Another day to celebrate beer is upon us and this time we will be celebrating stout. International Stout Day is on Thursday, November 3 and San Francisco will join in a with an event by Public House and Beer 47. Public House has arranged for 4 very special and hard to find stouts to be available on tap along with a selection of two rare bottles of stout.

The festivities will begin at 4pm and will last until closing at 10pm. Get there early so you don’t miss out on all these great stouts.

The special stouts on draft will include:

• Avery The Czar Russian Imperial Stout
• Firestone-Walker Velvet Merlin Oatmeal Stout on cask
• North Coast Old #38 on nitro
• Speakeasy Sutro Chocolate Milk Stout

Additionally the following rare bottles will be available:

• 2010 Firestone-Walker Parabola
• 2010 Stone Russian Imperial Stout

In addition to the stouts listed above, Public House will has a great selection of craft beer as well as a full bar. Public House is located at AT&T Park at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, San Francisco, CA 94107. For more information about the venue please visit the Public House web page.

For more information about the Stout Day Celebration at Public House please see the Facebook event page.

The turn out for the event was fantastic. In addition to the other great craft beer, we enjoyed 8 IPAs on tap: Russian River Blind Pig, Bear Republic Racer 5, Ninkasi Total Domination IPA, Stone Ruination IPA, Ballast Point Big Eye IPA, Brasserie d’Achouffe Houblon Chouffe, and Ale Industries East Bay IPA. The Ale Industries IPA was a  special treat because IPA Day at Rosamunde was one of the first places to have this new beer available. It seemed to be the crowd favorite too because it sold out by about 6:30pm.

It was great time and a great opportunity to meet old friends and even make a few new friends. Special thanks to Josh Margolis, owner of Rosamunde, and Ruggy Joesten, of Yelp, for making this so successful on such short notice, only 10 days.

Thursday, August 4, 2011 will mark the first International IPA Day. All over the world, beer drinkers are gathering on this date to drink and toast hoppy, delicious, and bitter IPA beers. But when I recently heard that an event had not been planned in San Francisco to celebrate IPA, I had to do something about it. Now, together with Rosamunde Sausage Grill and Beer 47, San Francisco has an official International IPA Event!

What better way to celebrate International IPA Day than to enjoy an IPA on the patio of Rosamunde in the sunniest part of San Francisco with friends while munching on a delicious handmade sausage. Don’t forget to share your experience on all social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, and RateBeer) by using hashtag #IPADay in all of your posts.

To incent you to get started early, Rosamunde is offering $2 off IPA on draft between 5pm and 6pm on the day of the event. So don’t miss out! And when you drop by don’t hesitate to say hello, I’ll be wearing a t-shirt with a very familiar logo, the pint glass with a 47.

If you’re interesting in learning more about International IPA Day, read all of the details on Drink with the Wench.

Event Details

Rosamunde Sausage Grill

August 4, 2011
5:00pm to closing
2832 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA

Special hoppy hour:  From 5pm to 6pm all IPAs on tap will be $2 off.

Eight IPAs will be available on tap:

• Ninkasi Total Domination IPA
• Green Flash West Cost IPA
• Russian River Blind Pig IPA
• Bear Republic Racer 5 IPA
• Houblon Chouffe Belgian-style IPA
• Stone Ruination IPA (Updated Aug. 2, 2011)
• Ballast Point Big Eye IPA (Updated Aug. 2, 2011)
• All Industries East Bay IPA, special release! (Updated Aug. 3, 2011)
• 7.7% abv with 100 IBUs

Three IPAs will be available in bottles:

• Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
• Flying Dog Raging Bitch Belgian-style IPA (I read recently that these will soon be in short supply and much harder to find)
• Mateveza Yerba Mate IPA

Special thanks to Josh Margolis, the owner of Rosamunde Sausage Grill hosting IPA Day and for pulling this together at the last minute. Also thanks to Ruggy Joesten of Yelp for offer to help spread the word about this event. Finally, thanks to Ashley V Routson and Ryan A Ross for coming up with another great way to celebrate craft beer.

