Back to the Bay Area for a few video clips

I haven't linked to The Brewing Network in quite some time. Seeing them while in San Francisco reminded me of such things. Plus, now seeing a few of their short video highlights of things I know well, I figured now was as good of a time as ever to catch you up with them.

Jump over there and you'll see them cover: the Opening Gala event and Meg Gill; Nanobreweries, Social Kitchen & Brewery, and Rich Higgins; and Anchor Brewery, Mark Carpenter, and the latest release Breckle's Brown.

San Francisco Beer Week 2011 Wrap-Up

Pictures
~ 169 Pictures from Days 1-5 of SFBW '11

Videos
~ 11 Videos from the 2nd Annual SF Beer Week Beer Run (try not to mind my heavy breathing from behind the camera!)

Words (too many to fit in Twitter)
~ Prelude and Day 1
~ Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4
~ Day 5 and Wrap-up

San Francisco Beer Week 2011, part 1

~ Jump ahead to Days 2, 3, and 4

~ Check out SF Beer Week Pictures at Picasa

~ And, Check out Videos from the 2nd Annual SF Beer Week Beer Run

Five days in San Francisco would be enough to generate gobs of content for these Brew Lounge pages. Layer its third annual Beer Week into the mix, and I've got quite the dilemma with how and what to present back to you.

Writing, it turns out, is the relatively easier part — at least for me. After processing, editing, captioning, and uploading 11 videos and nearly 200 pictures, there are a few more grays in my beard and a few less last nerves.

Nonetheless, we persevere and move on. I've waffled on how to tell the story. Chronologically seems to make a lot of sense, not to mention easier. I could get creative with people and places, weaving stories in and out of each other. But, then I may never get this out to you. Plus, Philly's spring version of Philly Beer Weekend, aka Craft Beer Express et al, is coming up and I'm sure I'll spend some time around at least a few of those events.

Getting There
Let's jump right in to San Francisco Beer Week 2011. Mother Nature tried unsuccessfully to keep me from the Bay Area much like last year, but it turns out she just didn't have another 20 inch wallop in her this year. Any threat of a nor'easter coming up the coast didn't materialize. Patty and I were able to make it out of Philly to the West Coast with nary an incident.

So smooth was the trip that USAirways actually apologized for being almost an hour early to SFO and promised to "make up for it" on a future flight. Nothing could be closer to the truth, I'm sure, given their track record!

For anyone traveling to San Francisco for the first time, if you're heading downtown in the City and not renting a car, take heed. There's virtually no reason to take a cab from the airport. BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) leaves the airport frequently and costs just a bit over $8 one-way per person. The trains do appear to have lost a little of their polish over the years, but it is still one of the more efficiently and intuitively run systems in the country. Sure, there could be better (read: any) service to Marin County and the North Bay, but what they do have to the other areas of the region seems to work quite well.

And, work very well it did for SF Beer Week and our plans. During our five days, we were able to go roundtrip from the airport to downtown and attend all of the events that I'll go on to describe here via BART trains, one bus, and two cabs for a total of $40 per person. But enough about public transportation. I believe that most of you "get it".

Friday 2/11
Upon landing, catching BART into the city, and getting checked in to our hotel (disclosure: Hotel Palomar was base camp for The Brew Lounge during this trip and for which I'll be doing some general travel writing about in an upcoming Washington Times Communities column), we headed off to lunch in the Mission District. This would be the trip to SF that would have us learn more about the Mission District than in previous trips. I've never done more in the Mission than simply head to the 16th Street BART station and walk the couple of blocks to Monk's Kettle.

Mission Pie, at 25th & Mission Streets just one long block from the 24th Street BART station, made Steak and Stout Pot Pies for SFBW. I envisioned some large vessel — a pin, a sixtel? — of beer being delivered to the restaurant. But, it only took two growlers of Thirsty Bear Koslov Stout to braise enough Niman Ranch beef for 90 pot pies. San Francisco's only organic brewery meets organic restaurant — perfect!

