Brewnanza

Northern California could be considered Mecca for beer lovers, with some of the best West Coast beers coming from Bay Area and Sonoma brewers. 21st Amendment, Anchor, Lagunitas, Russian River, Bear Republic – need I go on?

San Francisco itself is a haven for beer lovers for many reasons, but two specifically stand out: legendary beer bar Toronado, and the amazing and incredible City Beer Store, or as I like to call it, “the happiest place on Earth.” Last night, I ventured over to the City Beer Store (where I would gladly live, if it was an option).

Crammed into the City Beer Store’s probably 800 square foot SOMA space is the best selection of bottled beers from around the world I’ve ever seen, along with a small, weekly rotating selection of beers on tap. Since I’m often an uncreative hophead, I ended up with an American IPA and a Double IPA. Oh, and a beer made from dandelions. What?!

Sierra Nevada's "Hop Star"

Sierra Nevada’s “Hop Star” is an American IPA produced at the Chico, CA-based brewery’s most recent “Beer Camp,” event. One of the City Beer Store’s owners, Beth, gave us a bit of background on Beer Camp: It’s an industry event held semi-regularly by Sierra, where brewers, journalists and retail folks are invited to collaborate on teams to create a series of small batch brews. The other owner, Craig, was part of the team that produced Hop Star. As its name suggests, it’s a well-hopped IPA with familiar pine and grapefruit notes, balanced bitterness and a surprisingly smooth finish.

Mikkeller's Double IPA

Mikkeller’s Struise Mikkeller (Elliot Brew) was, quite simply, astounding. At 130 IBUs, this American-style Double IPA packs a bitter punch up front, but the impeccable balance and well-spiced complexity gives it a pleasant and long-lasting finish. I’ve been impressed by Mikkeller’s daring brews before – notably several entries in their single-hop IPA series – but I’ll definitely be trying this one again.

Not pictured: New Belgium’s Lips of Faith Dandelion, a delicious American Blonde made using actual dandelions as a partial hop substitute. Inspired by the hop shortages from a year back or so, New Belgium experimented by using the plant’s bittering properties, which are apparently similar to hops! Who knew? A solid blonde in its own rite, the unusual use of dandelions gave this unique beer a flavor all its own. A friend commented that it tasted like chlorophyll. Mmmm, photosynthesis.

If you’re in San Francisco, and you enjoy beer, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t check out the City Beer Store.

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