Beers in print

The 'Monty' comic strip (once called 'Robotman', then 'Robotman and Monty') has always been a favorite, but the stupid SF Chronicle has a horrible selection of comics, so I don't get to read it often. A while back I found it online, and occasionally I read it. Fate was calling today when I decided to check it out.



It's good to see a wide range of beer styles mentioned. Hooray for beer!

Lively Establishment in Outer Sunset

If you ever take the N-Judah out the the beach in San Francisco, then you should know that there is an excellent dive bar at 47th Ave and Judah. The place is called Pittsburgh's Pub and I've seen it for years, but just recently decided to check it out.

From outside, it looks a little dull and drab, but inside it's warm and inviting. Brick walls surround a long bar, two pool tables, an old school jukebox, and lots of Pittsburgh Steelers' paraphernalia. Behind the bar, the bartender was friendly enough, and he was serving 10 beers on tap that included range of local and microbrew choices. As an added bonus, the clientele made me feel young, though it was early afternoon and I imagine that the demographic changes throughout the day and night. Or maybe it doesn't and the same ten people are always there, which really wouldn't surprise me.

I'll make a return visit or two if I can, but I don't think that soon-to-be Baby Stobbster would be allowed in the place, so it may be a few years until I make it back.

Calgary baseball

The past ten days or so have been extraordinarily busy, and it was all kicked off with a short trip up to Calgary for a few days of work, or I should say, business meetings. I sure don't want any Canadian immigration/customs officials coming after me for erroneously stating the purpose of my visit up north.

While in Calgary, I didn't have much free time, but a few key facts meant that I was able to make the time for a quick minor league baseball excursion. Most importantly the weather was absolutely awesome - blue skies, scattered clouds, and mildly warm temperatures. Plus, I happened to be staying within walking distance of the baseball park. Then the most important part, there actually was a game scheduled for one of the nights that I was there.

So on Tuesday evening, I took a walk over to the stadium to see the Calgary Vipers take on the Edmonton Capitals in an independent Golden League game. It was not a pitching or defensive showcase. Lots of hits and runs plus quite a few fielding mistakes let the game drag on for quite a while. I didn't stick around for the whole game, but it was refreshing to relax outside on a nice evening and watch some baseball.

The only disappointing part of the evening was that the selection of beer consisted of cans of Budweiser, Bud Light, and Kokanee. I chose Kokanee, but it's a pale yellow, mild tasting, fizzy beer that's a little more unique that a can of Bud. It was better than nothing.

Momentous occasion

This doesn't really fit into the typical stuff I blog about, but since I was on hand for a historic event last Sunday, I figured it is worth mentioning.

Ginny's Dad has officially visited every county in every state in the lower 48 states of the United States of America.

He actually accomplished this task a few weeks ago, but just last Sunday, he colored in the counties on his official US county map. All that is left to do is to visit Hawaii, a few independent towns in Virginia, and maybe the judicial districts in Alaska. Then the quest will be complete.
So, want proof of this event? Just check out the video and pictures below.

The Lower 48 - Complete! on Vimeo.

Finally trying Social

The newest, and closest, brewpub to the homestead had been difficult to try. With limited operating hours (5 pm to 10 pm), it was difficult to find a convenient time to stop in. That fortunately changed in the past week, as the Social Kitchen and Brewery can now be checked off the list of brewpubs to visit.
A week ago, I was in the area around 5:00, so I stopped in to try a beer or two. Overall, the beers have been above average, though no super standout, but I'll get into those details in a moment. We also had a chance to try their food last weekend. We happened to walk by at lunch time and saw that they were open. It turns out that it was their first day to be open for lunch, so we took advantage of our good fortune.
The food was quite good. I had a very good cheese burger - well cooked meat, slightly charred, fresh toppings, and crunchy fries - and Ginny had a Vietnamese Fish Sandwich that looked great and she agreed. We'll definitely be going back for lunch/dinner when we have the opportunity (I might sneak over there while Ginny's in labor - it's about an 8 minute walk from the hospital).
As for the beer, there are five options currently offered:

• Social Koelsch - very light (taste and color) and refreshing, though drinking it while eating their house-made mustard resulted in it being really overpowered.


• Old Time Alt - Closer to a brown or a mild ale, this smooth beer could use a little more malt to balance out the dark grain and hop flavors.


• Easy IPA - A mildly hopped IPA (for the west coast) that's easy drinking


• Rapscallion - A low alcohol Belgian-style beer, dark in color and full bodied and flavorful. This was my favorite and it paired nicely with all of the food.


• L’Enfant Terrible - A higher alcohol Belgian-style beer (sort of between a double and a triple), that's light in color and full of Belgian-funkiness. Not as drinkable as the Rapscallion, but quite good.

Overall, I'm excited to have a brewpub close by (20 minutes walking, 5 minutes by MUNI on a lucky day) and am looking forward to trying more beers in the future.

B2B weekend re-cap

The 99th running of the Bay to Breakers race was last weekend in SF and it was a crazy, busy, fun weekend that was kicked off on Thursday afternoon with a good baseball game at AT&T park. The Giants-Padres game was one of the fastest I've ever seen - just over two hours. We only had time for like one beer it was so fast. We made up for it the rest of the day and during the ensuing weekend.

Here's the beer summary for the weekend:

• Tasty beers at the 21st Amendement - a few Golden Dooms (Belgian Strong beers), Gigantes IPAs, and awesome Rammstein (strong dunkel weizen).


• Denied beer at the new Social Brewpub because they close at 10:00 pm due to a stupid provisional liquor license.


• A quick stop up in Headsburg at the Bear Republic Brewpub to down a Hop Rod Rye (great double IPA with Rye - nice subtle spice), Ryevalry (another double IPA fermented with Belgian yeast), and a small sample of Racer X (yet another big IPA).


• Half a can of Red Oval Classic Lager that cost me 50 cents and was stolen by a rouge SF cop who could have instead been doing something useful like arresting pot-smoking hippies, un-licensed food vendors, public urinators, and ugly naked people.


• Some homebrew.

Outside of the beer, we made it to a few good restaurants, too:

• Waterbar - after the baseball game, we stopped in for $1 oyster and happy hour cocktails. It was an excellent pitstop.


• Zuni Cafe - Great 'comfort' food and great service. Probably my favorite restaurant in SF


• La Mar - Awesome Peruvian food. Some of the best ceviche and the most tasty small plates I've ever had. This place is near the top of my list for seafood in SF.


• Home Cookin' - I split a pork tenderloin, stuffed it with chopped basil, garlic, dried chilies, and a couple of thick-cut pieces of bacon, and then grilled it. I done did good with it!

Bay to Breakers was full of the usual craziness. Lots of good costumes, good music, scary naked people, and the occasional really odd sight. I didn't get many decent photos. Here's a couple of the more interesting:
The Pimp-looking dude on the right side may or may not be in a costume.

Youngest drummer of the day - he looked at the oldest 5

A squadron of Star Wars X-wing pilots

Artistic Beer

We just returned from the 19th Annual Hunters Point Shipyard Artists Spring Open Studios and Sale (www.shipyardartists.com) and it was rather mind-numbing. Several hours of looking at about 70 artist's paintings, photos, and sculptures just left me wanting some beer.

There were a couple of artist that incorporated beer into their work:

• Irene Hendrick was showing a few paintings focused on old men drinking beer in pubs. One can be viewed here.
• Judy Reed had some large photographs (like 3' x 4') of crushed Budweiser cans. It was a bit odd.
  

My discerning eye always finds a few gems.