City Beer was closing at 6 for the Fourth, so we raced over the hill from Pac Heights to beer-up. It wasn’t quite Steve McQueen in “Bullitt,” but it was close. When we arrived at Craig and Beth Wathen’s contemporary beer store, the CLOSED sign was up but the door was open, so we walked inside like we hadn’t seen it. Downstairs, people were congregating around the tiny bar, so we still had time to raid the fridges. Based on what we saw, it’s hard to imagine a better bottle shop within San Francisco city limits.

City Beer had two fridges and well-stocked shelves holding hundreds of different beers.

If you get a mix-and-match sixer, City Beer gives you a 10% discount. We picked up bottles of Russian River Pliny the Elder, Russian River Blind Pig, Dogfish Head Aprihop, Jolly Pumpkin Special Holiday Ale, St. Bernardus Tripel and Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron. After two cocktails and a beer float at dinner, I only managed to drink two beers during the fireworks display: Dogfish Head Aprihop, an IPA brewed with apricots; and Jolly Pumpkin Special Holiday Ale, a malty beer brewed with chestnuts, juniper berry, white sage and caraway seeds. Christmas in July? Why not?

Our mission may have been bottle-driven, but we still succumbed to the tap list. They even had some sours and my parents had never had them, so we ordered Van Steenberge, a tart Flemish sour red ale.

It looks like there will be another trip to San Francisco in August. A second drive to City Beer Store is in order, and next time, we won’t cut it so close to closing time.