Day 245, September 2 / Brekle’s Brown

Day 245 / September 2, 2011

Brekle’s Brown

Anchor Brewing Company  / 
San Francisco, CA

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I got lucky at the airport!

I had a 3 pm flight out of SFO Friday, so I figured that would give me enough time for lunch and a beer at the airport. I did some online recon and really lucked out - there were Gordon Biersch and Anchor Steam restaurants and bars very close to my gate.

After I got through the insanely long (but quick moving) security line, I headed for Anchor Steam.  I figured I could go to Gordon Biersch back home, and who knows where the beer is actually made.

I got the last seat at the bar and tried to read the tap handles.  Looked like Anchor Steam, Porter, Summer and Liberty Ale.  Porter was going to be the choice, until the bartender told me they had brown ale too.  Could this be the elusive Brekle's Brown?  Yes, indeed it was!

What makes this beer elusive?  I had read about it online earlier this year, but unfortunately it wasn’t going to be distributed outside of the local San Francisco area.  A guy at Lefty O'Douls was singing its praises, but said that it was only available on tap in a few bars, and that most bars had already sold out.

The story of Anchor Brewery begins shortly after gold was discovered in nearby Sutter’s Mill. That’s when German brewer “Gottlieb Brekle arrived in San Francisco with his wife Marie and infant son Frederick.” In 1854, Brekle applied for U.S. citizenship and 1871 bought an old beer-and-billiards saloon near Russian Hill. That location became “a little San Francisco brewery on Pacific, between Larkin and Hyde,” and 25-years later was known as Anchor Brewery.

Brekle’s Brown was brewed this year to pay tribute to Gottleib Brekle, who was brewmaster from 1871 to 1888.  It is an all-malt, single (citra) hop brown ale.  It was very good, tasting something like an English bitter with a crisp finish.

And so ends the San Francisco Beer Run!