THE NAMELESS BEERMAID
My Love/Haight Relationship with SF I
n six months, I went to San Francisco three times. First, I visited a friend living in Lower Haight. From SFO I took the Bart to 16th and Mission, then cabbed it to the corner of Haight and Fillmore. Even though it was August and I had been sweating just hours earlier, a gust of wind hit me as I walked to my friend’s antiquated Edwardian. Mark Twain was right when he said the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. The Edwardian was right up from the bus stop – from its stoop you could see Toronado. After unloading my luggage, I declared, “Let’s get a beer!”
Strolling to my inaugural visit to
Toronado, I wasn’t sure what to expect – perhaps cherubs strumming harps or unicorns drinking from golden tulips? Instead, a distinct barf-like stench hit me, it was crowded, and the bartender wasn’t the jolliest of souls. But these things did not matter. I was about to drink a Consecration on my first day of vacation. Over the next three days, I would visit the Museum of Modern Art, drink blood-
ies at Zeitgeist, and eat sourdough on Pier 39. But I would always return to Torona- do – sometimes with a sausage from next door’s Rosamunde – to end the night. My second SF trip exactly two weeks later would be surrounded by white-wine drinking friends. We were staying in Union Square, and on our first night, I noticed them putting on stilettos whereas I only brought boots. It then occurred to me this trip would be slightly differ- ent than the first. We had appetizers in the hotel lobby lounge then went to a crappy North Beach bar where we had table service with crappy, berry-flavored vodka. The next day looked like it would turn out the same, so I put down my boot- wearing foot and said, “We’re going to the Haight!” – which really meant we were going to Toronado. It was around lunch time on a Monday and the bar was nearly empty. I walked in like I owned the place. Just when I was about to order my Racer 5, I heard a friend say, “I am NOT staying here! It smells like barf!” The others agreed, leaving me with my IPA and chicken-cherry sausage.
West Coaster’s beermaid, with drinking buddy, at Toronado San Francisco. Email her -
beermaid@westcoastersd.com
So, maybe it’s not for everybody. These things aside, though, Toronado is why I left my heart in San Francisco.
– The Nameless Beermaid KnB Gents Roadtrip to
Sierra Nevada Beer Camp The following is an account of Beer Camp #42 at Sierra Nevada. KnB Wine Cellar’s Gentlemen of Draft & Bottle - Adam and Matty P. - were invited to come and brew with a handful of Sierra Nevada-loving folks from all over the country. Being the adventurous types, The Gentlemen decided to make a roadtrip out of it.
1:30am - The boys pile into borrowed van with necessary supplies: bourbon, tequila, tums, cases of beer, prescription medication. Beercation begins.
Wednesday, January 12th
6:15am - First calamity strikes: Matty P. loses company debit card at Shell station. 12:30pm - Barrel tasting and Pliny the Elder off the line with Russian River brewmaster Vinnie Cilurzo. RR brewpub thankfully next to Chase bank. Compunction and replacement card? Yes, please.
10:30pm- First bottle share with other beer campers after Welcoming Dinner.
Thursday, January 13th 9:15am - Hungover. Campers attempt to come up with a recipe for this “Rye Black IPA” nonsense. Disagree- ment. Production Brewer Scott helps everyone settle on a recipe and a name – “India Ink”. They next get to tear
through bales of hops in Sierra’s massive hop warehouse and smash whole cones in their palms, releasing fresh, zesty aromas. They settle on a proprietary Sierra hop strain, #366, and Motueka New Zealand hops, to match up with the spiciness of the rye malt.
2:00pm - Visit to the Ovila Trappist Monastery that Sierra Nevada is using as inspiration for their Abbey series. The Gentlemen then go wine tasting with an 85-year old monk. No joke. Adam: “Brother David, what’s your
favorite wine?” Brother David: “Whatever the girls give me.” Fair enough.
Friday, January 14th 9:20am - Brew Day! Using small-scale collective homebrewing knowledge, the campers roll up their sleeves and brew a 20 barrel batch, adding hops to the boil and stirring hundreds of gallons of
wort...Yeah, a little differ-
ent from a 5 gallon homebrew batch!
1:30pm - Campers take an in-depth tour of Sierra Nevada’s facility on a 10-person tandem bicycle/cabana vehicle with a BMW drive train and 2 beers on tap at the rear. It looks even more ridiculous than it sounds.
10:00pm - Following an epic farewell dinner & bottle share (think 80 bottles, 10 people), we are accosted by a Sammy Hagar impersonator who demands that we accompany him to the local cougar-bar. We comply. Mad- ness ensues. The Gentlemen fall asleep at 4:30am, mired in regret.
Saturday, January 15th
10:30am - The boys arrive at the next destination: Lagunitas Brewing. Bourbon Barrel-Aged Gueuze at 10am promptly causes sickness. *Next entry missing - the events that occurred at Lagunitas must remain classi- fied. Let’s just say a 90 minute stay turned into 4 hours, and we picked up some delicious kegs.
8:00pm - Following a rendezvous at Firestone Walker in Paso Robles, the boys become hopelessly lost in the horror movie-esque pitch black of wine country, desperately trying to find the winemaker’s house they were
supposed to stay at. He wasn’t home. Gas light=on. Terror=mounting. FW Double Jack IPA=being consumed.
Sunday, January 16th, 9:00pm - The Gentlemen return to KnB to a heroes’ welcome! Flash Forward some weeks…India Ink is tapped on March 26th at KnB Wine Cellars to rave reviews. The beer is currently on-tap – get it while you can!
Adam Parker is also the Artistic Director for theater company Triad Productions. Their newest play, Curse of the Starving Class, also stars Ryan Ross of Karl Strauss and runs May 6th-28th. For more information, visit seemore-
plays.com. KnB Wine Cellars is located at 6380 Del Cerro Boulevard San Diego, CA
10-
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13