The Real San Francisco Treat

(Ed. note -- Yeah, I know this web site is supposed to feature brewpubs around the Great Lakes region, but this is a guy from Illinois who visited a damn fine brewpub that won an award in the Real Ale Fest held in Chicago this past year.)

by Ryan, MBP Correspondent

During our stay in the (in)famous Haight-Ashbury district of S.F., my fiancee and I stumbled upon one helluva a delightful respite from the tourist-y thang; we found an outstanding brewpub: The Magnolia Pub and Brewery.

The Magnolia, situated at the corner of Haight and Masonic streets, is an outstanding brewpub, which specializes in craft-brewed ales (and a few lagers). So impressed was I with the beer list and Nancy with the quality of their meals, that we made the Magnolia our local while visiting the city (Our fantastic B&B, "Inn 1890", was only 3 blocks away!).
The Magnolia is housed in an historic Victorian building, dating back to the late 1800's, and has been a brewpub for only a few years. Once you enter the pub, you immediately get a sense of intimacy. It is a rather small brewpub, with perhaps a dozen tables in the dining area, and maybe another dozen stools at the bar. But what a great jewel of a pub it is.Once you make your way through the dining area towards the bar, you have the feeling that you may be in a good British Ale house. The patrons are drinking from imperial pint glasses (20 oz).The tap handles are very much in the plain black style of a British pub (no funky designs, such as Goose Island taps), and of course there are the "special" taps. Yes, cask-conditioned ale, drawn from Real beer engines!<

The beers that come flowing like liquid gold out of these precious taps are primarily top-fermented beers. The hoppier brews seem to have the shortest shelf-life here. I will tell you that I was fortunate to have tried five beers in our two trips to the pub. The first two draughts I tried were on Friday night. Nancy and I were worn out from a hard day of touring Alcatraz and Fisherman's Wharf when we got back to the Haight. We wondered only a short distance from our hotel when we stumbled upon the Magnolia. Feeling both hungry for food and a good drink, we went inside.

The pub was packed! We got a few drinks at the bar, while we waited for a table. The first beer I tried was the Ashbury Alt. A dark brew of moderate strength, the alt was a good, sweet-ish brew that made for a good opening beer. I must say, however, that it was my least favorite of the beers here. Not a bad beer at all, but in comparison with what was to follow, it was OK. After we were seated we decided to order a good basil and garlic pizza from the wood-burning brick oven. Nancy, who doesn't drink very often (too bad!) opted for the pub's good homemade root beer, while I tried the next beer: Cole Porter.

This porter was an outstanding one! It had all the right components, and then some, of a classic porter. It was quite dark, of good body (not too heavy, as porters should be), and a great hop/malt balance in the taste.

The next time we went to the Magnolia was on Monday night, our last night in San Francisco. On this night I would try three more of their great brews. And it was an Ale Shangri-La! The first one of the night was called Prescription Pale Ale. This classic ale was both hoppy (Cascades, I believe) and malty. It rivals Three Floyd's Alpha King Pale Ale in quality. The brewmaster at the "Mag" knew what he was doing with this brew. It was served at cellar temperature, drawn from the cask. Wow! This was my favorite beer in San Francisco (with De Koeninck close by, another story). I knew it was going to be hard to top this brew, but I tried anyway.

For my second beer that night it was their IPA (can't remember the name). Their IPA claimed to be hoppier than the "PPA". Maybe it was, and although I enjoy the IPA greatly, it played second fiddle to PPA. For my last beer, Old and In the Ale, I wanted to try their strongest brew offered that evening. O&A was in the style of an Old Ale (strong, but not as strong as a barley wine), and delivered an oak-y, aged sweetness that was very nice after my meal of Fusili with tiger shrimp. O&A had a dark copper colour, nice malty sweetness on the tongue, with a good hoppy nose too (think Old Foghorn, shy of the strength). Again, another fine ale from a fine brewpub.

If you're ever in San Francisco and have time for only one brewpub, you must seek out the Magnolia. It's easy to find, just follow your nose and that lingering hop smell will guide you. It was an outstanding find!

Send comments and suggestions to: marc@marcobrau.com