I think Merideth and I are pretty good at spotting good beer ideas and City Beer is one of those ideas. I remember reading about it when it first opened and thought we should check it out. Rarely being in the City (the “City” being San Francisco) and even rarer being in that part of the city, I promptly forgot about it. Then at the Oregon Brewers Festival last week, I heard City Beer mentioned a number of times, so we decided to check it out and a show a Slim’s down the street was a perfect opportunity.
City Beer is a relaxing beer bar where you can buy to sample (and then buy to take home) an extraordinary range of bottled beers. A good draft selection rounds out the experience. It was quite crowded when we were there… a chatty Friday evening crowd; some at tables, others wandering around scanning the shelves for a beer to try.
We are pretty proud of the somewhat obscure breweries we have visited (Le Baladin in Italy, Traquair in Scotland, Chouffe in Belgium) and it was somewhat deflating seeing these beers on the City Beer shelves. I need to start looking for even more obscure breweries to visit. Craig deserves all the credit for having an amazing selection of beers from throughout the world.
As Craig himself said to us… every city should have a place like City beer… So, next time you are in the City, check out City Beer. It is at 1168 Folsom.
This is not about beer but I would like to take this opportunity to mark the passing of Tommy Makem who died of lung cancer the other day. In the 1960s, Tommy teamed up with the Clancy Brothers and their collaboration is one of the reasons that Irish music enjoys the success that it does today. We had the opportunity to see Tommy perform at the Dublin (OH) Irish Festival several years ago and the only word I think I can use to describe him is ‘entertainer’. What a joy to watch him perform, so much so we watched him on several occasions. He will be greatly missed…
So we had a great time at OBF! We are a little new to the “media” side of things, but we did our best to be outgoing and as a result, we met some really cool people that could really talk beer! Plus, after a few pints, even the most shy of us can mingle with the best of them. It was nice to talk with like-minded (and some not-so-like-minded) people who are as much into beer as we are. I don’t know about you, but in our circle of friends, we are seen as being pretty obsessed with all things beer and sometimes made to feel like our obsession is way out there. Well, when you are in a whole group of beergeeks, a girl can begin to feel pretty darn normal and really feel part of the big beer world out there. Ya know, I don’t profess to be an expert on beer or even be able to talk technical beer speak, but I’d like to think I can hold my own in a beer conversation. I just hope that I didn’t make a total dork of myself! If I did, please don’t tell me. I’d like to keep thinking that I did okay! Besides, I’m just a little beergeek girl who appreciates good beer and good beer conversation. So here’s to my new friends and I look forward to more beer parties to come. . .assuming we will get invited to some . . .
We are finishing up our 2 day stay in Portland and about to head out to the Oregon coast. I have to say Portland has changed a lot since our last visit in 1999 but it is still a great beer-filled city.
Our day at the OBF started early… 10am at the Rogue pub in the Pearl District for breakfast, beer and kazoo practice. Then the parade of revelers started down to the festival lead by the mayor of Portland, bagpipers and a keg of Rogue ale. And just like in Munich, the mayor tapped the keg to officially open the festival. My hats off to the Rogue crew and the brewers guild for pulling off a great event.
We finished off a long beer filled day by visiting the world famous Horse Brass Pub… Don Younger has been pouring great beer in his pub for over 30 years and I am ashamed to have to admit it was our first time there. We definitely missed out on our previous trips to Portland. What an incredible pub.