live music by The Mermen, as well as enter a raffle to support the non-profit Surfrider Foundation.

Prizes will include:

• A custom-made, sustainable Trumer surfboard made by Stretch Boards

• Trumer beach cruiser bike

• T-shirts, sweatshirts and other Trumer goodies

• Dinner for two at Radius Restaurant in SOMA

• Surfrider t-shirts and other items

The cleanup starts at Fulton Street and The Great Highway. The Riptide is at

3639 Taraval St.

For more information, visit Surfrider’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/events/389773514374248/.

Whole Foods Breaks New Ground with Craft Beer at Steep Brew

Slowly but surely, craft beer is pushing Miller, Coors, Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois farther and farther down the refrigerated beer section shelves. Not that long ago, you'd be hard-pressed to find any local craft beer beyond maybe Anchor Steam and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Nowadays, even Safeway has some decent craft beer from Drakes, Lagunitas, Trumer and Speakeasy.

Whole Foods Market has for several years been on top of this trend, and was one of the few grocery stores where you stood any chance at all of running into Russian River's Pliny the Elder or Victory Prima Pils.

Buoyed by its success selling bottles of craft beer, Whole Foods opened a 16-tap pub in its store in the Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa. Emboldened by that achievement, Whole Foods went whole hog with the taproom in its Potrero Hill store in San Francisco, renovating the entire street-level floor into a combination 16-tap pub, wine bar, coffee bar and restaurant, called Steep Brew Taproom. Although Steep Brew has been open for several weeks, it “officially” opened last Friday, March 30 (pushing up the original grand opening by a week due to popular demand.)

The Neophyte's Dilemma

Steep Room addresses a dilemma that perpetually plagues people shopping for craft beer. They're bored with Bud and Corona, but the array of choices in the refrigerated beer section is so daunting and confusing that they end up grabbing a sixer of Stella Artois simply out of frustration. Steep Brew provides craft beer newcomers with an opportunity to discuss and sample some unfamiliar beers, confident that once they return home with their bottles they won't end up pouring them down the drain. And since Steep Brew is situated in the familiar, friendly confines of Whole Foods, people don't feel as intimidated as they would in, say, Toronado, Beer Revolution or Zeitgeist.

The concept will require a bit of shaking out to find the sweet spot with the neighborhood clientele, and some work remains to be done to coordinate the various moving parts and streamline the operation. But it looks like it could be a good investment for Whole Foods and may create a virtuous circle with the rest of the store. People might come in to do some shopping, decide to have (or share) a flight of four beers ($7 for four 4-ounce pours, three 8-ounce pours for $14), find a beer that they like and stash a few bottles in the cart while they're shopping. And since Steep Brew also features a very nice kitchen and pizza oven, a customer could sample a flight of tasters with, say, an arugula pizza with truffle oil to experiment with food and beer pairings (Almanac's Winter Wit paired very nicely with that particular pizza).

It might take Steep Brew a little while to triangulate with the Potrero Hill beer and food palate, but this pub ultimately could become a destination not only for shoppers, but for neighborhood workers enjoying a glass of session beer with their lunch, as well as people who just like good beer.

Although Steep Brew represents a certain amount of risk, I think it's a risk well worth taking. After all, Whole Foods has staked its reputation on high-quality produce, baked goods, meats and fish, all sourced locally whenever possible. What could be more natural than letting customers taste craft beer from both up-and-coming local brewers like Almanac, Dying Vines and Pacific Brewing Labs, and established San Francisco brewers such as Anchor and Magnolia? And what could be more fun than chatting with the brewers and learning how they execute the alchemy of transforming grain into liquid deliciousness.

But don't take my word for it. Stop into Steep Brew, order a sampler or a pint, and ask beer manager Wesley Anderson anything you want to know about beer. Before you realize it, you'll discover that there's a whole lot more to beer than Blue Moon or Corona.

Whole Foods Steep Brew taproom official opening

Although the Steep Brew taproom at the Whole Foods in Potrero Hill has been open for business for a few weeks, the official opening is on Friday, March 30, from 5-7 p.m. Steep Brew features 16 beers on tap and many others in bottles. Also, you can buy a bottle in the market upstairs and have it served in the appropriate glassware for $1 corkage.

On hand to help inaugurate the new taproom will be local brewers from Magnolia, which makes some very nice English-style session beers, among others, and Pacific Brewing Laboratories, notorious for such exotic brews as Hibiscus Saison, Squid Ink Black IPA, Chamomile Ale, Lemongrass IPA and Szechwan Peppercorn red ale.

In addition to the beer, you'll be able to sample some “sweet and savory bites.” Food is also available on Steep Brew's seasonal menu and in artisan cheese pairings. There will also be giveaways and raffles in support of the Whole Planet Foundation.

