They are best know for the flagship Anchor Steam beer and Fritz Maytag who saved the brewery in the 1960's and is arguably the 'godfather' of craft brewing in Northern California. He still is the brewmaster and comes in 4-5 days a week!

This is a beautiful brewery. With views of the San Francisco. The brewing mash tun and coppers came from Germany. The building is an old coffee roasting factory. The tour was great. They brew a lot of beer with a pretty small scale operation. Don't miss this if you get the chance… I will be back to update this post when I have some more time.

For now here are some photos and map below! Enjoy.

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Posted via email from beerviking’s posterous

What did we drink:

1. Rogue American Amber Ale – fuck'n rocks @brewrank 16 (on tap! – the bottle version you can get in Europe, btw)
2. Firestone Double Barrel – a hoppy light ale @brewrank14
3. Eugene Triple Jump Pale – another hoppy light pale ale @brewrank14
4. Rogue Mogul Madness – a DARK hoppy winter ale at 8%abv – wow!!!! @brewrank 17

This pub is insane for craft brew! Very laid back. Great space and prefect location. Here's a map:

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My advice is if you are ever in SF, CA and have time go here (ever just 1 hour). Otherwise you will be sad and we migth call you a loser.

Posted via email from beerviking’s posterous

Beer List

Guest Ale
Sacramento BrewCo IPA – very solid ‘west coast’ IPA. 15.5

photo credit: 123 look at me

Updated original post with scores and notes on the Red River Belgians (See Beers)

Some of the BeerViking ( mostly Doc D but Hunter as well) crew are heading to Northern California on a serious pillage mission.

They will be filing field reports via Twitter and at HQ we’ll try to pull these together into semi-coherent summaries.

First up, some hippy music with the Grateful Dead. Key lines here are:

California, I’ll be knocking on the golden door

Which when it comes to craft beer, most people have to agree that California is exactly that.

Breweries/Pubs

Stop 1:  Beach Chalet

17 @pubrank for the Beach Chalet in San Francisco, CA. http://www.beachchalet.com/

Stop 2:  Marin Brewing Company

http://twitpic.com/aq8xo – NorCal Micro Brewery Raid – stop No 2: Marin BrewCo, Larkspur. Tasty!

Stop 3:  Russian River

http://twitpic.com/aq998 – Russian River – beer menu. So many and so good. Like ‘wine; and fine women.

View Nor Cal in a larger map

The Beers

All of these have been brewranked, here’s a Search on Twitter where you can find more details.

The Belgian Style Brews @ Russian River

Doc D filed the following update into HQ.

• Perdition – Biere de Sanoma: very lgith, sublte hints of dry white
  wine, good summer or session beer. 12
• Damnation – Strong Golden Ale: Fuck amazing want more. 17
• Salvation – Dark Strong Ale: fine for winter wrong time of year. Not
  going to finish it. 14
• Temptation: this reminds me of Orval but even more refined. Super
  graphfruity notes. 15
• Sanctification – 100% Brettanomyces, 6.25%ABV: ‘lambic’ style to my
  taste. Really smooth. 17
• Consercration – dark sour aged in oak barrels. 10% abv: ouch can’t
  rate too complex. like a whisky.
• Publication – Saison 8% abv best of the belgians in this line up today. 18!

Summary

By hitting Russian River and knocking back Pliney the Elder, arguably the prototype American Pale Ale, the guys have started the raid with impeccable standards.  As I’m living a vicarious dream from HQ, I for one can’t wait to see what the next couple of days holds.