Each year the Brewers Association selects a different city in which to hold the Craft Brewers Conference. This year it was held right here in San Francisco, California. Thanks to the Brewers Association both myself and Liz were given media access to cover this craft beer industry conference. The whole event was kicked off with a welcome reception at the California Academy of Science.

The California Academy of Science is museum located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco that has a huge aquarium, indoor rainforest, a planetarium, and more. It turned out to be an excellent venue to kick off the Craft Brewers Conference. We were sipping beer under the blue glow of the aquarium and discussing the industry next to an albino aligator. No food or beer was allowed in the rainforest exhibit but it was open during the first part of the event.

The food spread was quite appetizing and the selection of beer was extensive. The breweries that were pouring were as follows: 21st Amendment, Anchor, Anderson Valley, Beach Chalet, Bear Republic, Black Diamond, Drakes, Eel River, Firehouse, Firestone-Walker, Gordon Biersch, Half Moon Bay, Iron Springs, Lagunitas, Linden St., Magnolia, Marin Brewing, Moonlight Brewing, Moylan’s, Napa Smith, North Coast, Rubicon, Russian River, Santa Cruz Mountain, Seabright, Shmaltz Brewing, Sierra Nevada, Social Kitchen & Brewery, Speakeasy, ThirstyBear, Triple Rock, and Trumer. It was a veritable beer festival for the industry and very well attended too.

For my second beer dinner of SF Beer Week, two friends, my wife, and I coordinated on which beer dinner to attend. We decided on the Sierra Nevada Dinner at Bar Crudo and it turned out to be a wonderful evening.

Bar Crudo is a small restaurant that serves all sorts of delicious seafood cuisine alongside a superb beer selection. This dinner featured seafood paired with  seasonal and special releases from Sierra Nevada. Representatives from Sierra Nevada, including head brewer Steve Dresler.

May favorite dish of the night was also paired with my favorite beer of the night and both were changes which were not reflected on the menu online. The dish was butterfish over rustini pasta (a made of name for a pasta that was very much like spaetzle ) served with Sierra Nevada 2 by 4, a barrel-aged Belgian-style quadruple blended with a Belgian-style dubbel.

I’ve provided the menu below from the evening below.

If you’re not familiar with Telegraph Brewing Company, they are a craft brewery based out of Santa Barbara, CA. They offer distinctive beers presented in distinctive packaging; i.e. I really like their labels and I like their beer even more.

While I was tasting the beer I has an opportunity to talk briefly with Brian Thompson, the Founder and CEO, of Telegraph Brewing. When I mentioned that I liked the fact that his beer was refreshingly unique, he said, “[we] don’t want to do the same beers as everybody else.” And I think they have succeeded in that endeavor. He also mentioned that they are trying to get a larger presence in San Francisco and the Bay Area and will be planning more events over the next year.  I think this will be a welcome addition to what we can already find in the Bay Area, especially Telegraph’s special releases.

For only $15, the Jug Shop offered Telegraph beers that are both readily available in stores and also a few that are not, or at least will not be back in stores for several months. The tasting included samples of White Ale, Golden Wheat Ale, Reserve Wheat, Gypsy Ale, Oatmeal Stout, California Ale, Robust Ale, Stock Porter, Winter Ale, and Rhinoceros. The following are my tasting notes and a few details about each of the beers that were served at the tasting.

White Ale. The white ale is a Belgian-style witbier made with chamomile. It has the characteristic banana with a hint of clove. Similar in some ways to Allagash White but more floral. The coriander gives it a nice spice while the chamomile enhances the floral nature of the beer.

Golden Wheat Ale from April ’10. This beer was actually infected by lactobacillus. Although this was not intentional, it does add something interesting to the beer. It has a little tart sourness, a hint of bitterness, and is light with a little sweetness.

Reserve Wheat Ale. Where the Golden Wheat Ale was not intentionally sour, this beer was purposefully inoculated with both lactobacillus and brettanomyces.   Reserve wheat is sour and earthy like hay or a farm. It also has a touch of sweetness that comes through like a crisp apple or an Asian pears. It is quite delicious especially if you like sour beer.

