Friday, 10/23 – After Work
For most of the week, Janet and I were talking about going to Schroeder’s, a German bar and restaurant near my office for a couple of beers after work on Friday. Schroeder’s is a 108 year old restaurant which has about 15 taps, most of them pouring German beers, with a few domestic beers thrown in for good measure.
What was originally intended to be a quick beer for the two of us turned into a small gathering, with Lea, Carlos and Rachelle from my office coming along as well. I started off with a Spaten Optimator Doppel Bock, and then moved on to the Spaten Oktoberfest. Janet had the same, but she only had a quarter-liter of the Oktoberfest.
The conversation was lively, and we all enjoyed ourselves… but if we all get together for an end-of-the-week beer again, it won’t be at Schroeder’s. You see, even though the physical bar is beautiful, the beer was stale and the beer lines were not very clean… which made for an un-enjoyable beer drinking experience.
Friday, 10/23 – After dinner
When we got back from dinner at Orale! Orale! a great Mexican restaurant in the Financial District… there was a message on the answering machine. It was Toshi, and he wanted to know if we wanted to know what we were planning for the night. You see, Toshi and his Significant Other, Trish were at the Indian Oven having dinner, which is a block away from our apartment, and a half block away from the Toronado. One quick call to his cell phone and we were on our way to the Toronado for a beer.
When we got there, we were met by Ian and Johnny (the bartenders) who served us up our first round. Janet had a Framboise and I had a Speakeasy Untouchable, a new beer from Speakeasy Brewery in San Francisco. The Untouchable was a nice, strong, malty beer with a nice kick to it. Toshi and Trish both had Framboises as well. During the hour that we spent there, I had a Full Sail Black Pilsner, a new mildly hoppy Schwartzenbier, as did Toshi… and Trish finished off the night with a
Hoegaarden White beer.
Friday, 10/24
The night started off at my office party, home of the five dollar Sapporo beer. Needless to say, we only had one beer each before retiring to the Toronado. We made it there at about 10:30pm, and surprise, surprise! Our favorite bartending team was working the night shift: Ian and Robert. Robert and Ian nights are usually amazingly fun, and last night was no exception. First: the beer rundown… Avery had another one of those Speakeasy Untouchables, a Full Sail Black Pilsner, a Petaluma Strong Ale and a Lagunitas Maximus. Janet had a pint of the Spaten Oktoberfest and two pints of Guinness. It was an evening of mourning, as the last pint of Spaten Oktoberfest has been poured at the Toronado until next year. Sniff.
Anyway, the night started out slowly. We spent the first hour or so dealing with a semi-drunk and extremely talkative bar-mate who was complaining about Yuppie Invasion of the Lower Haight. He had some good points, but it was hard to take him seriously due to his drifting off into X Files-ish delusions of conspiracies.
At 11ish, Molly showed up with her companion for the night. Her companion was our old soccer team captain which I hadn’t seen for about two years. I had invited the two of them to come out to the Toronado after the office party… and it was a nice surprise when they actually showed up.
They stayed until 12:30ish before leaving for the East Bay. Last call hit, and the night ended promptly at 2pm… or did it…
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