21st Amendment and Thirsty Bear Brewing Company in San Francisco

I recently visited San Francisco on a business trip and made it a point to stop at a few of craft brew pubs I'd heard a lot of good things about. Luckily, the conference I was in town for was held at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. This put me within short walking distance of both the Thirsty Bear Brewing Company and the famed 21st Amendment. After the first day of the conference and a late hotel check-in, I made a bee line for the 21st Amendment. The walk was quite a bit further than I'd expected but it wasn't out of the question. About twenty five minutes after leaving the hotel I arrived at the humble exterior of the 21st Amendment.

The 21A was much, much, much smaller than I was expecting considering their great reputation in the beer world. The building is split into thirds. The front third of the building is where you'll find the walk-up bar and stools, past that is the informal dining area that is full of small tables placed along a two sided bench that runs the length of the room. In the back of the building you'll see the small kitchen with a mezzanine dining room above it.

I sat right in the middle of the first floor at a small table and quickly ordered the Hell or High Watermelon Wheat, a beer I'd heard nothing but stellar reviews of. The beer list was shorter than I'd expected but, looking back, it was just about the perfect length. I realize now if there were twelve beers on tap I never would have had time to try them all. Here's the full list of what was on tap that day:

• Cheap Date - 3% ABV Light lager
• Spring Tweet - 4.8% ABV Fresh wheat beer brewed in honor of Twitter, who's offices are just around the corner
• Golden Doom - 7.8% Belgian golden strong ale
• Bitter American - 3.9% Light IPA
• Hell or High Watermelon Wheat - 5.5% ABV Wheat brewed with real watermelon juice
• Leicht Weiss - 5% ABV Light hefeweizen
• El Camino (Un)Real - 9.5% Collaboration between 21st Amendment, Firestone Walker and Stone Brewing made with cinnamon and chai

The Hell or High Watermelon Wheat is exactly what I expected it to be. A light wheat base with sweet watermelon flavor brewed in. That'd not to say it was bad, it was actually very, very, VERY good. It just wasn't mind blowing, because I'd heard about it before and knew what to expect.

I ordered a Buffalo Chicken Salad and onion rings for dinner while I waited for my second beer to arrive. I decide to go with the El Camino (Un)Real before my taste buds were destroyed by the Buffalo Chicken. This beer was super dark, thick and amazingly sweet/spicy. The combination of flavors seemed a bit questionable at first, I've had some beers with peppercorns added for flavor before and it always ended poorly... The El Camino was amazing though, it was the best beer I had that night. The beer is brewed with figs, chai and currants as well as peppercorns so there are plenty of other flavors to help tone down the peppercorn. The sweet figs seemed like more of a supporting actor because they didn't really stand out. The main player seemed to be the chai and a cinnamon spiciness that resulted from the combination of flavors and peppercorn. It was all really great, I hope this gets bottled so I can give it a second go around.

I also tried the Golden Doom and Leicht Weiss but they weren't as exciting as the El Camino. The Golden Doom was much less menacing than the name implied. It's a big Belgian ale with sweet and tangy yeast, great for a late spring evening. The Leicht Weiss was my least favorite beer because it seemed just too light... I enjoy Hefeweizens a lot and I think the thicker and more sour they are the better.

My stop by the 21st Amendment was a beer drinking adventure I won't soon forget and I hope to repeat again sometime soon.

The next day I made the long trek from the Moscone Center all the way up to the Golden Gate Bridge. It took about two and a half hours to get there and back so I was ready for a beer and something to eat by the time I got back. Not far from the Moscone, about two blocks actually, you'll find the Thirsty Bear Brewing Company. Before going to San Francisco I asked around for suggestions on where to get a good beer downtown and the Thirsty Bear was most frequently mentioned spots. I walked into the Thirsty Bear and felt a little confused... this place was nice, almost fancy. The lighting was upscale and the who place was very... chic. Not exactly what you expect from a place that is popular among craft beer drinkers. I was thinking I'd be walking into something more along the lines of a gussied up dive bar that happened to have amazing craft beers.

The menu at the Thirsty Bear was also a surprise. What I didn't realize until after placing my order for seared duck breast and port braised prunes was that this was basically a tapas restaurant. When my food arrived it was about a quarter of the serving size I was hoping for... Luckily the side salads were cheap so I ordered one of those to fill me up. But enough about the food...

The beer selection at the Thirsty Bear was almost as gourmet as the rest of the menu. I started off with a Golden Vanilla, a medium bodied beer that tasted a bit like cream soda. I mean that in a good way, as long as you like cream soda as much as I do. It was smooth and had a good deal of vanilla flavor, very refreshing. The Meyer E.S.B. was up next. This beer can barely be called an E.S.B. as far as I'm concerned. It was extra special, but not bitter at all. This beer was brewed with tons of caramel malt and poured from a nitro cask. The creaminess was just like that of a Guinness... a lighter, caramel flavored Guinness. It was an amazing beer. The last beer I had was a Belgian season that was a little too pale and spicy from my liking. It was alright, but not something I'd have again.

The Thirsty Bear was a great experience but not some place I would be able to go very often. Being in a prime location like it is, the menu is priced accordingly. Considering the food portions were almost laughable I wouldn't suggest going here on an empty stomach because you won't be able to enjoy more than a beer or two without getting trashed. That being said, their beers were really quite good, I wish I could have stayed longer to try more of them but I was just too hungry.

The rest of the trip ended up being just as full of great beer. After a stop of the Anchor Steam Pub and a layover in Denver that resulted in Breckenridge Vanilla Porter on draft, I was thinking of excuses to go back before my return flight touched down in Kansas City.