The best little beer store in San Francisco.
The City Beer Store & Tasting Bar isn't just for beer geeks. However, if you think beer is, like, totally gross, you might have a harder time having a good time here. But you should still try it.
Craig, your insanely knowledgeable and a really cool host will turn your beer world upside down and inside out. His shelves are lined with the finest hopped, fermented and bubbled goodies in the world and he has the 411 on each of them. He has a respectable selection of six beers on draft as well, all available for tasting. He makes great use of his smallish space on Folsom Street, creating a comfortable, cool environment for chilling out and "tasting" some beer.
Here's how it works: You can taste draft beers for a nominal fee, or you can purchase one or three of the many, many, many wonderful bottles (from 12 and 22 ouncers all the way up to 750's and liter bottles), pay a small "corkage" fee, procure a couple of glasses and make yourself at home, right there in the shop. He also offers a nice little cheese tasting menu and will happily tell you what beers will go best with that aged cheddar.
The place is also a refuge for beer geeks and brewers and anyone who just likes to hand out and talk beer. At any given time at City Beer you'll find people who know their beer---from home brewers to commercial brewers and beer connoisseurs of all kinds. If you don't know much about beer but want to learn, or you're just plain curious, this is a great place to start.
The City Beer & Tasting Bar
1168 Folsom Street @ 7th Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 503-1033
