It had been too long since my last trip to the San Francisco Bay Area, and so when an airfare sale came up I decided to rectify that situation. It would be four days of seeing cousins, hanging out with old friends, and visiting as many breweries as feasible. If I’d been ambitious I might’ve hit twelve or more, but I felt that a more relaxed trip was in order and so instead only went to nine. Yeah, I know, I’m getting soft in my old age. And at more than half of the breweries I was with friends who were not used to my obsessive tasting and scribbling, so those notes are more rushed than usual. Leave it to me to make drinking beer with friends awkward and annoying. Sigh. Anyway, Marcus picked me up Saturday from SFO, and we immediately went to Southern Pacific Brewing in the Mission for lunch and the first taster tray of the weekend. It looked like a cool spot from their web site, and indeed the huge old warehouse was pretty slick. Good crowd for a Saturday afternoon, too. We had to go upstairs to find empty tables.

All aboard the Southern Pacific Brewing taster tray! — San Francisco, CA

Rob’s Picks
• Pale Ale – Light floral hops and light biscuity malt. Light on the tongue but pretty nice.
• Extra IPA – Herbal and spicy hops. Some biscuit and caramel malt. Bit of lingering bitterness.
• Amber – Caramel malt. Herbal and floral hops and some lingering bitterness. Not bad for an amber.
• American Strong – Smooth. Caramel malt, lightly boozy, bit of bitterness. Good balance.

The Rest
• Helles Lager – Slightly watery. Hint of lemon to breadiness.
• Hefeweizen – Lemony and slightly bready.
• California Blonde – Light and lemony. Light biscuit malt. Bit of herbal hops and light bitterness.
• IPA – Herbal hops with a touch of floral. Light malts and some bitterness.
• Porter – Kind of watery but nice chocolate/coffee flavors, with dark chocolate bitterness. A little too light for me, though.

So, yeah. Most of the beers here were pretty light. If I lived in SF, I could see myself coming here occasionally with a big group of friends more interested in socializing than in analyzing the beer they’re drinking. On a short, beer-focused trip, though, Southern Pacific may not be the best choice. Oh well. At least I was able to catch up with Marcus, after I finished my accelerated note-taking.

I ended up in the Bay Area recently, but only managed to get to one brewpub, 21st Amendment. Pretty cool spot, but the taster set was the most expensive one I’ve had: $14! Could’ve saved $2 if I had asked them to hold the taster of the guest cider on tap, but oh well. Had a “half” salad, as well, that turned out to be huge — a thick mound on a full-size plate. I don’t think I want to know how big the “full” size is. Anyway. They have an odd mix of beers. Can’t say I recommend their banana beer, and I didn’t try their IPA because it only comes in cans (as does their watermelon beer). Hmm.

Artfully arranged 21st Amendment samplers — San Francisco, CA

Rob’s Picks
• Back in Black – one of those dark IPAs. Not so crisp but dark and hoppy, which is nice. 7.2%
• South Park Blonde – nice, drinkable, fairly light. 5.1%

The Rest
• Autumn Wheat – okay, slight sweet edge
• Fat Bavarian – banana wheat. Banana/clove flavor too strong for me.
• Bitter American – American extra pale ale – bitter in a bad way. Basically a bad IPA, although it did start to grow on me by the end. Hmm. Only 3.8%, sadly.
• Holiday Spice (seasonal) – winter pumpkin ale – ugh. At least it was strong. 7%