Steep Brew also has beer and wine flights, and you can try sampler pours of the beers as well. For those in need of a caffeine fix, there's also an espresso bar at Steep Brew.

Whole Foods Market

450 Rhode Island,

San Francisco CA

1 415-552-1155

Open until 10 p.m.

Whole Foods Potrero Hill Opens Steep Brew Taproom

Any doubts about whether craft beer has entered the mainstream are quickly dispatched with a walk down the beer aisle in most Northern California Whole Foods Markets, where the selection of foreign and domestic beers surpasses that of any other supermarket in the area, and even a lot of specialty beer shops. And despite the store's “Whole Paycheck” reputation, the prices are actually quite reasonable considering the quality of the beer. Moreover, I've always found Whole Foods' beer managers to be knowledgeable and friendly. Don't hesitate to ask them for help if you've got some questions; they love talking about beer.

Last week, Whole Foods on Potrero Hill took another big step forward in craft beer by opening the chain's first taproom in San Francisco (it already has one in its Coddingtown store in Santa Rosa). The 16 taps at Potrero Hill focus primarily on local and regional beers, with Magnolia and North Coast prominently on offer, as well as a few well-chosen surprises. Steep Brew already has one “tap takeover” with Magnolia scheduled for March 23, so you can meet the brewer.

The current list at the “Steep Brew” taproom has something for just about everyone. For people who like lighter but still tasty beers, there's Magnolia's Kolsch, Hacker Pschorr Weiss and Almanac's Winter Wit; for lovers of the hop, there's Grand Teton's Pale Ale, Dying Vines English IPA (a very nice English-style session beer), Pacific Brewing Labs Squid Ink Black IPA, Magnolia Proving Ground IPA and Victory's Prima Pils, a hoppy and delicious pilsner. For the more extreme beer lovers, there's North Coast Old Rasputin on nitro—smooth and creamy, Lagunitas WTF Imperial Brown Ale, Rodenbach's complex sweet/sour Flanders red ale and Ballast Point Victory at Sea Coffee Imperial Porter: dessert in a glass and not to be missed. Taps will rotate regularly, so there will always be something new to try (which is half the fun).

California bottles include the iconic Pliny the Elder double IPA from Russian River Brewing, Green Flash's Rayon Vert and North Coast's Pranqster, among others, as well as some interesting imports: Augustiner German Pils, Rochefort Trappist 10, Piraat Triple, Schnieider Aventinus, Hitachino Nest White and Yoho (Tokyo) Black Porter. Steep Brew also has gluten-free beers from Dogfish Head, New Planet and Lakefront. In addition, you can buy bottles upstairs in the store and enjoy them in the appropriate glassware for a $1 corkage fee. There's also a wine bar with a nice variety of wines. Or you can buy a bottle of wine in the store and have it served for $2 corkage.

Sandwiches, burgers, pizzas, small plates and salads are also available from the nearby kitchen.

Although the bright and sunny Steep Brew taproom is separate from the main store, drinking craft beer in an upscale supermarket environment might take some getting used to; the vibe is much more family-oriented than a dive bar (not that that's a bad thing). But Steep Brew has a lot of potential, and the care and attention that Whole Foods has put into it is readily apparent. The taproom, which is open from midday to 10 p.m. nicely fills a niche in the neighborhood, and it's not hard to imagine shoppers popping in for a nosh with a nice glass of Sonoma Cutrer Chardonnay or a pint of Prima Pils after shopping.

Unlike the typical American beers and so-called Lite beers, craft beers are meant to be sipped and savored, and it's refreshing to discover that Whole Foods recognizes the role of quality beer, as well as wine, in fine dining, both at home and in a restaurant.

A San Francisco Beer Week To Remember

It might be time to change the name of the San Francisco Brewers Guild's annual event. San Francisco Beer Week is not really a “week” anymore, since the bacchanal now lasts nine days (more if you count the release of Pliny the Younger the week before). And it's not just “San Francisco,” either. Brewers came from as far north as Anchorage, Alaska, and from as far south as San Diego, as well as Europe, for what has become an international event with a West Coast focus.

SF Beer Week has been growing exponentially every year and this year might have been a watershed event, beginning with a massive opener in the friendly confines of the cavernous Concourse Exhibition center and ending with the traditional Celebrator 24th Anniversary Party at Trumer Brauerie in Berkeley.

Certainly no one could have attended every Beer Week event and lived to tell the tale, but for nine beautiful days it was difficult not to have great beer. One of the unique paradoxes of Beer Week is that you end up passing on great beers you've already had in favor of great beers you haven't tried yet. And even then you can't get to everything.

Everyone will have their own favorite events and beers, and here are a few of mine.

