Will be in the San Francisco area on vacation in 3 weeks. The wife (aka, the boss) and I both enjoy lagers. What would be a few good breweries to hit for a good Pils, Helles, Doppelbock, Oktoberfest/Festbier in the area? We will be staying in Daly City and ubering back and forth to see the typical tourist sights. Thanks in advance!!
The traditional German styles are not ones that SF breweries focus upon (or lagers in general), although most of the microbreweries may have like 1-2 available. Maybe the best bet might be to go to a beer bar like Toronado, since they have stuff like Moonlight's Reality Czech (Czech Pils), Russian River's STS (German Pils), Moonlight's Death & Taxes (Schwartzbier). But even then... it's like that's all they have among a sea of IPAs, sours and stouts. I have come to love lagers, but they don't seem to really sell well with the crowd here. If you happen to come across it, Humble Sea's Authentic DDH (Helles) just won some awards. And Russian River's Velvet Glow is a fantastic Helles, that you may be able to find in a store. Else you're just going to a German restaurant / biergarten with actual kegs from German breweries, and some that come to mind are: - Suppenkuche (San Francisco) - Speisekammer (Alameda) - Gourmet Haus Stadt (Redwood City)
I second the Gourmet Haus Stadt recommendation. It's a gem. I've also heard good things about Wondrous
True, I like Wondrous, but when I went they only had one lager on tap. They had just tapped out of their Hell Helles Oh! One other off-the-beaten path thing came to mind. Since @KPlen is staying in Daly City, maybe check out Pacifica Brewery. The brewmaster is Kim Sturdevant, a Master Cicerone. I think his preference is towards traditional styles (and won some beer awards for them when he was at Social Kitchen & Brewery). If their taplist is to be believed, it looks like they have a Festbier and Helles on tap now.
If you’re ok with public transportation and are near DC Bart station is a good way to get most places in SF (The city and San Francisco are other acceptable names ). Uber and Lyft prices have been higher than usual lately, for me at least.
First of all, and I say this with a smile on my face, I recommend that you refrain from the "San Fran" reference if you don't want to incur the wrath of locals. Loved @thuey's post. I would also suggest going to Mikkeller Bar in SF, recently re-opened. I don't know about lagers per se, but they have an excellent selection (36 taps) that is bound to have a few good lagers. Alas, the website lists the current taps but has zero information on the beers. I do see Russian River's STS Pils though. The bar is in the Tenderloin, which has a definite homeless presence. But still a worthy destination.
Here’s a good a place as any to ask if the Toronado will have an Oktoberfest “something” (low key celebration slash Tap takeover)? I always recommend visitors to Frisco or San Pancho (there’s some more names for you) make a visit to the T. I can’t remember if they did anything even Pre-COVID these past few years, but maybe a decade ago just by chance a buddy and I caught the tail end of their ‘fest—ooompah bands, steins galore, and what I think was my first pour of DFH’s WWS to end the night, although my memory is pretty hazy on the details, for some reason. Enjoy your visit!
I think the only special events Toronado has going on are: SF Beer Week (PtY daily, sometimes 2x daily) - February Anniversary - August Barleywine Festival - I think this is in November now? They don't have it every year anymore though.