We ordered one of these SFBW pies and one chicken pot pie along with a couple of coffees to get us going. It turned out to be just what we needed to get through the afternoon. Excellent coffee and savory pot pies with tender meat and potatoes wrapped inside of firm pastry dough made for a satisfying lunch. Mission Pie is the kind of neighborhood gathering spot that will feed your stomach and your conscience. They practice all of the "good things" from sustainability, to organic, to locally-sourced, to recycling, to community outreach, and on and on.

When on vacation, how better to follow up a satisfying lunch than with a 10 minute walk for dessert?! Along our walk we passed the Mission Cultural Center and the second location of Rosamunde Sausage Grill (the first being next door to Toronado). We made our way to the well-regarded Humphrey Slocumbe ice cream parlor. They were embarking on their second annual project (or is it third, by now?) of incorporating beer into their already excellent ice cream. We met up with wanderin' Chaz. Anyone primarily in the western half of the States will likely recognize him simply by his first name. Hailing from Alaska, but working for an airline, he travels quite readily and easily in the name of good beer. He brought along a love interest this time around and we all shared some ice cream.

Not leaving any stone unturned, I ordered the four "beer varieties" that they had for the day: Unfermented Wort with Honey (very, very good; sweet like you'd expect); Coconut Sour Stave (interesting to be sure, with a bit of a lambic-like finish); Imperial Stout (not quite the richness that I expected); and Porter with Cocoa (nicely balanced). There would be additional flavors unveiled as the SF Beer Week went along.

Decadent and unnecessary, to be sure, but also worth the taste was what was in Patty's bowl. She ordered their year-round crowd favorite, the Secret Breakfast. What do you think might be in the Secret Breakfast? You'd be correct if you guessed Corn Flakes and Bourbon. You'd also be incorrect if you thought that this would somehow be wrong. This couldn't have been more right!

At this point, it was time to catch BART back to our very dog-friendly hotel at 4th and Market Streets, conveniently just above the Powell Street Station. After a short downtime and freshening-up, it was off to the Opening Gala, whose VIP session actually began at 3:30 p.m. I suppose in the "Original Craft Beer-Drinking City", they don't need to wait until the official end of the workday to get the party started.

The VIP line at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts was long, but it moved quickly. It gave us time to catch up with some old friends while waiting in line. We learned later that during general admission, things outside the festival did not go so smoothly with some paying customers actually being turned away and for others who were admitted, not enough commemoritve tasting glassware to go around. For something so well planned, this all seemed odd to me, but not being a part of their day-to-day "local" beer scene, I'm not really equipped to opine any further on these topics.

But, I can say that from my own experience, by half way through the evening, it became obvious that the venue may not have been large enough to accommodate all of the ticket holding customers. Fortunately, there was an outdoor garden area where a few vendors were stationed. California in February, at least this year, was so pleasant that being outside presented absolutely no issue whatsoever. Plus, we counted ourselves extra fortunate considering the roughly 55 degree temperature difference between when we left home and when we touched down at SFO.

Inside the festival, three primary organizers, Jay Brooks, Meg Gill, and Rich Higgins kicked off the festival with introductions, toasted Don Younger's life contributions to the industry (recently deceased owner of Horse Brass Pub in Portland, Ore.), and introduced an all-star panel of California brewers to the stage.

In alphabetical order, Matt Brynildson (Firestone Walker), Mark Carpenter (Anchor), Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River), Brian Hunt (Moonlight), Shaun O'Sullivan (21st Amendment), Pete Slosberg (Pete's Wicked), and Terence Sullivan (Sierra Nevada) all took to the stage for a spirited conversation about what makes the Bay Area so strong in the world of craft brewing.

One easy observation to make from both the festival and the week's schedule of events — The small guys are taking over. Much like similar trends spotted around the country, nano, pico, and other such small brewers are popping up left and right.

Jesse Friedman and Damian Fagan, for example, have only just recently brought Almanac Beer Company into local beer lover rolodexes. They were one of the most crowded tables at the Gala until they went through all of the barrel-aged beer that they brought to the festival. Their progress will certainly bear watching over the coming months as they pursue their philosophy of "farm-to-barrel" brewing in keeping with the four seasons of the year.

But, no table was more crowded than that of Russian River's. I found it fascinating that even on their home turf, they still need to beat back the crowds. I tweeted or facebooked something to this extent that Pliny the Younger is just as in demand in Northern California as it is in any other market that gets it each February. I passed on it here, knowing that there would be more opportunities to sample it in coming days.

