After a Friday night that seemed almost endless over at Gavroche's house, I was unsure of my ability to rally come Saturday. But, having already purchased my ticket to Around the World in 80 Beers, I knew there wasn't an option involved. As usual, in moments where I debate rallying vs. packing it in, the choice to search for a second wind always pays dividends.
I meet Damie and Mo' right before 4 for Around the World. For those that haven't heard of it, it's an event where they bring in 80 beers from around the world and you have two hours to taste as many as you can. It cost 20 bucks, it's all the beer you can drink and free appetizers (which when you're slamming beers in a two hour period in the middle of the afternoon become crucial.) We show up at O'Neill's in Ghiradelli Square pretty much right at the starting time and get our glasses and a scorecard. The bar is split up in multiple tasting areas with 4-5 beers at each. At each spot, you point out the beer you want to try and get a taster that ranged anywhere from 4-8 oz. At one point we figure out that one of the tasting areas is right outside the kitchen door and by standing there we can poach every appetizer tray as it comes out of the kitchen. I'm not sure how the other Around the Worlders feel about this, but I also don't take the time to ask...I'm intent on getting my 20 bucks worth.
In a two hour period, including eating and time to step outside for a j, I get to 23 of the 80 beers. For a great site where you can see all the bottles and read what people who seem pretty professional in their beer tasting have to say, you can check out the Beer Advocate. Pretty impressive site. Not only do they have pictures and reviews of almost every beer imaginable, but they have reviews by their staff and readers, so you can get a real nice composite idea of what kind of beer you're dealing with. Here's the list of my tastes along with country of origin:
- Xingu Black Beer (Brazil)
- Stone Pale (USA)
- Flying Horse Royal Lager (India)
- Hofbrau Munchen Hefe Weizen (Germany)
- Moylan's Hopsickle (USA)
- EKU 28 (Germany)
- Mad River Jamaica Red (USA)
- Tusker (Kenya)
- Bavik Premium Pilsner (Belgium)
- Franziskaner Hefe Weisse (Germany)
- Spaten Lager (Germany)
- Dinkelacker CD Pils (Germany)
- Marin Blueberry (USA)
- Paulaner Oktoberfest (Germany)
- Meteor Pils (France)
- Spaten Oktoberfest - Maerzen (Germany)
- Tetley's English (England)
- Asahi Super Dry (Japan)
- Spaten Pils (Germany)
- Stiegl Goldbrau Premium (Austria)
- Franziskaner Weissbier (Germany)
- Grimbergen Dubbel (Belgium)
- Mad River Steelhead Double IPA (USA)
Looking back now, I had no idea I kept picking up German beers. Or maybe they just make a lot. As for good and bad, my favorite beer of the evening was the Mad River Jamaica Red. I'm a big fan of Red Stripe and this one was a slightly sweeter red. It was smooth, refreshing and tasty. I definitely didn't like the EKU 28 and the Hopsickle. Both of them were bitter to my palette, and left an aftertaste I wasn't pleased with. For anyone looking for a good can and easy drinking beer, the Tetley's went down quite nicely. I also wasn't a huge fan of the Mad River IPA.
At 6 we're gone from the bar. I make it home, drop my car off and head back to the city with Alaska DDing for me. We meet up with one of her friends at O'Reilly's in North Beach then hit up Tony Niks, which was a very cool retro place. Felt like I could have lowered a fedora over my eyes and slid into a back booth while sipping an old fashioned. After that we headed to Circa to meet up with Topher and ChengJ. Gotta say that the two times I've been in this place, Saturday and the night we played superman, I enjoy it. At first it seems a little big and clubbish, but really, there's no cover, I haven't encountered a line to get in, and the crowd is a good size and all pretty happy with life. Really my only basic requirements when I go out are a short or non-existent wait in line, no cover, the lack of a dress code (or at least not a prohibition of my tennis shoes), and a fun crowd. Drink strength is always a plus as well, but I don't feel like much of any place is cool or different enough to pay money just for the right to be there.
As we leave, Alaska's friend gets in the cab with Topher and ChengJ and we head off to find the car. Of course, having been drunk when we walked several blocks to the bar, I'm lost. And we leave going in a different direction. After about 15 minutes of walking aimlessly, I'm ready to admit I don't know where the car is parked. I start to get worried. I mean, it's a rental car, we played the drinking version of blindfolding me, spinning me in a circle and then telling me to find my way, and the driver is from Alaska. I start worrying that I'll never get out of the city. Genius idea when she calls a cab, has him drive us back to the bar, and then backtracks using her superior sober sensibility. I reward this finding of the car by giving directions to Mel's where I tackle a tuna melt and vanilla malt.
At 4 am when I crash, I'd like to think I'll just sleep for the next 24 hours. But that isn't the case when it's time to start playing beirut at 1pm to get ready for the Super Bowl.
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