Gypsy Ale. This beer was a real treat, delicious, and very unique. It is another sour beer and this one is made with local Santa Rosa variety plums and also inoculated with brettanomyces. Brian informed me that the plums actually came from his back yard. For next Fall’s batch, however, they’ll need more so the plums will be coming from a farm. Gypsy Ale has a strong plum and sour presence, which makes it smell a lot like umeboshi, Japanese pickled plums. It is also earthy, like hay, a possibly a bit earthy like mushrooms. It has a nice balance of both sourness and sweetness.  It is complex and  interesting and maybe even a tiny bit spicy. I picked up two bottles for myself, which I plan on aging to see how the brett will change the beer over time.

Oatmeal Stout. This beer is rich and creamy with a chocolate quality making it quite delicious.

California Ale. The Califonia Ale has a subtle and clean sour flavor balanced with some maltiness, which is almost like caramel. It also has some bitterness and spice to it as well.

Robust Ale. This is another malty, sweet, and earthy beer. The earthiness in this one is a little bit like mushrooms.

Stock Porter. Telegraph makes a great porter that is full bodied, roasty, and coffee-like with notes of chocolate.

Winter Ale. This is a winter all like no others. The cinnamon and ancho chile in this beer give it a quality  reminiscent of Chinese five-spice but without the fennel and anise. In addition to the ancho and cinnamon, this beer also has a noticeable and pleasant helping of allspice. The Mexican hot chocolate inspired beer is scrumptious, spicy, unique, and awesome.

Rhinoceros. This beer is a “rye wine” made like a barleywine but with a significant about of rye. It is very malty, sweet, earthy but not astrigent fo a beer with 10% abv. The sweetness is nicely balanced by bitterness from the hops to give it that dark-sugar molasses-like sweetness. The texture is quite viscous, some bitterness. Rhinoceros is a bold and tasty brew.

I was pleased to find that it was difficult to find a favorite from all of these beers that I sampled. Every beer was well crafted and had its own unique qualities but the three that stood out the most for me were Gypsy Ale, Winter Ale, and Rhinoceros. They had unique, yet well balanced flavors while exhibiting quality craftsmanship.

Thank you to Eric, from the Jug Shop, and Brian Thompson for putting on a great event that exposed me to such wonderful new beer. I can’t wait to have Telegraph beer more readily available in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Each month a different blog selects a topic and hosts a conversation of bloggers called The Sessions. The topic for The Session #46, hosted by Mike Lynch of Burgers and Brews, is to discuss An Unexpected Discovery, a beer experience that took you by surprise. I was originally not going to participate in this topic because I couldn’t think of a good story but lo and behold a few days ago I discovered Amsterdam Cafe in San Francisco less than 10 minutes, walking, from where I live.

My discovery of Amsterdam Cafe came in two stages.

Part 1. The day after Thanksgiving a bunch of friends were visiting from out of town and we were out drinking in San Francisco. Towards the end of the night we ended  up at Edinburgh Castle, a pub on Geary and Polk, which was a location used in So I Married an Axe Murderer. It was a decent enough pub with the standard 2-3 craft beers you see everywhere in SF with the addition of Moylan’s Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale. When we left Edinbugh Castle, I noticed a place directly across the street with four beer signs in the window and one of them was Lost Coast’s Great White. I thought to myself or I told somebody, “I wonder what kind of beer selection they have in there” but I neglected to make note of the name of the place to check out later. At that moment, we should have just crossed the street and checked it out but instead we continued on to someplace else.

Part 2. Four days later, or last Tuesday, a friend of mine, Tim, called and left a voicemail saying that he was with a mutual friend, Jan, at Triple Rock in Berkeley and was wondering if I would like to join them. Of course I would have liked to join them, especially since I haven’t been there yet, but it was the middle of the afternoon and I was in meetings. So I called back and we coordinated to meet up at my place when they returned to the city (San Francisco). When Tim and Jan arrived, we tried to figure out where to go grab a good craft beer nearby and concluded that Polk St. just doesn’t have any good craft beer bars like Church Key, Toronado, Monk’s Kettle, and so on. This is when Jan suggested a place that she had been to about a year ago but her recollection on the selection and availability of craft beer wasn’t clear. She thought they might have some decent stuff and that it was called Amsterdam Cafe located directly across from Edinburgh Castle. Wait a minute! I was just wondering about that place 4 days ago. And so we headed down from Nob Hill to the Tenderloin to check out Amsterdam Cafe.