The Opening Gala, as with Philadelphia's, seems to be pretty much mandatory in participation. Though, in Philadelphia this past year, there were more opening Friday events than ever before to compete with the official opening night festivities. In San Francisco, there were no other "non-everyday" scheduled festivities to compete with the Opening Gala during its timeslot. The couple of events that were scheduled were outside the city.

This, of course, didn't stop Toronado from throwing an after party for the Gala. If our bodies were not saying that we'd been up the equivalent of 21 hours at this point, we likely would have made our way into the Lower Haight for some late night debauchery with Firestone Walker, Ninkasi, and Speakeasy. But, prudence got the best of us and we called it a day — a very good day at that.

~ Jump ahead to Days 2, 3, and 4

~ Check out SF Beer Week Pictures at Picasa

~ And, Check out Videos from the 2nd Annual SF Beer Week Beer Run

San Francisco Beer Week 2011, part 2

~ Jump back to Day 1

~ Jump ahead to Day 5

~ Check out SF Beer Week Pictures at Picasa

~ And, Check out Videos from the 2nd Annual SF Beer Week Beer Run

Saturday 2/12
Only a pleasant forty minute BART ride to Hayward came between us and the 11th annual Double IPA festival at The Bistro. The Double IPA festival is one of the precursor events to SF Beer Week. I don't understand the economics of this event so well, but I can imagine that the closure of a street, the renting of large band, the procurement of 60+ kegs of beer, the judging process, and all other associated overhead warrants a forty dollar ticket that gets paying customers a souvenir tasting glass and tickets for 5 five-ounce pours. With most beers beginning in the 8% ABV ballpark and only going significantly north from there, it shouldn't take long to feel the buzz from these strong IPAs, so not making this an all-you-can-drink affair is likely a very wise idea. (Disclosure: I paid a discounted media admission price.) Additional tasting tickets were available for $2 per five-ounce tasting and food was available for additional purchase.

I was last at this event two years ago and thought it was a fairly comfortable layout, but this year they acquired even more street space which made it all the more comfortable for watching the band, visiting beer tables, and mingling with friends. Vic and Cynthia Kralj play the role of gracious hosts and certainly go out of their way to ensure the best experience for everyone. Seventy degree weather also has a way of putting everyone in a great mood.

The official judging of roughly 40 breweries (only one beer per brewery would be judged, regardless if they had more available for public tasting) awarded the top three places to Firestone Walker (Double Jack), Moylans (Moylander), Drake's (Hopocalypse), respectively. The People's Choice Award went to Kern River Citra DIPA. This wouldn't be the last I heard of this new brewery during this trip. My personal favorites of the day included: Auburn Alehouse PU240; Bear Republic Racer 15; Fifty Fifty RyePA; Firestone Walker Double Jack; and Midnight Sun XXX Black Double IPA.

Frankly, I'm not sure if there are many other reasons to visit Hayward while in the Bay Area. But, if you have time for a BART train ride or have a car, visiting The Bistro for beers, live music, and the occasional beer festival that they throw throughout the year would be a worthwhile use of your time.

We bumped into Sierra Nevada's Steve Dressler (Brewmaster) and Terrell Lowe (Northern California On-premise Manager) once again after chatting with them at length during the previous night's Opening Gala. They convinced us to head to Pi Bar back in the Mission District where they were hosting an event with a cool dozen treats from Chico on tap. We never did see them at Pi Bar; I'm not sure what their official alibi was, but I think it might have included tequila. No matter, they still had other company representation at the event.

It sounded like we arrived at just the right time to score a table in the back of Pi Bar to hunker down for some pasta (the next day was my Beer Run), pizza, and beers. Pi Bar is a cool neighborhood place co-run by Bay Area craft beer veteran Jen Garris and the care taken to deliver quality beer and food in a comfortable neighborhood joint is evident. Of course, it's a little more difficult to tell when the place is overrun with SFBW beer hunters, but even with the throngs, the staff was still attentive, friendly, and composed.

