Finally went on a tour of the Anchor Steam Brewery and it has to be the best brewery tour I've taken since the one at Leinenkugel's in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Oddly enough my mum's friend Jane was out visiting from that very same state and was part of the present party, so I'm glad it was as neat as it was. We started off by ogling the building itself, an awesome art deco affair down in Potrero Hill where they've been since the 70's (though Anchor Steam's been around since 1896) and ended up getting drunk before noon. Now how's that for a good time?
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You call that a sample? So yes, the rumors are true. The nice folks at Anchor Brewery have no qualms about getting you totally wasted, regardless of the hour. I should point out as well that in doing so, they're also teaching you about their craft and showing off some damn tasty beverages (six in all). What's pretty amazing is that they're such a small brewery and still create 5 different beers on the regular (Anchor Steam, Liberty Ale, Anchor Porter, Old Foghorn Barleywine and their Small Beer) as well as 3 seasonal ones (Christmas Ale, Anchor Bock and Summer Beer) and have even expanded into liquor with a single malt rye called Old Potrero and two types of gin, Junipero and Genevive. All in all pretty amazing and the tour guide was both chock full of information and really sweet. Yet again, I'm proud to be a San Franciscan.