San Francisco Nightlife: Featured Location
City Beer
by Brendan Rogers
Rediscovering Beer in SoMa.
To many residents in the area, the opening of City Beer Store in SoMa is a godsend.
Opened in May of 2006, City Beer Store is the only place in the state that combines a take out bottle shop with a on-site tasting bar. City Beer boasts a selection of over 350 bottled beers and it’s tasting bar rotates through them on draft 6 at a time. In addition, any bottle of beer can be consumed in the store/bar for a small corkage fee.
City Beer is the brainchild of Craig Wathen. Craig wanted to bring home the feel of the European alehouse and many of the beers that he encountered while attending university in the Czech Republic. One of the beers he found particularly noteworthy was a beer called Budvar, Budwieser Budvar. Check out the trademark dispute.
The small batch, micro-brew, or craft beer industry has seen tremendous growth in the last decade. American beer is in a state of redefinition and refinement. Brewers are taking the craft to new levels with innovative offerings such as ales brewed in Pinot Noir or bourbon casks. Many of these beers have such unique flavors that it would not be inappropriate the match or recommend them for accompaniment with specific foods just as one would with wine.
Beer lovers travel from all over the bay area sit at the City Beer tasting bar but this place is just as much a place for the uninitiated as it is for the aficionado. Craig is a beer expert, and is on a mission to share his love and knowledge of this craft with his patrons. One area of specialty is Belgian beer, a notably flavorful (and stronger beer) considered by many to be the finest beer in the world. City Beer carries Belgians made all over the world, some as far flung as Japan.
As a nightlife destination, City Beer is the perfect place to go before going out or after work or dinner. City Beer is a different experience; it’s not a bar, not a liquor store, not a club. There is no TV, no Jukebox or DJ, just people and beer. City Beer hosts an interesting mix of people from the surrounding neighborhood. This is SoMa's version of the local pub. This is the kind of place where one could engage in conversations at the tasting bar of recluse themselves with a laptop and a cold beer. . Clean, simple, and well stocked, Craig has created a unique San Francisco nightlife experience and made the inner-city a better place to live.
