S1E52 - SF On Tap Tour and Happy Birthday To Us

The Two Minute Beer Review

Episode Notes

Episode 52: Happy Birthday to Us and SF On Tap Quickfire

It’s the Two Minute Beer Review!

I’m Andrew Burkum, and this week I am bringing you a very special episode of the Two Minute Beer Review. That’s right—one year ago this week we published the very first episode of the show, featuring Amador Brewing Company’s Double Goat IPA. The idea was then, as it is now, that we would be a podcast showcasing a different craft beer each week and talking to the beer enthusiast about the experience of the beer—look, smell and above all taste—without getting bogged down in beer science or insider terminology.

To honor the occasion, we have a little giveaway in store—stay tuned at the end of the show for more details! This week, to celebrate our birthday, we are going to bring you a report of a fabulous beer-tasting experience I got to experience recently in San Francisco. My wife and I had the great pleasure of taking a walking craft beer tour with SF on Tap Tours. SF On Tap offers multiple different tours, but ours took us to two different breweries where we were able to taste a curated selection of beers brewed onsite and then to a taproom where we were able to choose our own beer adventure. The perfect birthday present for the two minute beer review!

We started our tour at Thirsty Bear Organic Brewery. Our fabulous tour guide, Mike Levinson, began by giving us a little bit of history about Thirsty Bear which is San Francisco’s second oldest operating brewery. Opened in 1996, Thirsty Bear is the only certified organic brewery in San Francisco and they are dedicated to using quality, sustainable and responsibly produced products only in their beer. Most interesting is their name, which comes from an article headline that the owner saw in a Ukranian Newspaper: “Thirsty Bear bites man for beer.”

We began our tasting experience with Thirsty Bear’s Kolsch. This beautifully clear brew has little bits of spice on the nose. It tastes just a little sour with lots of grain flavor plenty of good center of the tongue bitterness to round it out. There is also some really nice fruit flavor, notably a little lemon and is incredibly well balanced and just nice to drink. This is one of my favorite Kolsch’s that I have ever tasted. At 4.7% ABV it was also a nice way to get warmed up for the rest of the day.

Next up was Wander Bock, a 6.7% ABV brew that is a golden brown to red color. The scent is strong with the impression of fermented fruit. It has the flavor of caramel sugar with a chocolatey/fruity undertone. It’s a little bit candied on the palate but that’s evened out by a consistent bitterness. Toward the end of the swallow this one develops a nice, warm, nutty flavor that goes down smooth.

Third at Thirsty Bear was Pershing’s Porter. It’s bready to the nose with just a little coffee. It’s deep, dark brown and opaque in the glass. In the mouth, there’s a very smoky flavor all the way up front. The beer is thinner in the mouth than I expected, but that’s not a bad thing. It goes down easy without completely coating the palate. It is very gently carbonated, which really helps the flavors develop in my mouth. After the swallow the smoke dissipates somewhat and I am left with chocolate and toffee. The rye that’s used in the beer shows up at this stage, giving it just a little spicy punch to get you ready for the next sip. This is a porter that subverts many expectations. Based on the scent and the color you would expect it to be thick and chewy but it manages instead to be smooth while still maintaining strong and interesting flavors. It’s 5.5% Alcohol by volume, and I liked it a lot.

Last up at Thirsty Bear was their Chowdah New England IPA, a 6.3% standard these days. Cloudy and peachy gold, the beer smells of peach, grapefruit and pine with just a little sea salt to wake it all up. The beer hits right up front with bitterness, but resolves quickly into juicy fruit flavors. It’s refreshing and a great example of a New England IPA. Our time at Thirsty Bear ended with a tour of their brewing facilities, led by our tour guide, Mike. He was knowledgeable and approachable, giving us lots of information without talking down to us or way over our heads. We even had the opportunity to sample Thirsty Bear’s flatbreads. This isn’t a food show, but I don’t mind telling you these were delicious and paired perfectly with the beer selection.

If you find yourself in San Francisco, don’t miss out on a visit to Thirsty Bear Brewery. All the beers we tasted there were consistent and delicious and I love their focus on quality and responsible ingredients.

Next we headed on over to Bartlett Hall, home to Bartlett Brewing Company. Along the way we had the opportunity to stop and see many of the sights while Mike gave us some insight into the local history. This was fascinating and well presented and was a great way to walk off some of what we had just imbibed!

At Bartlett, a beautiful space, by the way, with a dark, warm almost steampunk vibe, we started off by tasting their Bartlett Blond. This beer smells a little yeasty and very clean. It is super clear in the glass and tastes clear and crisp as well. There’s lots of cereal in the flavor of this one but the overall impression is just nice and clean. As Mike said, it’s an ideal fourth of July beer. It’s a 4.8% ABV as well, so it’s a good all-day choice.

Next up was Bartlett’s Saison Chauncey. This has an unfiltered and cloudy look, so pale it’s almost a cloudy white. It’s spicy and interesting with plenty of lemon and banana flavors on top. It’s dry in the mouth and leaves an overall savory impression. The carbonation adds perfectly to this flavor profile, being just the correct amount of prickly to stimulate the tongue and let those flavors soak in. It’s a 4.6% ABV and is a great choice if you’re a saison fan.

Third we tried Suenos Del Mar Unfiltered IPA, a 6.3% take on the popular style. True to promise, it’s golden and cloudy and smells of grapefruit and peach. It’s nice and juicy on the tongue with a characteristic center-tongue bitterness. Most interestingly, there’s just a pinch of a savory flavor in here that I found surprising but enjoyable Last up was the Powell Street Porter. It smells strongly of chocolate. It’s got a bit of a sour undertone, almost like that Guinness characteristic sourness but with a very powerful coffee chocolate backbone. It’s a little bit thin and a little bit smoky. It’s not my favorite beer of the day, but it’s definitely not one I would turn down were it offered to me. It comes in at a 6.3% Alcohol by Volume.

The breweries were both amazing in terms of atmosphere and offerings and I cannot recommend SF On Tap enough. The tour was enjoyable for folks of all knowledge levels and was exactly the right ratio walking, talking and drinking. I hope you’ll check out SF On Tap if you ever get a chance to get to San Francisco with a few hours on your hands. I’ll link to them and both breweries in the show notes so you can check them out and pay them a visit.

Well that’s all for this week, but before I go, here’s the details on our giveaway this week. I have a few pub coasters that are imprinted with the Two Minute Beer Review logo that I’d love to share. If you’d like to rep the review and maybe help us catch a new listener, just send an email with your name and address to [e-mail] (as always, that’s the number two). We’ll find out next week. We’ll get them in the mail as soon as your emails roll in!

Thanks so much for making our first year of the podcast a success and keep spreading the word!

And of course don’t forget to let me know what you’re drinking and what you’re thinking about the show. Tweet me @2minutebeer with the number two or drop me an email at [e-mail]. And if you’re listening to the show on your favorite podcasting app, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode and leave a review to help other people find the show.

That’s all for now, but I’ll see you next week as we continue on our quest to taste all the beer!

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