After a few Sierra Nevadas, we jumped back on BART for one stop to 16th Street (didn't I tell you we were in the Mission District quite a bit?!) and walked approximately 10 minutes over to 15th and Market Streets and Lucky 13. They partnered with Pinups for Pitbulls, Chako Pitbull Rescue from Sacramento, Speakeasy and Ninkasi Breweries to throw a Pitty Party fundraiser.

What we learned was that this is a neighborhood favorite dive bar, the kind that is disappearing too quickly. Yet, they serve a respectable list of draft and bottled beer and are dog-friendly. Plus, they have a stripper pole which many would argue is seen at too very few craft beer bars ;-)

We were again on the verge of crashing from the time zone change, so we didn't stay long into the night to observe what kind of late night debauchery goes down at this not-your-typical-polished-craft-bar location on the edge of The Castro. Particularly, we didn't stay long enough to see who utilizes the stripper pole in the middle of the bar. But, we did stay to sample a Ninkasi Tricerahops Double IPA and a Speakeasy Double Daddy IPA on tap. I should have made a guess prior to the trip how long it would take to become "hopped-out" with palate fatigue from the aggressively-hopped West Coast beers. I love 'em, but in moderation of course. This day's events certainly pushed my limits. Fortunately, Sunday was just around the corner.

Sunday 2/13
Sunday morning meant taking it easy for a few hours before heading across town to the Inner Sunset neighborhood and their newest brewing tenet — Rich Higgins, Master Cicerone, and his Social Kitchen & Brewery.

This was the day that I would avenge Mother Nature for her screwing me out of a trip to SFBW '10 and helping to conduct a West Coast version of my Philly Beer Runs. Instead, I was left at home with 20+ inches of snow.

This year, I escaped and was able to help pull off a nearly 70 degree run through Golden Gate Park with nearly 60 like-minded runners/beer lovers. Turned out that not quite everyone went to Berkeley for the Sour/Barrel-aged Festival at Jupiter and Triple Rock. I surely would have been there if it wasn't for the run; between the two establishments, there were reportedly around 90 different beers to sample from.

Nonetheless, we pressed on with our run from the recently one-year-old Social Kitchen & Brewery just two blocks south of the Park. It's difficult to express just how perfect the weather was — cool in the shade of the Park's large eucalyptus, pines, redwoods, and cypress trees and warm in the direct sunlight from the cloudless sky.

At the midpoint, several runners stopped in at Magnolia Brewery on Haight Street and rewarded themselves (yours truly included) with a light Kölsch or a decidedly heavier Imperial Stout from the pub's participation in the annual Strong Beer Month.

After completing the five mile course, runners returned to Social and hung out for the better part of two hours eating and drinking from SKB's menu. The runners certainly made the bartenders earn their keep as our group exceeded the initial projections that were given to the bar; but, I didn't see anyone complaining.

Certainly a large motivation for hosting these bi-coastal Beer Runs, apart from the simple socialization of beer lovers and runners, is the doors that they open to introduce people to a bar or brewery that they may not otherwise find on their own. A theme in the comments I heard more than once revolved around "...I didn't know these guys were here...", "...I've heard of these guys, but had no idea where they were...", and "...I've always meant to come here, but never had a good reason..."

Pouring from the tap towers on this particular day at SKB were a Kölsch, an IPA, an Imperial Stout, an Espresso Stout, a Weizenbock, and my favorite of the day, an Imperial Belgian Golden Ale with Galangal and Lemongrass. Don't worry, I had to look up Galangal as well. It's apparently a close relative of ginger. A Belgian Golden with these two spices? Way okay in my book.

Amongst the many new people I became acquainted with, I also had the pleasure of traveling 3000 miles from home to meet Philadelphian and beer blogger, Rich Isaacs. We did the whole compare-your-Beer-Week-to-mine conversation. It's always interesting to get other perspectives on a beer region so vast as Northern California's and an event so wide-ranging as SFBW. Check out Rich's last several blog entries where he discusses everything from a Russian River visit in Santa Rosa to his travels around San Francisco.

Five miles. Several tasty beers. Good food. Great socializing. New brewery publicized. Mission accomplished. Thanks to Derrick Peterman and Brian Yaeger for their partnership in this successful event.

