San Francisco must does for a beer guy

If Wednesday the 21st is your only free day then Rare Barrel isn't an option as it is only open Fri-Sun.

 

Rare Barrel is definitely worth it. They often have some great guest taps on. I was there a couple of days ago and they had Sante Adairius beers and Abraxas on tap

City Beer is close to Cellarmaker and definitely worth doing

I would also say check out Toronado since it's legendary. Just make sure to bring cash

 

I'm in a similar situation to you - fairly quick business trip to SF, limited time, no car, staying near Moscone Center ... without having to "commute" too far (planning to walk to all of these), this is what I'm doing in order of my priority:

- Cellarmaker (0.8 miles from where I'm staying) - this one is a 100% must-do!
- Mikkeller (0.4 miles)
- City Beer (0.9 miles)
- 21st Ammendment (0.8 miles)

Considering Torondao and Monk's Kettle as well but those are a bit out of the walking comfort zone

 

Lyft or Uber can be your friends.

 

Alpine is only available on tap in Northern California (City Beer had Nelson on tap last night). Monk's Kettle is another good spot you may want to consider. Cellarmaker and City Beer are easily to get to from Moscone and are a block away from each other.

 

Agreed ... just trying to save my company some travel money

 

The 4 places they listed are all very close to Moscone. I would personally subtract 21st from that and add Mikkeller Bar, which is also walkable.

 

Yeah these are all totally walkable and nice city streets in non-shady parts of town ... there's other breweries within walking distance of Moscone (like Magnolia, Thirsty Bear, etc.), but IMO, not worth it considering the other choices I originally listed. Cellarmaker is really epic - they don't serve food but you can bring good eats with you inside

 

Honestly, if you love sours then yes Rare Barrel is worth it (as mentioned above they also have a great guest tap list, this weekend SARA, Cellar Maker & Societe stuff). Otherwise I'd plant myself at Cellar Maker and City Beer Store.

 

I did list Mikkeller as my #2 priority ... agreed, 21st is a far cry from the first three I listed, but I think it's better than other walkable places like Magnolia, Thirsty Bear, etc

 

on the other hand, if he goes to 21st, he could stop across the street and have a pretty awesome grilled cheese sandwich from the american grilled cheese kitchen.

 

Magnolia beats 21st Amendment by a wide margin. If you don't like British/sessionable beers, then you likely won't be a fan, but I would strongly recommend them over 21st.

 

I'm losin' it!

 

From Mikkeller (or a few blocks walk up to Market from City Beer/Cellermaker), it is a very easy bus ride up Haight to Toronado on either the 6 or 71 bus (If you feel safer on light rail than local bus, you can take the Muni N-Judah train from Market and get off at Duboce Park which is two blocks from Toronado). The same bus lines continue on to Magnolia. It is also an easy BART ride to Monk's Kettle from Market St. If you find yourself looking for more things to do that are walking distance from Moscone, two new places have recently opened up on (lower) Nob Hill, Hogwash and Hopwater Distribution. Both have food and solid taplists.

 

The google map app works incredibly well for buses in the city. I used it all day for beer drinking last year during beer week. It will tell you which bus to catch, where to walk to the nearest station, the bus arrival time and where to get off the bus and how to walk to your destination. It will even change from one moment to the next with different bus options as you pass up arrival times. Bus tickets are very cheap.

 

Yeah, I have been trying to spread that, too. Muni kind of sucks, but is not intimidating at all if you have a smartphone. Google maps will tell you exactly what to do and if they don't have a display for the next bus/railcar thing, you can call and see find out when it's coming really easily. The only real problem with it, outside of the crazies and rude people that are inevitably on almost every bus, is that it can take a long time to get from one part of town to another. For instance to get from where I live in central Richmond, it's like 1.5 hours to get to North Beach, but those kind of things are few and far between and neither hood really has any beer destinations anyway.

 

Everything is walkable in San Francisco. Some walks are hillier than others (understatement), but AlexM's suggestions are relatively flat walks from each other. 21st Amendment can be thrown into that mix as well, by the way.