Beer Culture
What does a healthy beer culture mean
I don’t like the phrase Beer Culture. To me, it always seems to be applied in the negative: we never come across a good beer culture, but we do find problems with our Beer Culture. America, of course, does not have a beer culture. Because you know…pubs!…old world!…8% IPAs! etc. So kudos as usual to Boak and Bailey for trying to pin down what this slippery of terms mean.
I like the list but how does fare in my adopted backyard. Firstly I decided to consider “Within Reach on Public Transport” to mean 30 minutes away via any form of transport. This pretty much rules out San Francisco — Though the NL takes 20 minutes to get to the City (along with some of the best views) I wanted to stick to the East Bay. I reckon I could reach San Leandro (and Drake’s Barrel house of course) in under 30 minutes using a combination of Biking and BARTing (It’s a 60 minute bike ride from here) so I can keep that in.And ditto for the various places out in Berkley. So:
- Walking distance establishment
The Trappist is 30 minutes away by foot. I like spending time there and the beer is good. I’m probably stretching the definition of walking distance but there a few spots up the round where I could go drinking if I want to. But I think Oakland is doing fine on that one.
2. Acceptable cheap place nearby
The Trappist is not a cheap place. Beer Revolution is probably considered cheap but is pushing the walkind distance. The Commonwealth and spots on Telegraph are cheap and would be my go to place if I wanted to
3. Craft Beer
All of the places listed above sell the craft. And if I wanted import bottles, I can just pop down to either the corner store or the supermarket which has a better selection of European (not UK though) beers than I ever saw anywhere in the UK. I am ready to pounce if local bars announce an interesting beer coming on tap.
4. Nearest Town Centre
I think Oakland has the variety to meet this one — there are sports bars, and craft beer bars. That middle ground of the local pub which serves a mixture of crappy beer and dubious cask doesn’t really have a parallel here though.
5. Well established family/regional brewery
Drakes are well established and of a decent size. In Berkley we have Triple Rock and Jupiter, and Linden Street are pretty regional. And Pacific Coast downtown which is established.
6. Breweries founded since 1975
Yep, all of them.
7. At least one since 2005
Yep, a few — and a few up and coming.
8. Regional Speciality
I would make an argument for Drakes 1500 being the quintessential West Coast Low ABV IPA. I’m not sure anything beyond that really captures this one. Linden Street make a Steam Beer which was an Oakland speciality way back when but it’s somewhat dwarfed by the brewery across the bay.
9. Independent Off Licence.
Sure — though the concept doesn’t really map. Beer Rev sells bottles to go. My local corner store has a good craft selection. There’s not a shop that just sells beer that I’m aware of but these are not common (or at least not to me anyway)
10. Home Brewing Supples
Oak Barrel in Berkley is a 60 minute bike ride away (but it’s a nice one, via the frisbee golf park). And homebrew shops are nice here — no fusty malts and hops sat in window displays. And you can mill your grain fresh before brewing.
11. Beer Festival
A few of these — and some small scale. Various Octoberfests and lots of activity in SF Beer Week in the East Bay.
So The Easy Bay is in pretty good shape. And the process of doing this exercise makes me think about the state of beer. If I’m honest, I will rarely go out for a beer, unless I head to a pretty craft establishment here. A bar is not the natural meeting place as it is elsewhere, which I guess is where most of the criticism about “Beer Culture” comes from. However, don’t overlook the fact that other places where you meet people serves you far far better than the rest of the world. It is uncommon for a restaurant not to serve decent beer — I had a fantastic Linden Street black lager with my pizza yesterday, and chased down good vegetarian food with a bottle of Pliny. Larger restaurants will have pretty extensive beer lists, fancy places will have vintage bottles (at a price).
Though I saved the best till last: One of my favourite East Bay Beer Culture experiences is biking down to the New Parkway for a good burger and a couple of pints of Heretic’s Gramarye whilst watching some classic B-Movies. That’s something you don’t get everywhere. So maybe that should be added to the list — There is non-beer establishment within walking distance that serves a beer you would want to drink again and again…