After my duties at SKB were fulfilled, Patty and I went off the SFBW grid for the remainder of the day. Her sister had joined us at SKB and now we went off the farthest point west in the three mile long Golden Gate Park. Just across the Pacific Ocean sits the historic building that houses the Beach Chalet and Park Chalet. I'd been there before, but Patty had not and I truly think that it's worth a visit, if not for the beer or the food, then at least for the setting and the views. Matter of fact, I wouldn't rule out somehow tying in this brewery to next year's SF Beer Week Beer Run.

The premise, if it seems confusing, is that Beach Chalet fronts the ocean while sister restaurant Park Chalet sits below and behind Beach Chalet and faces the entrance trails to the Park. Picture having a meal at Beach Chalet — perhaps watching the sun set over the ocean — and then retiring to an Adirondack chair behind the Park Chalet where servers will bring your beers to you while you listen to live music being performed inside. Like I said — location and ambiance.

After a criss-crossing tour back downtown, Joanne deposited us back at our hotel where we cleaned up before heading a few blocks over to Thirsty Bear. This is another location that I've been to several times and one that I thought Patty should experience. My last visit was an accidental one as I walked back to my hotel after dinner at 21st Amendment and I heard the pounding of Flamenco dance shoes and accompanying singing.

Each Sunday evening, Thirsty Bear hosts what amounts to a free dance and musical performance to go along with your beers, wines, and dinner. With a distinctively Spanish flair to its menu, San Francisco's only certified organic brewery provided us with some tapas style dining, perfectly just what we needed after a day of running around, literally.

Every bar and brewery should have their own distinct M.O. and these last two have such unique characteristics that they stand out so differently from their competition and have the ability to bring in unsuspecting non-beer lovers. While many beer geeks may not think first of Thirsty Bear and Beach Chalet for beer when visiting San Francisco, I think that would be an unfortunate mistake to make while downtown or anywhere near the western edge of the City.

Monday 2/14
Valentine's Day in San Francisco. Now that the weekend craziness was over, I figured it would be an opportunity to see what kind of Beer Week fight San Franciscans had in them on a weeknight during Beer Week. Seems that they know exactly what to do — keep the party going, in spite of the on-and-off again rain all day.

We took it easy in the morning before heading out yet again to the Mission District. This time, our intention was two-fold. The first may not really sound beer-related and I suppose it only was in the sense that it was a lunch that included my first Negra Modelo in many years. My first run-in with this beer was on a flight to Mexico, circa 1994. I recall thinking it was interesting...sorry that's way too far back to be interesting. Point is, it went perfectly with an epic burrito at La Cumbre at 16th and Valenica Streets. They've been doing the San Francisco Burrito thing since 1967 and I was reminded of them on Travel Channel's Man versus Food just before we had left for San Francisco.

When you walk in, the incredible smells....the visuals of watching meat simmer, then being chopped....the overwhelming menu of burritos, quesadillas, and tacos. I don't know quite what else to say about it than, if you're hungry and love burritos, you're doing yourself a grave injustice if you're in San Francisco and don't stop in at La Cumbre. (disclosure: I paid full price for my Puerco en Chile Verde Deluxe Burrito :)

Now that the "base" was established with a burrito, we were off to Pi Bar nine blocks away. It's the only establishment we visited more than once during this trip. The bar opens at 3:14 p.m. every day — get it? 3:14, right? We arrived all of 12 minutes after they opened and the staff was already busting butt to take care of the throngs that had lined up in the rain to get a taste of the twelve Russian River beers that were being poured on this "average" Monday afternoon.

As I've mentioned earlier and elsewhere, even Northern Californians can not get enough of their "local", Russian River. Funny thing was, for as packed as Pi Bar was, we were able to quickly snag some table space to sit just minutes before it became near intolerable to be in the bar. Anyone who had established their floor space was okay; but we watched a continual stream of people trying to get in and at the same time amazed that the bar was already filled by 3:45 p.m.

