On the last day of my January 2015 Bay Area trip, I had lunch at Bartlett Hall, a new brewpub near Union Square in downtown SF. From their web site, I got the feeling that it was started by some business types to see if it would make a good franchise, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. There are no other locations yet, and I decided that made it qualify for a blog post. Anyway, I went in and sat down at the bar. The menu was the usual pub food, nothing too interesting, and when the bartender said they weren’t serving any of their beers in order to make sure they had enough for the upcoming SF beer week, I almost left. But he was kind enough to keep me there by pouring a couple ounces of the two they had on tap. So I got lunch, which was okay, and a full pour of some other beer. The on-site brewery is cooped up behind glass in a small corner of the restaurant space. I could see why they were saving up for the beer week events – pretty small production capacity. Not sure the business types thought this whole thing through too thoroughly.

Rob’s Picks
• Turbulent ESB – 5.1% – Fruity, melon hops, bit of spiciness, to bready finish. Interesting mix.
• From A to Z IPA – 6% – Tannic herbal hops, touch of spiciness. Light on the tongue. Very light malt that blends in with the herbal flavors. Some tannic bitterness on the finish.

So yeah, the two beers were all right, but the ambiance was a little too corporate for my tastes, and the food didn’t make up for it. I think the main reason I’d go back is to get a picture for this post. The little tastes I got didn’t really lend themselves to an interesting photo.