Midnight Sun Brewing Co. and Cascade Brewing at City Beer

Luckily, City Beer expanded this year, and the iconic San Francisco bottle shop/tap bar seems more popular than ever. Midnight Sun from Anchorage, Alaska, is a staff favorite, and for good reason. New head brewer Jeremiah Boone brought a half-dozen strong beers to City Beer— Sockeye Red IPA, Oaked Mamouth Extra Stout, Berserker Imperial Stout, Anchorage Eisbock, London Old Ale—as well as a bit of a sleeper in the form of an an excellent kolsch. While the big beers, particularly Oaked Mamouth, Berserker and London Old Ale were impressive and well-received, the kolsch might have been the best proof of Boone's art: a clean, refreshing and flavorful brew that was delightfully simple.

Cascade provided the nightcap for City Beer's doubleheader with an array of sour beers infused with cranberries, blueberries and cherries, as well as a sleeper of its own, a seldom-seen German-style, Winter Gose. The sours tended to taste like the same beer after a while, albeit with a different fruit flavor, but the Gose was memorable.

Green Flash at Churchill

Located right outside the Church Street MUNI station, Churchill is not the first place that comes to mind for beer, but they made a valiant effort nonetheless with a handful of Green Flash beers on tap that proved that there's more to the brewery than West Coast IPA. Palate Wrecker lived up to its name as a potent double IPA and Winter's Folly is a nicely balanced winter seasonal. In the cold case were bottles of Rayon Vert, a very pleasant Belgian pale with maybe a hint of bret. From Churchill, it was but a short walk to...

'Tion Night at Toronado

The throng assembled at Toronado for Russian River's ecclesiastic line of ales attested to the growing popularity of sour beers. Among the 20 Russian River taps available for the evening were such favorites as Temptation (including a 2008 release), Compunction, Rejection, Supplication, Consecration, Sanctification, and on and on. Russian River Brewing's beer angel, Natalie Cilurzo, also descended on the festivities bearing a Jereboam of 3-year-old Beatification (which had quite a different flavor profile from the not yet released batch, drier and without the grapefruit).

Sau and Brau at Drakes

Now in its second year at the rejuvenated Drake's Brewing Company, Sau and Brau is on the verge of joining the opener, the Celebrator Party at Trumer, the Double IPA Festival at Bistro and the Barleywine Festival at Toronado, among others, as a Beer Week staple. Drakes continues to amaze with some outstanding beers. Hopocalypse Black Label deservedly won the triple IPA crown at the Bistro. At “Sau and Brau,” Drake's brought back the subtly puckerish Brette Davis Eyes, an American blonde ale with an intriguing dose of brett. Other standouts included The Good Sh*t, an excellent barrel aged barleywine, and a firkin of barrel-aged Drakonic Imperial stout with TCHO chocolate nibs and Blue Bottle coffee: dessert in a glass. Brette Davis and the barrel-aged Drakonic Imperial Stout were particularly impressive paired with the pork (two whole roasted pigs this year) from Chop Bar in Oakland.

Speakeasy Party

Speakeasy in San Francisco expanded its weekly party in honor of Beer Week. Despite its out-of-the-way location, Speakeasy is fast becoming a prime destination for San Francisco “hipster” beer drinkers. Among the featured beers on tap was Massacre, a dark wheat beer with a hint of cherry, brewed especially for Valentines Day and Beer Week. Thankfully, Bugsy Moran and Al Capone were nowhere in sight. Scarface Imperial Stout did make an appearance, however, as did the Three Ring Circus collaboration. Peanuts in beer? I'm not so sure about that one. Massacre and the featured Strong Ale did pair nicely with Le Truc's pulled pork sandwich, however.

From there, it was a short walk and MUNI ride to...

Public House, Featuring Stone Brewing and Bear Republic

Public House is a good place to have a cask beer any time (particularly at a Giants game), and cask ales don't come much better than Bear Republic's sublime Racer X in a firkin— arguably one of the best beers of the entire week and surprisingly balanced despite a hefty 8.3% abv.

And then it was back to MUNI and on to...

Sierra Nevada Night at Zeitgeist

Even though the Sierra Nevada crew looked a little bedraggled as the long march of Beer Week wore on, they did manage to bring along a nice keg of Hopsichord, a double-IPA overflowing with aromatic hops and almost oily with “experimental” hop bitterness. For my money, Hopsichord might be just a tad tastier than Sierra's excellent Hoptimum, another Beer Camp favorite.

SF Beer Week is astonishing, not only for the depth and breadth of the quality of beer available, but for the heroic efforts of the Bay Area's publicans. Special mention must be made of the Herculean effort at Beer Revolution in Oakland, which took Meet the Brewer to an entirely new level.

Credit is also due to cicerone Rich Higgins, who as president of the San Francisco Brewers Guild has been an indefatigable advocate and eloquent spokesman for Bay Area beer. Higgins is stepping down from his post at the Brewers Guild and away from his head brewer position at Social Kitchen to pursue other opportunities. He will leave some very large boots to fill.

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