We proceeded to share a handful of Russian River beauts from Rejection (nice holiday theme!) to Sanctification to Supplication to Mortification to Perdition to...oh yeah, this new beer called Pliny the Younger, or something like that ;-)

It was meant to be a short stop at Pi Bar. We extended a bit to squeeze in one more Supplication and then headed back to BART to zip us over to Berkeley where Triple Rock's Rodger Davis was "taking on" Ballast Point in an "Imperial IPA cask-off" pitting his IIMAXX against Sculpin. It took me a little while — kind of dense by this point, I suppose? — to realize that this was the third "event" of the day at Triple Rock. Earlier, there was a Meet 'n' Greet with Ballast Point and there was a beer release where they unveiled the White Chocolate Milk Stout. It was served on nitrogen tap and completely surprised me how much I liked it. The name, though, I'll admit, did have me apprehensive.

The cask-off was billed to be a sort of competition to see which bar-top firkin would kick first. I never learned who was the "winner", but it was reportedly neck-and-neck while were there. I love me a hoppy beer served cask-conditioned and these two were no exception. For as wonderful of an Imperial IPA that Sculpin is, on this particular day IIMAXX, to my palate, won by half a stride.

After some catching up with Shaun O'Sullivan (can't believe this trip to San Francisco ended without a visit to his 21st Amendment, but alas...) over a second beer, we headed off to yet another new discovery — this one in Oakland.

And this one required a bit of extra ambition. Virtually no one will try to convince you that a visit to Oakland is a walk in the park. Literally, when walking the half mile from the BART station at 12th Street down Broadway to Beer Revolution on 3rd Street, there is a good chance that you will run into 80% of all the strange characters that Oakland has to offer. Particularly when walking under the freeway, there are certainly elements of feeling slightly less than safe. I don't think that Patty particularly appreciated my decision to walk — and, even more so, the decision to walk the return trip to BART as well — and actually we haven't discussed it since then.

With that bit of a public service announcement out of the way, I can report that once inside the recently one-year-old Beer Revolution, things are good. In fact, things are very, very good. They've got a rare license to sell beer for both on-site consumption as well as bottles to take home. Here is where we ran again in to the traveling Michael and Diane, the ones that I have picture sporting Philly Beer Week apparel.

At Beer Revolution, like at Pi Bar and Triple Rock, we discovered that SF Beer Week was alive and well in every nook and cranny of the Bay Area at every time of every day of the week. Alan Shapiro brought out some of his SBS-Imports portfolio treats like the many De Proef collaborations. But, with our late arrival and Alan's Valentine duties at home, we continued our history of "just missing" each other at beer events from coast-to-coast.

We were recommended some beers from the newish Kern River Brewing Company in Southern California in the town of Kernville. We were pleased with the appropriately-named Just Outstanding IPA. Actually, it was quite outstanding that we, on Day 4 of SFBW, had any palate appreciation left for hops at this point. But this, and the Class V Stout, gave us a pleasant introduction this brewery.

With that, we called it a night, made our trek back to BART and crashed yet again with just 24 hours left in our trip.

~ Jump back to Day 1

~ Jump ahead to Day 5

~ Check out SF Beer Week Pictures at Picasa

~ And, Check out Videos from the 2nd Annual SF Beer Week Beer Run

San Francisco Beer Week 2011, part 3

~ Jump back to Days 2, 3, and 4

~ Check out SF Beer Week Pictures at Picasa

~ And, Check out Videos from the 2nd Annual SF Beer Week Beer Run

Tuesday 2/15
We knew that we didn't want to be "too" ambitious with our beer plans for the last day in San Francisco. But, we purposely scheduled a redeye flight home to Philly to maximize our last day, so maximize we did.

Patty's sister Joanne, came back out to meet us again. We first stopped in at City Beer Store where I made the decision that The Brew Lounge cooler at home has enough beer at this time. Plus, I frankly didn't feel like handing over more money to the airlines to check a piece of "luggage" and I also wanted to expedite our trip home through PHL. For anyone who has ever dealt with the logistics and baggage handling at Philly International, you know exactly what I mean.

Nice conversation with owners Craig and Beth about Beer Week and the general state of beer, then we made our way over to Magnolia in the Haight for their Oyster Lunch event. Dave McLean and Arne Johnson (Marin Brewing) made up some of the random brewer bump-ins that we had at Magnolia. Well, I suppose McLean was not so random given it's his place.

