San Francisco thoughts

Just left San Francisco after my first trip to the bay area. I had a lot of dope beer this weekend, and not all of it local. I ended up leaving with a RR Consecration and Temptation, and a Deschutes Black Butte XXI and a Valley Brewing Uberhoppy.

Thoughts:
Monk's Kettle - ridiculously overpriced, wide variety of beers but I seriously didn't want anything they had on draft (maybe says something about me), dropped $7.50 on a big pint of Pliny (overpriced). Their bottle list was impressive but, again, was extremely pricey. I just don't love Pliny, but I can understand why it's considered a great beer. It's a bit too bitter and dry for me, but that's just my preference for sweeter DIPAs revealing itself.

Toronado - I heard the service sucked but going on Monday night was fine and the bartender gave me a gratis beer and poured me a nice sample of another one without me even asking. I went back on Tuesday and it was a bit more crowded, but I was able to get a table and sit with three other people I knew with no big issue. Great prices - 4 buck Blind Pig and 4.50 Pliny, as an example. Most other domestics were in the $4 range. They had a pretty good selection, but I heard that it wasn't as full a draft list as usual. I had the absolutely amazing Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux and one of the better beers I've ever had, Firestone-Walker Double Jack [review forthcoming]. I had some other good stuff as well, but those stood out.

City Beer Store - This is a small place that clearly caters to beer nerds. Along with six rotating taps, it features two big coolers stocked with most everything they sell on the shelves and you can open anything for $1 corkage fee. I met an old old internet friend and he dropped some coin on the fantastic Mikkeller/Brewdog Devine [sic] Rebel barleywine ($15 for 12 ounces) and the fucking amazing Avery Mephistopheles Stout (I don't even like stouts that much and think this is a perfect beer). The server was nice and knowledgeable, which helps.

I wasn't actually blown away by SF as a beer town, but it certainly has it's good spots worth checking out. I'm glad to have left with some good west coast stuff, too.