The second we walked in the door, I knew this was an unexpected discovery. There were much more than a few good beers on tap. They had 14 craft beers on tap plus Guinness and, like bookends for the taps, were two large refrigerators packed with bottles of craft beer. When I asked about the number of different bottles, the estimate was over 250. Not only do they have the bottles in the fridge but also bottles under the bar and some in the basement and all of the bottles are stored properly, cold.

The menu is quite extensive but they have seasonal beers and others that are not listed. Your best bet is to scan the menu, inspect the fridges, and ask about special releases. I noticed a bottle of Stone Double Bastard (not on the menu) so I asked if they had Stone Lukcy Basartd and they did! Not only did I find a new neighborhood (close enough) beer bar but also I was able to get the beer that I was craving at that very moment, one of my new favorites made by Stone Brewing. That’s two unexpected discoveries in one night.

All of this occurred while not recalling what The Session topic was for the upcoming Friday; the Friday immediately following my first visit to Amsterdam Cafe. Over the weekend, after The Sessions Friday, I was getting ready to write an announcement post for The Session #47, which I will be hosting on Jan. 7, 2011, and I visited the blog hosting The Session #46, Burgers and Brews. This was when I remembered the topic and that my recent experience would be perfect for this Session. I contacted Mike to see if it was too late to get my entry included in the Wrapup and he said it was not too late, but I had to explain why I was late. The next Monday, I went back to Amsterdam Cafe to take some photos, try some of their food, and take some photos.

There’s my story. As a result of my unexpected discovery I’ve found my new favorite neighborhood spot to grab a craft beer: Amsterdam Cafe.

Now, if your curious about this somewhat new San Francisco beer bar, then read on. Amsterdam Cafe has been around for over a year and is located at 937 Geary between Larkin and Polk in the Tenderloin neighborhood. The neighborhood itself isn’t the greatest but it is actually located near other bars and nightlife, such at Edinburgh Castle, R-Bar, Tommy’s Joint, and so on. The inside of the bar is roughly equivalent to other bars in the area; not quite a dive but definitely not a posh lounge. It’s comfortable, decorated, there’s art for sale,  and there is a nice eclectic mix of familiar and unfamiliar music. I enjoyed hanging out there and talking with friends. It wasn’t too loud but I have not been there on a weekend so I don’t know if it gets packed or not.

As mentioned before, they have 15 taps and roughly half of those are consistently the same. The others change somewhat regularly. They also have on the order of 200 to 250 different bottles available. The prices for beer are reasonable and not outrageous. For instance, it’s probably 30-40% cheaper than Monk’s Kettle.

They do serve food but the first night I was there the bartender said that food is only available before 2:30pm. I tried the food and it is about what you would expect from convenience food, made with a deep fryer, in a tiny kitchen, and prepared by a bartender. I had the cordon bleu sandwich and it was just okay. They do however allow you to bring in your own food from outside and there are several nearby restaurants, including the Little Saigon area.

They also have artisan coffee (currently from Coffee Magic), free WiFi (for you AT&T customers like me who have trouble using 3G almost anywhere in SF), open patio in the front, a flat screen TV, and hookah for $10.

I hope my unexpected discovery leads you to check out this great neighborhood beer bar. If you live in SF and enjoy craft beer in a comfortable environment, you must check this place out. If you don’t live in SF, put this place on your list to visit or come out for SF Beer Week.

Other posts about San Francisco

• Stout Day Celebration in San Francisco
• Photos from International IPA Day at Rosamunde
• IPA Day San Francisco presented by Rosamunde & Beer 47
• 2011 Craft Brewers Conference Welcome Reception at the Academy of Sciences
• Sierra Nevada Dinner at Bar Crudo, SF Beer Week 2011

Each year, for the past seven years, a beer festival is held in San Francisco at Pier 45 on the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien, a World War II Liberty class ship. The event is a benefit for the upkeep and restoration of this historic class of sea vessel. Held on September 11-12, this year the event featured unlimited tastings from the seven breweries that make up the SF Brewer’s Guild: 21st Amendment, Beach Chalet, Gordon Biersch, Magnolia, Social Kitchen & Brewery, Speakeasy, and Thirsty Bear. I thought this would be a great warm up before I headed to the Great American Beer Festival and I was right. This was a great event.

