I hate how some of the best beer places are at airports. Boston-Logan has a Sam Adams bar, a Harpoon bar (way out of the way, in the terminal A annex - you have to use the under-tarmac tunnel to get to it), and a Cisco (of Nantucket) brewery bar. Why so many great beer places, in a place where no one wants to be? (I know - travelers drink a lot, so that's where the money is.)
With a little time to kill at SFO prior to my return trip, I ducked into the Anchor Brewing Company bar at the domestic terminal. Liberty Ale is Anchor's hoppy, pale ale offering, and it is excellent. A great way to say goodbye to the city by the bay.
The best part about this visit, though, was what transpired with another customer. A sixty-ish business woman sat a couple of seats down from me and asked the bartender what was on tap. OK, this is good. Quality beer is achieving demographic reach that would have been unimaginable only a short time ago. So the barkeep ran down the list, and when he got to "a Pilsner, with a touch of wheat", the woman said, "Yes, I'll have that. And could I have a lemon wedge, also?". "Oh, no", the bartender replied, "You'll want to try it first." So now we have bartenders, who are knowledgeable about the nuanced flavors of particular beers, to the point of knowing that a lemon wedge would overpower this particular pilsner. The woman tried the beer and agreed. I was very impressed.
On the other hand, this is San Francisco. Maybe that's just how they roll.
