Finally! We made it to San Francisco. Don't get me wrong I loved the trip and all of our stops but San Fran was what I had been waiting for. It's one of the cities on my list of places to go before I die. We crossed the Golden Gate as the sun was going down and the sky was amazing. Even in my slightly inebriated state of mind I was impressed with the hazy pink and blue canvas above. After winding our way around the hilly streets we found our hotel, got settled, grabbed food then like anyone who had one too many beer samplers I crashed for the evening. The true adventure would have to wait.
Now that we were in the city there were places we had to go. I will skip the tourist blah, blah, blah, and just say that we did all the typical first time in S.F. activities. The focus here as it always is is the beer. From what I had heard this was a great beer town. Bryan over at The Brew Lounge had sent me some great places to hit and I had already set reservations for the Anchor Brewing tour so that was our first stop.
Now that we were in the city there were places we had to go. I will skip the tourist blah, blah, blah, and just say that we did all the typical first time in S.F. activities. The focus here as it always is is the beer. From what I had heard this was a great beer town. Bryan over at The Brew Lounge had sent me some great places to hit and I had already set reservations for the Anchor Brewing tour so that was our first stop.
My suggestion to anyone heading to Anchor Brewing is, MAKE RESERVATIONS EARLY! If you don't you may be very disappointed. I called a couple months ahead and had to take the early tour because the later one was already sold out. It's extremely popular. We arrived 10 minutes before the tour and were lucky enough to get street parking next to the brewery. After climbing a few flights we reached the tap room where the tour was set to begin. The guide gave a history of Anchor Brewing, brewing techniques and beer in San Francisco. Before the actual walking part of the tour began we were all instructed that no photography was aloud beyond the brewing room. This explains why everyone who has been to Anchor only has pictures of the same two rooms. Overall the tour was very interesting. After the history lesson in the tap room we moved into the brewing room, open fermentation chambers, hop storage room, the yeast lab, cold conditioning room, the bottling and kegging lines then back to the brewing room for quick information on their distilling line (whiskey and gin). The tour ended in the tap room with a tasting. The beers poured were, Anchor Steam, Old Foghorn, Anchor Porter and Liberty Ale. Our guide was very generous when it came to the beers. Although we were drinking out of standard tasting glasses we had multiple fills. No complaints.
If you go remember.
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