Although the event featured only seven breweries, there were 41 different beers available for generous samplings. Unlike some festivals, where each brewery brings only 2-3 of their best each brewery had, on average, 5 beers available. At $45 for one day or $75 for two days, it might seem expensive but  you have to remember this event is also a fund raiser. Also featured at the event was food from Orson and music by Zoo Station and Hot for Teacher.

Of the beers that were served, I sampled the following:

• 21st Amendment Hop Crisis
• 21st Amendment Golden Doom
• Magnolia Oysterhead Stout
• Social Kitchen Social Kölsch
• Social Kitchen Old Time Alt
• Speakeasy White Lightning
• Thirsty Bear Cask-conditioned ESB (dry hopped with Willamette)
• Thirsty Bear Rum Runner

The entire beer list at the event was as follows:

• 21st Amendment
  • Brew Free of Die IPA, Hell or High Watermelon Wheat, Hop Crisis, Golden Doom
• Beach Chalet
  • VFW Light, Bavarian Hefeweizen, California Kind, Presidio IPA, Riptide Red, Fleishhacker Stout, Saison du Chalet de Plage, Düsseldorf Altbier
• Gordon Biersch
  • Marzen, Schwarzbier, Festbier, Czech Pilsner, Hefeweizen, Export
• Magnolia
  • Kalifornia Kölsch, Proving Ground IPA, Prescription Pale, Big Cypress Brown, Oysterhead Stout
• Social Kitchen
  • Social Kölsch, Old Time Alt, L’Enfant Terrible, Rapscallion, Easy IPA, Big Mundy Weizenbock
• Speakeasy
  • Big Daddy, Prohibition, Double Daddy, Public Enemy Pils, White Lightning
• Thirsty Bear
  • Polar Bear Lager, Golden Vanilla Ale, Valencia Wheat, Rum Runner, Meyer ESB, Kozlov Stout, Cask-conditioned ESB

Shmaltz Brewing Company started out 13 years ago in San Francisco and although they are now based out of New York, they came back for SF Beer Week to celebrate their 13th Anniversary with this event and the release of Jewbelation 13.

This event, appropriately named as their Bar Mitzvah (also the subtitle for Jewbelation 13), featured all of their Hebrew beer brands including two limited edition brews: Jewbelation 12 (2008) and Jewbelation 13 (2009). The party also included 2 live bands and cake. Although Amnesia was extremely crowded, this was a great event and a wonderful opportunity to have a vertical tasting of of the Jewbelation beer.

The following are some notes that I took for the Jewbelation beers.

Jewbelation 12 is the Shmaltz anniversary beer from 2008 made with 12 malts, 12 hops, and 12% alcohol by volume. Although it was a dark bar, it was still apparent that this beer has a deep dark color. It has a dark-roasted malty-sweet aroma and scents of bittersweet molasses. The flavor follows the aroma with a not-quite barley wine molasses flavor and astrong roasted malt flavor coupled with some pure cocao flavors. Jewbelation 12 also has notes of prunes and dark dried fruits. The smooth bitterness of this beer brings out molasses and coffee flavors. Smooth bitterness. Despite being 12% abv, this beer is not very boozy. The mouthfeel was syrupy and lightly carbonated.

Jewbelation 13 is the 13th anniversary beer made with, you guessed it, 13 malts, 13 hops, and 13% alcohol by volume. It has a similar color and mouthfeel to 12 but it has much different flavors. Since this beer has not been aged for a year, it is greener in both age, flavor, and hops. The flavor comes off much less like molasses and much more more like beer brittle. The hop bouquet is much more apparent and is spicy and earthy. It is clearly more bitter, with a more harsh bitterness, and more hoppy than Jewbelation 12. The hop flavor makes me think of a very hoppy stout with an enhanced dark chocolate flavor. It is roasty and sweet and balanced by the hops. The beer was good to drink “fresh” and will certain age well. I will definitely wait for about a year to try the bottle that I have in my beer cellar.