This turned out to be such a pleasant lunch. Every seat was filled at the bar and at the tables, but yet it wasn't uncomfortably crowded. The charcuterie and the variety of oysters that we picked over went perfectly with a Tweezer Tripel (a must during every Magnolia visit for me), Oysterhead Stout, and Promised Land Imperial IPA (as if Proving Ground IPA isn't nice enough!). Still wondering, though, why I did not give the Pork Lord a try. It was described as a Bacon-Infused Oysterhead Stout — yeah, why not?

At this point, we picked up Steve Shapiro, our Beer By BART buddy (well, not literally picked up), and headed off to our last SF Beer Week stop of the trip — Toronado.

Technically, this wasn't an event per se but rather one of those mandatory beer stops when visiting San Francisco. Believe it or not, in all of our travels we still to this point had not stopped in during this trip. Well, actually, if you've read all of my"diary" to this point, it's probably not too difficult to understand why we had not yet stopped here. Granted, it would have been fun to stop in late night after a day's worth of Beer Week events to hang with the cool kids, much like the way they do in Philly at Monk's Café during Philly Beer Week.

This turned out to be a pretty opportune time for us to stop in at Toronado. The crowd was extremely thin. Happy Hour prices were in effect. This meant easy access to seats and service. This meant $3 La Folie. $3 The Abyss. $3 Blind Pig. $3 Velvet Merkin. $3 Death and Taxes. You get the picture, I think. We had the table just inside the door with a perfect view of both the street and the bar. We were able to easily sneak over into neighboring Rosamunde Sausage Grill for some spot-on requisite Toronado companion grub.

Then things got awkward. We still needed to return to the hotel and get our bags from the concierge. Plus, we still needed to satisfy my sushi fix. On top of getting back to SFO in time for our flight.

We made the decision to duck away from Toronado less than an hour before they kicked off what many-a-beer geek will call one of the week's best: Russian River Night with reportedly 23 Russian River beers due to go on tap. Prime table, tons of "-tions" from one of the country's elite breweries, and a couple of hours to spare? But, nah, we turned away. Completely my decision — and one that many of you may cry beer foul over I suppose.

On the other hand, we paid it forward with a table for some very surprised customers that had just walked in the door.

Nothing really to report at our stop for sushi other than a plug for what I call my favorite and most reliable and accessible sushi joints in the city. Sakana is conveniently located a few blocks from Union Square, is very cozy, and serves up great sake, sushi, and service. It's on my must-do list for every visit of mine to the city and as you can tell, I recommend it for all sushi-lovers as well.

Wrapping up SF Beer Week '11
Unavoidably, and perhaps understandably, the one big question I get more than any other since being back East is "How does SFBW compare to Philly Beer Week?"

I try to answer this question in a few different ways.

First, I say something to the effect that it's not really fair to try and compare two deeply-rich beer regions and their respective Beer Weeks to each other. It only denigrates the hard work of so many that put on the various events during their respective Beer Weeks. That goes over somewhat flatly.

Then, I'll say something along the lines of how it's difficult to really compare two Beer Weeks that are organized on different models, yet with the same short- and long-term objectives.

Finally, I turn the tables and ask how would anyone compare them?

Number of events? Pointless and absolutely no indicator of best-ness.

Quality of events? Give me a metric to compare quality and then we'll talk, but I can't imagine a solid metric to use to measure the quality of events. Number of attendees? Variety of beer being served? Rarity of beer being served? All interesting, perhaps, but other than the number of attendees the others are somewhat arbitrary measurements.

Types of events? Both Beer Weeks feature strong beers, session beers, local beers, imported beers, beer dinners, sour beers, cask-conditioned beers, beer and fitness events, free events, pricey events, twenty minute events, repeating daily events, and on and on. Tell me which Beer Week is missing — significantly missing — what type of events and we can figure out if it's legitimate and what to do about it.

Number of participating establishments? Once again, not much of an indicator. And even if one region had more participating establishments than another, we'd still have to then go back and further break down the number and types of events that they conducted. Again, not such a meaningful use of time.

Basically, unless the organizing group or individual establishments are flat-out dropping the ball on delivering what they promise in a Beer Week full of varied events, it's a bit unfair to say that one Beer Week is better than another. Is there more? More of 'this' or 'that'? Maybe, but how much can any individual take in? It's about appealing to the widest part of the beer drinking and beer-curious public as possible. In the Northern California and Philadelphia regions, both organizations do amazing work to do just that.

