SF Beer Week is finally here an on Friday, festivities were kicked off with the SF Brewer’s Guild Opening Gala at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The format of this event was basically a beer festival, complete with souvenir glasses, 20 or so craft breweries, live music, food, tons of people, and unlimited pours. Early in the evening there were toasts to commemorate the festivities and special release beers abound.
The following are only a few of the great beers that I sampled at this event.
SF Brewer’s Guild Imperial Common. This is the official beer of SF Beer Week 10 and is a collaborative brew by the SF Brewer’s Guild. It looks like the plan is to make it available at several events throughout the week until it is gone. It has a nice malty and caramel sweet aroma with a woody, green hops bouquet and a touch of citrus. It doesn’t really taste like a stronger version of Anchor Steam but is not also a complete surprise. It has a nice malty flavor, slightly toasty, and a noticeable hop bitterness. Although the hop bitterness is pronounced it is nicely balanced against the malt sweetness. The Imperial common is medium bodied with a smooth bitter taste and is more sweet than dry while not being boozy at all. I find this to be an enjoyable and well craft beer made with Northern Brewer hops and St. George Spirits whiskey barrels.
Sierra Nevada Weizenbock. This was quite a surprising special release beer from Sierra Nevada. This is by far one of the cloudiest beers I’ve experienced with a wonderful yellow-orange hue. The smell has a nice fruity fresh ripe bananas and rich maltiness and lacks cloves. It might have just a touch of vanilla, enhancing the banana-split-like smell. This beer is rich with flavor. It is malty with some grainy qualities accompanied by a hint of banana and a touch of lemon zest. The Perle hops in this beer give it a noticeable but smooth bitterness and some earthy notes. It is full bodied, nicely carbonated, tasty, and delicious.
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Beer 47 in a Tumblr