Thirsty Bear Brewing hosted their second annual Casks & Quesos event for SF Beer Week at their brew pub restaurant in San Francisco on Saturday, February 6, 2010. I missed this even last year for SF Beer Week but after talking to the Thirsty Bear brew master, Brenden Dobel, at the Gala on the previous night, I decided that I was not going to miss this event and I’m very glad that I attended. The focus of this event was cask conditioned beer and cheese with unlimited samples of beer and as much cheese as you could eat. No wonder the event was sold out!

Casks were brought in from several California breweries with most of them from the San Francisco Bay Area. There were 12 selections of beer from Thirsty Bear, Magnolia, 21st Amendment, Half Moon Bay, Firestone-Walker, Gordon-Biersch, Beach Chalet, Speakeasy, Sierra Nevada, Mayfield, and Triple Rock. I believe that I tried all but one. The three beers that I heard mentioned frequently as “the beers you have to try” were the 21st Amendment Imperial ESB, Thirsty Bear Bearly Legal Barleywine, and Triple Rock Hi-Top IPA. All of the beer was quite fantastic and all three of those were certainly also among my 11 favorites of the evening.

The following are some tasting notes of the beer that I tried that evening.

Thirsty Bear Bearly Legal Barleywine is a cloudy yellow-orange amber hued beer with an off-white not-quite-tan head and it a bit lighter than I expected. The hop bouquet is leafy, spicy, and noble with a hint of citrus and is likely due to dry hopping with Mt. Hood hops. There is also a subtle sweet malt and biscuit aroma. This beer has a pleasant malty sweetness but is just a bit drier than other barleywines that I’ve had. It also does not have a molasses quality to it. The bitterness from the hops is smooth and complements the sweetness very well. Despite being 10% abv, Bearly Legal Barleywine does not smell nor taste boozy. This is a full bodied beer which is surprisingly easy to drink and is an overall delicious and well made beer.

Triple Rock Hi-Top IPA is cloudy and amber colored with a sizeable head for a cask conditioned ale. The Cascade and Centennial hops provide for a wonderfully strong hoppy nose of pine, citrus, grapefruit, spiciness, and floral notes. This beer is a bit sweet and contrasts well against smooth bitter hop flavors and grapefruit. The grapefruit flavors manifest more like a sweet grapefruit juice than a the sour and bitter fruit. This medium-full bodied beer is an easy to consume session beer that is full of flavor.

Magnolia Prescription Pale Ale. I really enjoyed this ale and I thought it captured the English inspiration of both being pale and a cask ale while still having some California influence. The color was a clear amber color with not much head (as most casks ales are). The hops bouquet has a gentle hoppy, citrus, and floral quality with some malty biscuit qualities. The flavor was malty sweet balanced smoothy by some hop bitterness. On cask this is quite an enjoyable medium-bodied and low-carbonation.

Speakeasy Paypack Porter is a robust and full flavored porter. It has a dark black color with a mocha colored head. The aroma exudes copious amounts of chocolate with a hint of caramel and a bit like fresh baked brownies. There are also hints of vanilla which enhances the chocolate aromas. This beer is sweet and chocolaty almost to the point of tasting like chocolate syrup due to the thick mouthfeel. Tasting this beer reveals a roasty and caramel malty sweetness. It is a full bodied beer with the slightest hint of chalkiness, which for some reason I tend to detect in many if not all porters. It is delectable and drinkable.

Serra Nevada Stout from a cask, in my opinion, is much tastier than out of the bottle. The hoppy aromas and flavors seem a little more subdued from the cask stout allowing the dark roasty flavors to dominate. The hops still manifest bitterness which contrasts nicely against the roasty malt sweetness to produce some great coffee an espresso flavors and aromas.

Half Moon Bay Bootlegger Brown. I found this brown colored ale to have just the right amount of maltiness with a subtle hop bitterness. It smelled of toasty and roasted malts. It was a struggle to not grab another glass of this delicious brown ale.

I felt that the Gordon-Biersch Dampfbier was much better and more flavorful out of the cask than out of the keg.