Plus, like our individual tastes in beer, opinions in what makes a successful Beer Week will vary greatly. Sixty people thought that a Beer Run in San Francisco made perfect sense for celebrating Beer Week on a Sunday, while many others at the same time went to a Sour and Barrel-aged Festival in Berkeley and probably felt likewise.

Here might be one differentiating factor that I've seen. The Bay Area, and Northern California as a region, seems very proud of their indigenous products — both of the Earth and of man-made will. They are very into and geeked out by the dozen or so new nano- and pico- breweries coming on line over the past several months and upcoming year.

This is obviously not a trend contained to the West Coast. But, I will be looking forward and paying attention to how Philly Beer Week draws attention to all of the many new upstart breweries in the various stages of planning from northern Pennsylvania to the City of Philadelphia.

So I'll leave the topic somewhat judiciously by saying that I've participated in two major Beer Weeks and have found that they are the absolute best two that I've attended. Great people serving up interesting beer at wonderful establishments to create memorable events. I'm betting that there are at least another dozen Beer Weeks doing the same thing around the country.

To properly wrap things up, if you haven't already done so, you should really check out the pictures that I've linked to here. For all of the words that I can spill across your screen (my text editor tells me I'm currently nearing 6000 words), there are some things that are just better told with pictures. Plus, I've taken the care to add captions so, please, go and check them out. I think the picture editing, uploading, and captioning took longer than it did to pump all of these words out.

Additional Reading
In addition to being amazed at the number of people writing/blogging about the glorious beer in Northern California (see this impressive list), here following are some of those that attended SFBW that I've caught up with specifically while in San Francisco and since I've returned home.

~ Jay Hinman, Hedonist Beer Jive
~ Steve Shapiro/Gail Ann Williams, Beer By BART
~ Ashley Routson, Drink With The Wench
~ Chris and Meredith Nelson, The Beer Geek
~ Joe and Jasmine, Beer at Joe's

~ Jump back to Days 2, 3, and 4

~ Check out SF Beer Week Pictures at Picasa

~ And, Check out Videos from the 2nd Annual SF Beer Week Beer Run

SF Beer Week: the real San Francisco Treat

Mother Nature willing, I'll be in San Francisco three weeks from now getting ready to celebrate the kick-off of its Beer Week. Its schedule is shaping up quite nicely with nearly 300 events around the City and across to the East Bay in places like Hayward, Lafayette, Berkeley, and Oakland, to the north in Santa Rosa, Petaluma, and Healdsburg, and to the south in Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, and Santa Cruz.

On Sunday the 13th, I'll be co-hosting a 5-mile run with Brian Yaeger (Red, White, & Brew) and Derrick Peterman (Ramblings of a Beer Runner). We'll begin and end at one of the city's newest breweries, Social Kitchen & Brewery. SKB is operated by SFBW cohort, brewer, and Master Cicerone, Rich Higgins. At its location just off of Golden Gate Park, I'm quite anxious to see how they are ramping up after just a few quick months in business.

The run should be spectacular as it weaves its way through Golden Gate Park and in to the Haight/Ashbury District, with a peel-off point along the way for those looking for a shorter run, and back to SKB. Arrangements have been made for all runners to receive a $1 off each beer after returning from the run.

I'm already predicting that SKB's Kölsch will be my first post-run beer. Probably followed with some bites to eat and an IPA and an Altbier.

SFBW puts on a great display of Bay Area beer and bars and I'm expecting this year to be no different. Plus, the weather will be spectacular compared to what I leave behind on the East Coast.

I already hear that Rich from RichOnBeer will be there from Pennsylvania. Anyone else traveling from a significant distance to attend? Bay Area readers need not reply; you guys are gimmees :)

San Francisco Beer Week 2011 countdown

It's back again and the schedule is finally up on the official website. Mother Nature willing, I'll be back there again this year. She interrupted my travel plans last year and I improvised here on the East Coast if you recall.

The 2nd Annual Run is due to take place on Sunday the 13th. I'll have a bit more to tell about this in coming days.