![]() (Though Lagunitas IPA is a pretty good call, too.) Maybe some other small brewer would have come along to popularize dry-hopping with copious (for the time) quantities of Cascade hops and convinced us to embrace deliciously bitter beer - the iconic Sierra Nevada Pale Ale arrived on the scene soon after - but Anchor’s Liberty took that first step, and for that, we should be thankful. Sure, Steam has been around much longer, but in 1975, Liberty was the beer that changed it all, that in many ways launched the identity of the hop head. Maggie Hoffman, Bay Area beer writer Maggie Hoffman's picks.Īnchor Liberty Ale. Readily available throughout the Bay Area, those Speakeasy sneaky eyes are a welcome sight on any tap. The amber ale was the Bayview brewery’s first beer and it still holds up. But Speakeasy Prohibition Ale is my pick. I even tried to figure out how to get Hamm’s in here, in honor of the old sign by Seals Stadium. First, the contenders that missed the cut: Trumer Pilsner (too German), Fort Point (too new), either Pliny (not democratic enough), Sierra Nevada (not Bay Area enough), Sufferfest (not gluten enough), Magnolia (not one standout) and Oakland’s Linden Street (in transition to a new brand). Amid a tempest of hoppy beers and SERIOUS BEER PEOPLE, Hell or High Watermelon is a welcome reminder that beer should be fun, easy and light. You know what you’re drinking, and that logo design - the Statue of Liberty lounging on the Golden Gate Bridge as she gazes wistfully into space - is about as perfect as a modern beer label can get. The SoMa (and now San Leandro) brewery rode the novelty of its watermelon wheat ale as it became a de facto summertime drink. You can’t talk about Fort Point - its whimsical branding, its smart cans, its easy-drinking beers - without 21st Amendment. And in pure volume, Lagunitas still easily leads the way for all Northern California brewers not named Sierra.Ģ1st Amendment Hell Or High Watermelon. Bear Republic’s Racer 5, Speakeasy’s Big Daddy and Lagunitas IPA all brought that beer style into our mainstream, but more importantly, they were part of the generation that really helped propel craft beer to the San Francisco masses - not just fancy breweries, but normal corner bars. ![]() So there needs to be one IPA on the list. And given the city’s ongoing, fervent love affair with IPA, IPA still rules the city. Even though Heineken owns half of the company these days, there must still be a spot reserved for Lagunitas (Laguneiken? Heinekinitas?). Paolo Lucchesi, Chronicle food editor Paolo Lucchesi's picks KSA represents the moment we’re in right now: beer gone viral. No brewery here has grown at such rapid speed as Fort Point, which in its barely three years of existence has become relentlessly ubiquitous around town. (I get it, actually - FDR didn’t become president until after Mount Rushmore was already under construction.) Fort Point’s Kolsch Style Ale is symbolic of the Bay Area today. OK, this is the shocker, but every Mount Rushmore’s gotta have its Teddy Roosevelt: the “Him? Really?” wild card. But what single beer could capture the contemporary sense of the craft-brewing craze better than Younger, the ultra-hoppy triple IPA that draws thousands of people to wait in line for hours (days!) at the Santa Rosa brewery every February? It encapsulates “cult” as no other California beer can.įort Point KSA. I was tempted to say Pliny the Elder, the more democratic of Russian River Brewing Co.’s ancient Roman-inspired IPAs. And I know, I know, Fort Bragg is technically outside of the nine-county “Bay Area,” but when it opened in 1988 there were so few breweries in Northern California that I’m gonna say it gets grandfathered in. It’s also one of the best Imperial Russian Stouts on the market, IMHO. First of all, North Coast Brewing (in Fort Bragg, a place once settled by Russian immigrants) started making this 9% alcohol, mega-rich, malt bomb way before people were used to drinking such full-flavored beer - which is a classic California beer trailblazing move. Obviously Anchor Steam is George Washington. It’s been Anchor’s signature since the 19th century, decades before Fritz Maytag bought the company and transformed it into the craft-beer icon it is today. You could make a case for other Anchor beers (Liberty Ale, the first West Coast IPA, or Christmas Ale, because it’s so unabashedly, kitschily San Francisco), but I’ve got to give this to the steam beer. This is the easy call: the absolute, undisputed OG of San Francisco beer - arguably of American craft beer. Share your four picks and join the discussion on social media with the hashtag #FourBayBeers.Įsther Mobley, Chronicle wine, beer and spirits writer Esther Mobley's picks.Īnchor Steam. It’s a question that sparked much debate in our office, and hopefully will be a fun conversation for you, too.
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