Meyer ESB, Thirsty Bear Brewing Company, San Francisco California

In San Francisco there lies many a great beers. During a recent trip, my friend Jason and I found our way to the Thirsty Bear, the first stop of many that night! They had a decent variety on tap and their menu looked good as well, but I went with the Nitro Conditioned (from a traditional "Firkin" keg) ESB.

It pours a deep copper with a tight head.

The aroma is very slight with some floral hop and light sweet malt.

It has big molasses right off with some sweet malt and burnt sugar developing in the body. This is rounded off by a soft floral hop bitterness at the end, but fails to completely curb the sweetness in the finish. Some may enjoy the finishing sweetness, I tend toward a cleaner finish rather than sweet and this one fell a little on the sweet side.

The aftertaste is burnt sugar with bitterness that builds. Sticky molasses dominates the palate.

If in the city, it would be worth the time to hunt the Thirsty Bear down and give it a try, since they aren't bottling...

Cheers!

S.O.B., Atlantic Brewing Company

Our next beer is, again, an import from the East Coast's Atlantic Brewing Company - The S.O.B or Special Old Bitter. I found it at the brewery, which is a little off the beaten path, but well worth the detour.

The smell is very mild, very subtle with slight malt and a bit sweet.

The beer pours a dark amber and a full head.

The taste is a little hard to pin down. The back of the bottle touts it as a Crisp Ale, and at first I would agree. After a few tastes, though, I felt it was a little more creamy - which I liked. The bitterness doesn't overwhelm you with first taste. It builds, but remains smooth and on the light side. It finishes very clean and doesn't leave a lot of taste hanging around in the mouth.

The bottle mentions that they use Northern Brewer Hops and pale, crystal, black and Munich malts. They mention that it has an "assertive hope body, balanced with enough maltiness to make this a wonderful afternoon beer." While I don't feel that it is necessarily assertive, it does hold good body and I certainly agree that it is well-balanced. I would also agree that it makes for an excellent afternoon beer, especially given the relative lightness and balance it carries.

Happy drinking!