Beer in San Francisco

[matt]

I'm going to be in San Francisco in June for a conference and I'd like to get some suggestions on where I can find good beer in the city. I'm mostly looking for brew pubs with cask conditioned beer, but I'll take suggestions on good beer bars as well.

Thanks!

[Tweek]

If you can only hit one pub make it toronado. This place is the best I have been to in the city for quality and variety. You can check them out at http://www.toronado.com/. They have all sorts of great stuff. Make sure you ask to see there bottle list when you are there. They have some great vintage beers in the bottle that you can get to go so you dont have to forgo the draughts while you are there.

Cheers

[warmstorage]

well, the Toronado does have a great selection, but in terms of actual brewpubs and cask ales, my favorite brewpub anywhere is Magnolia Pub & Brewery, at Haight and Masonic.

the Proving Ground IPA is a 100 IBU, 7.0% ABV monster that is nevertheless extremely drinkable (and is one of my favorite beers anywhere.) Spud Boy's IPA and the Prescription Pale Ale provide more tame but solid verions of the style, and the Blue Bell Bitter is a solid example of ESB. Cole's Porter is dark, robust, and full of roasty chocolate goodness, and that fact that Stout of Circumstance is their most popular beer says something amazing about the pub clientle. last time i was there (a few weeks ago) they had a solid Gruit on, called Weekapaug, which is a neat old style using herbs instead of hops. the Old Thunderpussy Barleywine is also solid when it's on, falling to the robust and hoppy side of barleywines (which i love).

they have as many as 15 brews on at a time, including, according to their web page, 8 ales, 3 house ales on cask, and two guest ales. the page recommends weekends as best for finding all five hand pumps up and running.

take a look at:

http://www.magnoliapub.com/beer/

my one complaint is that the newly revamped menu is considerably more expensive than it used to be, even in a relatively pricy city to eat. however, the brunch menu is relatively reasonable, especially given that brunch is usually a fairly expensive meal.

-warmstorage

[L.H.H.H.Brown]

Since I am assuming you will be at the convention center, there is a brewery pub right next door : Thirsty Bear. I don't know if they have cask conditioned but .... Gordon Biersch is at the foot of the Bay bridge, not a bad place. Toronado is a beer heaven but it is a little ways from the convention center. There is another one with an uppity name - India Spice Company or Trading Company or ... - that is not too far also. If I recall it is somewhere around the beginnings of Chinatown, but don't quote me. The best bet is to get a Celebrator and track'em down. That's what I have done. Enjoy!! San Fran is a wonderful city.