City Beer Store 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.
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?
City Beer Store poured sours, which were all new to my parents, so we ordered Van Steenberge 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.
Blog Comments
Sean Inman
July 26, 2009 at 8:44 PM
I have only been here once and I already can’t wait to go again. I picked a sahti from Nogne, cans of Siamese Twin from Uncommon Brewers and more. Craig is a great guy too. Easy to talk with and has a great selection to choose from.
4th Of July Firework Shows | All Days Long
July 25, 2009 at 9:05 PM
[…] Food GPS » Blog Archive » City Beer Store – San Francisco, CA … By Joshua Lurie Posted July 25, 2009 at 3:49 pm. Comment Now. Address: 1168 Folsom Street San Francisco, CA 94103. Phone Number: 415 503 1033. Web Site: View Web Site. city-beer-store. City Beer was closing at 6 for the Fourth, so we raced over the hill from … 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 … Food GPS – http://www.foodgps.com/ […]