The plan for Day Three of my Bay Area trip was to visit three breweries more or less along the N-Judah MUNI line. I got off at the end of the line at Ocean Beach and walked to the northwestern corner of Golden Gate Park to The Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant for lunch and a set of samplers. I felt a little out of place — I was one of the younger customers there, by myself, had eight little beers in front of me, and my daypack on the other chair — but nobody seemed to mind.

Beautiful spot for a beer (or eight) at The Beach Chalet — San Francisco, CA

Rob’s Picks
• V.F.W. Light – 4.8% – Blonde. Very light and quite bready. Touch of lemon and honey. Decent herbal hop finish.
• Presidio IPA – 6.5% – Herbal and floral hops. Light honey and caramel malt. Some underlying bitterness that blends back in well.
• Riptide Red – 5.8% – Big caramel and light honey malt. Very light hops (herbal?). Bit of dryness. Pretty easy drinking.
• Fogtown Brown – 5.3% – For the malt lovers. Big caramel and some honey malt, with some coffee flavor. Light bitterness on the finish.
• Rye Porter – 4.8% – Dark Side Series. Not very dark in color, maybe dark amber. Light rye aspect, coffee/chocolate flavors, and touch of honey. Some dryness and light lingering bitterness.

The Rest
• Weizenbock – 6.5% – Bready, with big banana and medium clove flavors.
• Playland Pale Ale – 5.5% – Floral hops. Caramel and biscuity maltiness. Good balance but the floral aspect didn’t do it for me.
• Pumpkin Ale – 5.3% – With cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and clove. Big aroma with all those spices. Pretty decent mix of spices, pumpkin, and herbal hops. Some honey, too. A taster was enough for me, though.

If you can get a window table (reservations might be helpful), then sipping a beer or two while watching the waves crash onto the beach would be a fine way to spend an hour or two. Seemed like the folks sitting by the windows were enjoying it.