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A Pilgrimage to Speakeasy

Friday night, Carlos and I decided to make our regular pilgrimage to Speakeasy Brewery to visit Forest (the President of the Brewery&#41 and just hang out and have a couple of beers. Janet and Ian were supposed to make it, but Ian was feeling sick and Janet was stuck on Jury Duty. Too bad. Regardless, we made our way through the rush hour traffic and headed south to Mecca, which in this case is located at 3rd and Bancroft (near Candlestick Park&#41.

We spent a good three hours drinking and talking with Forest. It's nice going to the brewery… we get to taste the beers when they are perfectly fresh (and perfectly stored&#41. On top of that, we get to try all of the beers… even beers that are hard to find in our neighborhood bars.

Speakeasy Brews five beers, all of them impressive and some of them being the best in their class!

Prohibition Ale – The first beer that Speakeasy brewed. It's unique… both malty and hoppy. It has a wide flavor (meaning that it really fills your mouth with flavor&#41, even wider than the Anderson Valley's beers.. which are pretty damn wide! It's called both an Amber Ale and an IPA… but whatever you call it, it's amazing. Prohibition won the Bronze at the World Beer Cup in 1998.

SF Common Beer – Designed as a "First Micro" for people not used to Microbrewed beers. It's not that outstanding, but it wasn't intended to be. It's the sort of beer that people order by the pitcher at pizza joints (where it sells very well&#41. Still, I like it… and though I never see it on tap where I drink/eat, I make sure to have a couple of pints when at Speakeasy.

Untouchable – A Marzen (Oktoberfest&#41 beer with the malt content pumped up to an outrageous level. My favorite beer… and the reason that I'm building a keg fridge in the apartment.

Satchmo Stout – A great stout that's extremely hoppy. It's not a mild stout like Guinness… no sir-ree! It's a strong dark, hoppy beer that's reminiscent of Lagunitas' Imperial Stout. It's like drinking an alcoholic espresso… hoppy, roasted with a light liquor taste Not an everyday drink for me… but it's certainly an occasional treat!

White Lightning – It's somewhere between a witbeer (light and sweet with a hint of curacao orange peel&#41 and an Berliner Weisse (a sour-as-hell beer, so sour that it usually needs a shot of raspberry or woodruff syrup to cut the sour taste.&#41 The result: a great beer, perfect to drink when you're in the park on a nice warm summer day.

Before Carlos and I grabbed a cab back to my neighborhood to meet up with Janet for dinner, we would consume an uncountable number of half-pints of Speakeasy beer while listening to stories of scuba diving and Carlos' trip to Cuba as we listened to Metallica. If you live in the Bay Area and see it on tap, make sure to try a pint. And if they don't have it on tap… tell 'em to talk to the Speakeasy Mobsters and order up a keg!

Posted in Smirks.


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