Micro-pubs in the Bay Area
21st Amendment
In 2000, Nico Freccia and Shaun O’Sullivan established the 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco’s historic South Park neighborhood. The well liked brewpub is at present at the heart of the new city center, just a bit south of the financial district and only two blocks from the San Francisco Giants baseball park. In addition to eight rotating taps of multiple award-winning hand-crafted house beers, the pub has been voted “Best Brewpub”, “Best Burger” and “Best Happy Hour” by the San Francisco press.
Freccia and O’Sullivan met in early 1995 in San Francisco. Both of them hac just moved from southern California to the Bay area when they heard the calling of beer. O’Sullivan, a former photographer and paralegal, “traded his suits for boots and was saved by beer”. He moved to Berkeley and took a job as assistant brewer at the Triple Rock Brewery there. Freccia, a author, actor and, by extension, restaurant pro, was also an avid homebrewer. Frustrated with the lack of a beer scene in the L.A. area, he moved to San Francisco and began writing for the Celebrator Beer News, the west’s largest beer publication. Freccia and O’Sullivan met, became friends and, while sitting together in a summer class on brewing science at UC Davis, hatched their plan for what would become the 21st Amendment.
Thirsty Bear Brewing
The original idea for ThirstBear Brewing Company is simple: to pair up the top most social beverage, beer, with the top most social food, tapas. Ron Silberstein, founder and original brew master, envisioned a space that combined artisan, hand-crafted beers with artisan Spanish dining -- a dining that could never be confused with pub grub or typical brewpub food.
They have beers for everybody; but not every beer is for anyone! The majority of their styles are appropriate as session beers, beers that beg the drinker to have more than one, beers that are anchored in traditional but ferment innovation. Some of their ThirstyBear beers are designed to push the envelope of style and flavor well beyond the session beer. ThirstyBear provides the beer drinker traditional beers, one of a kind interpretations of traditional beers and wholly one of a kind beers. Their ingredients must respect our earth and our bodies. Thus they are San Francisco's first and only CCOF certified organic brewery. their beers are great for you and growing those grains and hops did not pollute the earth or the farm workers with chemicals, pesticides and petroleum based fertilizers.
Magnolia Pub
There's a sweet spot they strive for and it straddles the edge between tradition/history and the fresh and creative.
When they hit it, it opens up the pipeline to a rich and complex past, connecting us to the traditions of generations
before us, while keeping us squarely in the here and now by expressing our unique perspectives.
It sort of marries a Slow Food-like respect for tradition with a Grateful Dead-esque approach to inspired creativity.
We as a culture are enriched by the celebration of our food and drink traditions. Those traditions bring us together,
remind us of our shared culture, and help strengthen our sense of place and identity. Meanwhile, the Dead, especially
Garcia, exhibited an almost pathological curiosity about music that helped build an encyclopedic set of mental references
for use in real-time creative expression. That added emotional depth and cultural identity to in-the-moment improvisation.
Filtered through this little corner brewpub, this manifests in the beer when they reference and honor traditional brewing
styles and methods while adding something modern and fresh to the conversation. And it manifests in the food program
when they tie what they're doing here today, using our bounty of California-produced ingredients, together with the great
cooking traditions of the pubs and beer halls of old.
Half Moon Bay Brewing Company
Half Moon Bay Brewing Company is a warm, cheerful oceanfront restaurant and brew pub situated on Pillar Point Harbor in Princeton-by-the-Sea Calif., a enchanting little beach town just four miles north of Half Moon Bay and 30 miles south of San Francisco. The restaurant, which offten features live music and dancing with a scenic ocean view, reflects the area´s one of a kind coastal lifestyle where both locals and visitors interact and join in the fun. Half Moon Bay Brewing Company is findd next to the well known Mavericks surf break, home to some of the world´s toughest big wave surfing and the annual Mavericks Surf Competition. From kayaking and surfing to mountain biking and hiking, the brewery provides the ideal ending or beginning to an active day at the coast. Guests can relax on the patio and appreciate a cool brew and/or delicious meal while taking in the sweeping Pacific Ocean vistas.
All seafood items on the HMB Brewing Company menu are 'Seafood WATCH Safe', that is, designated as sustainable and environmentally healthy seafood selections for the consumer by the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Program. We will not provide any seafood products listed as 'Avoid', i.e., threatening to a species or habitat. We challenge all West Coast restaurant establishments to do the same!