Five Microbrewery Bars in San Francisco

I recently went on a business trip to San Francisco. I am a big fan of microbrew beers and find that when I travel for business, visiting microbrew bars for happy hour is a great way to try new beers. As a fan of microbrew beers I can say that San Francisco has some very nice microbrew beers for those of you that enjoy a good one just like I do. I was staying in the Fisherman's Wharf area near The Embarcadero and had the opportunity to visit three different microbrew restaurants when I was in San Francisco. These three microbrew restaurants resulted in my discovery of five microbrew beers I feel you must try in San Francisco. The three restaurants I visited were: San Francisco Brewing Company located at 155 Columbus Avenue near Chinatown; 21st Amendment, which is located at 563 2nd Street near the San Francisco Giants' stadium, and Thirsty Bear located at 661 Howard Street in the same area.

At San Francisco Brewing Company there are two beers I would recommend trying. The first is the Rainbow Stout. It is a nice dark beer with a fairly nice coffee aftertaste and hint of chocolate in the aroma. It is a good example of a stout beer. Even better at San Francisco Brewing Company in San Francisco is the Liberator Doppelbock microbrew beer. This is a very dark doppelbock with a high alcohol content which is hidden in the smooth feel of the beer. It does not have an alcohol smell like some high alcohol content beers do. It is a very filling beer though, so after a couple pints I was thoroughly satisfied. When visiting San Francisco Brewing Company keep in mind that happy hour runs from 4 until 6 pm and during that time you can get a 10 ounce beer for $1.75 or a 16 ounce for $3.50.

Another microbrew restaurant I would suggest trying two beers at is the 21st Amendment. With it being a nice warm spring day, I decided to try the Watermelon Ale at 21st Amendment. It's not bad, and had a mild but evident watermelon flavor to the ale as well. I'm usually not a huge fan of lighter beers, but this watermelon variety was a nice crisp refreshing beer for the spring. The other beer I recommend here is a little heavier. It is the Myer's Scotch Ale. This is a much drier beer than the Watermelon one. This has almost a 9 percent alcohol content and did have a little bit of an alcohol hint in it's aroma. That made me nervous, but the Myer's Scotch Ale when I drank it was not overpowered by the alcohol flavor. It actually covered the alcohol well and was a very dry beer. This is a microbrew that works great with a hamburger or wings at the bar. Both of these beers can be had for $3 a pint during happy which is weeknights from 4-6 pm and on Tuesdays it lasts all night long.

The final microbrew restaurant only has one beer I recommend, but it was my favorite microbrew I had in San Francisco and therefore the beer that I recommend the highest for someone who visits San Francisco to try. This was a special cask conditioned stout. Cask conditioned stouts are offered each Tuesday at Thirsty Bear for $3 a glass. The trick is they are only available until the cask is emptied. This was a vanilla stout, and it was a great microbrew. It was a pitch black stout with a creamy grey head on it. The aroma included hints of vanilla. The vanilla also gave the Vanilla stout a very smooth finish covering the bitterness that a stout will have quite often. The vanilla was not overpowering though, so it did not have that fake vanilla flavor that some vanilla flavor beers had. I would highly recommend Thirsty bear on a Tuesday night to try their cask stout, and hopefully they will have the vanilla stout that night.

As a fan of microbrews, these are the ones that I have to recommend to anyone that visits San Francisco. All of these are within easy walking distance of 15-20 minutes if you are staying close to The Embarcadero in San Francisco.