I have taken a minor vow to spend the rest of my time in San Francisco in a state of intoxication. There are simply too many good beers, too many microbewery pubs, too much good stuff to drink. I can hear my mother now (hi, Mom!) going “Don’t you turn into an alcoholic on me”. Don’t worry. My taste in alcohol leans to microbrewed imperial stouts and fancy rye whiskies, so I really can’t afford alcoholism. But really, people here take their beer much more seriously. I’m not talking about Miller and Budweiser and the rest of the crap, but about both local microbreweries and relatively small breweries that make good beers that can still be found across the country. I’ve had San Francisco’s Anchor Steam (a very good lager) as far as Oregon, New York and Dublin (Dublin Ireland, that is. Not Dublin California or Dublin Georgia or even Dublin Ohio).  The Rogue Nation brewery has a series of lovely bars all down the west coast. I’ve had their Brutal Bitter, Shakespeare Stout and Dead Guy Ale in San Francisco, Portland and Oswego in upstate New York.

Americans are also great believers in classification and categorizations, so you can easily differentiate between IPAs and ESBs, Imperial Stouts and Amber Ales. You quickly learn which fit your tastes more, which suit a certain mood, even what goes with what food (hint: The all go with anything). I find myself becoming an even bigger beer snob that I was before, and that’s impressive.

In short, I’m having fun. I’m glad you asked.