See previous "Man on a Mission" post here

21st Amendment was the next stop on the brew tour. Our cab ride was far more enjoyable than my first of the day. Frankly I think the guy enjoyed our company as much as we did.

The large volume of people heading to the ballpark and it being a Friday afternoon I had a feeling the bar would be packed long before we arrived at it. I wasn’t wrong. Sadly I think this made it all the more difficult to truly enjoy the bar because the crowded nature. We managed to squeeze ourselves into a corner of the Loft.

The IPA, Oyster Stout, and Watermelon Wheat were the only beers that stayed in my mind and after the good time at Speakeasy I didn’t get around to taking notes. The Watermelon Wheat had a distinctive summer taste and while I am not sure I’d want to drink one often in places like Phoenix where the temperature soars it would be very refreshing.

I look forward to going back and spending an afternoon exploring their beers and menu more thoroughly.

After one round we moved on to one of my favorite places in San Francisco Thirstybear brewery. A good friend brought me there for dinner back in the Dot Com era and I have been going back ever since. The food was excellent as usual and while we enjoyed the beer it was the third brewery of the day so without notes I won’t be getting any more detailed.

Most of our group had a very long day with very early flight from Phoenix so this was our last stop for the night.

Saturday
I was supposed to meet with an old friend down near the Piers. While I wandered about I accomplished a quick survey of the area. In my pretrip research I saw no mention of a brewery I had visited a while back, I am pretty sure it was Full Sail, but all that was left in it's place was a Hooters.

I wandered a bit further until I came across another favorite haunt of mine when I am in the city Jack's Cannery Pub. The bar is notable, because it’s cash only, classic hardwood bar and 85 taps of beer. I think it’s that last part that keeps me coming back.

On my last visit to the city three friends and I showed up a Jacks late one for a beer before heading back to the hotel. One for the road so to speak. Being the group’s resident beer snob I was ordered by one friend to pick out a beer for everyone based on my knowledge of their tastes.

I studied the taps deliberately for a few minutes before selecting a pint for each of us. We sat together at a table and I gave each of them their beer. They each loved their selection, but then the real test began. After a taste we passed the pint to our right until all four of us had a chance to sample the selections. In the end, we all loved the one we first tried and while the others were good it was the first one each person preferred. Okay except for me, I could have had any of the beers happily.

Beer Snob Uber Alles.

So on this return to the Jacks, I knew I could pass away a bit of time while I waited. The German Pilsner I had was great and it was wonderful to get the chance to enjoy another beer there, because I wasn’t sure I would get back there this trip. (Which I didn’t)

So after my friend didn’t turn up I took my friends to a tattoo shop I had noticed on my stroll towards the Piers. I have nothing against tattoos, I haven’t just found my design yet, but the thought of standing around and watching other three people get them did not sound appealing so I remembered another must visit from my research just down the street.

The Rogue Tap Room was a friendly bar and folk with 40 beers on tap while I was there, 22 of them being Rogue’s own brews. Thankfully they had a tasting bat so I was able to enjoy a number of beers without abusing my liver.

Over all their beers were well thought out and balanced beers. Among the beers I drank I had no overly aggressive hopiness that is often the approach of Western breweries. There was more structure and sophistication behind the beer.

That said I did often notice a strong carbonic character to there beers, but the bartenders mentioned they had changed the CO2 unit earlier in the day and were still adjusting the levels. So I don’t think it normal.

My first beer was their Brutal Bitter, a 6.5% ESB. Strong for the style but with the balance to pull it off. Very drinkable, in fact after two sample trays of other darker and richer beers I went back to enjoy a final pint and I wasn’t disappointed.

Next up was the Half-e-Weizen, a filtered wheat in the Belgian tradition. It was light, clear with a hint of coriander. I am more of a tradition Hefe drinker or even the occasional Wit so the light nature did not appeal to me. That said as a summer drink I am sure it would appeal to others looking for something more complex than a lawnmower beer.

After that I tried the HazelNut Brown Nectar. It was a clear dark ale with a warm chocolaty hazelnut flavor. The maltiness was the big player in this beer, but the hazelnut flavor dominates it enough that I doubt I would ever be able to have many at one sitting. Not a session beer.

The Smoke Ale was one that really amazed me. It had a copper color with rich strong malt and smoke character. While the smoke flavor is ever present it’s not over powering or overwhelming.

The Chipotle Ale was equally interesting with as well a coppery color. The smoked pepper was very subtle, to the the degree that if you paired it with too spicy a dish you might even miss it was there.

These two beers were among my favorite because they could take a unique ingredient, use it, but not let the beer be over dominated by it’s character like other beers with similar ingredients.

Next was the No Fault Ale, which a spicy malt character and was a close second for my last pint. Though I can find no mention of it on their website.

Last and not least I had two samples of Mocha Porter, one on traditional pull and the second on Handpump tap. The hand pump was very smooth with no edges to the flavor. In contrast the traditional tap had more of the mocha chocolate character to it.

All and all it was a great afternoon of beer and I look forward to going back again.

Next up Sunday...