The third brewery on the third day of my Bay Area trip was Social Kitchen and Brewery, where I would be meeting a couple friends for dinner. It didn’t take too long to walk from Magnolia in The Haight, and so I arrived a bit early. But that was a good thing because I could then get started on a taster flight and not be as distracted when my friends showed up. (I was going to make some sort of pun about being social, but I’m somehow managing to resist, luckily for you.) SKB has a pretty upscale feel to it – I felt a bit conspicuous with my jeans, t-shirt and daypack, but nobody seemed to mind. Prices were fairly reasonable, too.

Cooking up some samplers at Social Kitchen and Brewery — San Francisco, CA

Rob’s Picks
• SKB Pilsner – 4.9% – Somewhat bready, with light herbal hops. Pretty crisp. Bitter zing at the end.
• Saison du Semillon – 8% – Nice mix of saison and grape. Smooth, doesn’t taste 8%.
• Waterfront Porter – 4.9% – Coffee/chocolate aroma and flavors. Light, somewhat dry, and very drinkable.
• New World Lager – 6% – Citrus and tropical fruit hops. Crisp and light, with some bitterness on the finish.

The Rest
• SF Session – 4% – English summer wheat. Light, and not very bready. Some bitterness that mellows out on the finish.
• Rapscallion – 6.7% – Belgian golden. Banana/clove start. Some caramel malt. Smooth, but not much else.
• Mr. Kite’s Pale Ale – 5.9% – Floral and fairly malty.
• The Smell – 6.7% – IPA. Tropical fruit, some citrus, and earthy hop flavors. Light caramel malt. Wasn’t too fond of the earthiness.

What else? I was there on a Monday, and they seemed fairly busy. Glad I didn’t try and visit over the weekend. And yeah, that wraps up Day 3.

My second stop on the N-Judah brewery day was Haight-Ashbury’s Magnolia Gastropub and Brewery. I knew I was in The Haight because they were playing The Grateful Dead when I walked inside. Hoping to fit in, I pulled out my emergency bottle of patchouli oil, dabbed a little on my wrists, then on my neck. All the hippies sniffed the air, relaxed into their seats, and resumed their beer drinking. Success! I took a seat at the bar and tried to figure out which six of the twenty available beers (including five casks hooked up to beer engines) I wanted in my sampler triangle. There’d been a recent Belgian fest, and so they had several Belgian-style beers available, as well as a collaboration or two with 21st Amendment. One that I picked was the first beer made in their new brewery in the rapidly gentrifying Dogpatch neighborhood, where there will be lots more brewing capacity and eventually a new pub. I’ll definitely have to check it out next time I visit.

Update! September 28, 2015: Well, I visited SF again in January 2015 and spent some time in Dogpatch at the new Magnolia Smokestack – the bar/taproom and meat-smoking endeavor adjoining their new brewing space. So you can either drink and eat a bunch of meat, or you can drink and breathe in the robust aromas of smoked meats. I went with the latter, being sort of a vegetarian and all. Hard to say whether the ambiance may or may not have affected my tasting experience. I tried to focus on the beers, but it was pretty difficult to ignore all the meat smells. Beautiful space, though. So yeah, if you’re vegetarian, I would highly recommend sticking with their original location in The Haight. If you’re into the meats, you’ll love Magnolia Smokestack.

Getting in touch with my inner beer-drinking hippy at Magnolia Gastropub and Brewery on Haight St — San Francisco, CA

Rob’s Picks
• Cole Porter – 4.9% – Fairly light and dry. Chocolate/coffee flavors with a little bit of a sweet citrus zing.
• In with the New IPA – 6.1% – Caramel, biscuit, honey malts. Citrus, earthy, and herbal hops with some lingering bitterness.
• Prescription Pale Ale – 4.7% – Floral aroma. Big caramel, biscuit, and a touch of honey maltiness. Light floral hop flavor and good lingering bitterness.
• Maiden Voyage Bitter – 4.5% – Caramel, biscuit, and light honey maltiness. Light floral hops. Sound familiar? Light and drinkable. 1st beer from their new Magnolia Dogpatch facility.
• Proving Ground IPA – 7% – Citrus and tropical fruit hop flavors and caramel maltiness with some bitterness on the finish. Pretty solid.
• Paint It Black – 5.9% – Chocolate aroma. Fairly thick stout with chocolate/coffee and slight alcohol flavors. Supposedly a Belgian-style stout, but the Belgian aspect was too subtle for me…
• Winter Warmer – 7.5% – Cloudy dark red color. Plum aroma. Very smooth and thick. Big caramel malts and not too sweet. A good dessert beer.

The Rest
• Sarah Hughes Rich Ruby Mild – 3.9% – Berry aroma. Light berry flavor to bready finish. Easy drinking but not too interesting.
• Dark Star Mild – 3.6% – Light coffee and nuttiness with a bit of a sweet edge. Okay but not too interesting.
• Branthill ESB – 4.2% – Biscuit and honey malts. Some herbal hops. Light bitter finish. Easy drinking but, again, not too interesting.
• Bonnie Lee’s Best Bitter – 4.1% – Berry aroma and flavor. Caramel and honey. Subtle herbal hops. Too sweet for me.
• Tweezer Tripel – 9.9% – Coriander, banana/clove, and some alcohol aroma and flavors. Big caramel malt. Fairly thick for a tripel. Finish a little too sweet for me and builds up to a syrupy quality.

Would’ve been nice to have tried everything on tap, but then I never would have made it to my third stop of the day where I was meeting a couple friends for dinner. Next time in Dogpatch, I suppose (and I’ll be able to leave the patchouli at home).

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.