I'm planning for a work trip out to SF on July 15th. While I'm planning to hit up some of the top rated stores and establishments I'm wondering if anyone can tell me what my chances are to find some of the following at that time. If I can't buy them at bottle shops perhaps I can know to post in the IP Trade forum. Beers I'm seeking: RR Supplication RR Beat RR sanctification Almanac - (any) Pliny BA Alesmith (speedway) Cheers!
BA Speedway is a brewery only release at a brewery 400+ miles from SF, so no chance there. About the same chance at Beat. Supplication and Sanctification can be had occasionally, but I haven't seen any recently Almanac should be do-able depending on which ones you are looking for. Pliny should be do-able if you hit the right stores on the right days.
If you want Almanac beers that are out right now, you might look into locking in a trading partner to go get them. They're pretty easily available for a couple months and then they disappear after that. As Josh said, Russian River is a crapshoot as to whether you'll be in the right place at the right time. Most places run out of Pliny within hours of it getting off the truck.
I don't live in San Francisco anymore but as mentioned I learned Pliny is basically useless. Your best bet is to grab the BART into Berkeley or something in the north/east Bay and you should have no issue finding it or other tasty's. Example the Bev Mo in Berkeley has a GREAT selection. Otherwise there's plenty of great shops around San Francisco that has good beer that can be hard to find elsewhere. Oh snap just saw you also are from MN, heh. I lived in San Francisco for 3 years but am back here for some reason. Anyways there's of course the typical City Beer, Bev Mo has a few locations around that always have some interesting offerings, The Jug Shop is supposed to be great. I usually just hang out at the Amsterdam Cafe or the Mikkeller Bar and only bring beer back I get when my old boss and I hit his cabin in Truckee (FiftyFifty baby) on the way there and back we hit various beer stops.
This is super helpful info! The last time I was there in early 2012 I hit up City Beer, Toronado and a few others. Any other excellent bars that you'd recommend would be great to hear about. As for the almanac, I've heard so many good things about the new blackberry and valley of hearts delight that I'd love to try them. The RR beers are things I've had before and hoped to load up on to bring home. That said, if you guys want to set up an IP for some stuff from Mn I can surely hook you up when I'm out there. I have access to New Glarus, Surly, Central Waters, Fulton, Indeed, and maybe some Pseudo Sue from TG if it's back out by then. Thanks again for all the feedback!
As others have said... BA Speedway and Beat-No chance of finding in a store, set up a trade Supplication and Sanctification-Hit or miss depending on release schedule Pliny-Available but you have to know where to go and be there the day they receive Almanac-Something, probably a few things will be widely available
Almanac is easy to find at Whole Foods, Pliny can be had on Wednesday afternoons at WF as well. Other options to consider are Healthy Spirits Castro and City Beer Store. Ales Unlimited typically has a large quantity of RR sours if they have any at all.
