SF Beer Week 2011

Well. Despite a diligent regimen of daily Emergen-C vitamins, green juice and avoiding anyone who looked even remotely sneezy on the train, I got a cold right smack dab in the middle of SF Beer Week. Last year was excellent fun, and I had really been looking forward to this. Jason has been busy writing extensive beer coverage of the events around the city. I have been busy parking it on a couch for the last four days.

Things started off well. I made it to the Opening Gala. Between events at Triple Rock and The Jug Shop, I sampled over 30 sour beers. In. A. Single. Day. I even made it to a beer dinner on Valentine's Day.

And then. Sick! And I have been feverishly shivering and coughing since. Unless you count scrambled eggs, a batch of soup and some infamous no-knead bread, I have cooked absolutely nothing in the past week. On the upside, however, I think things are on the mend and I expect to be better by the weekend. Three-day weekend.

With all this beer talk going on, I was motivated to round up my "beer cellar". It's kind of funny to even call it a cellar; it's more of a small collection that I inevitably gathered in the last six years of dating the beer geek, whose real cellar actually contains over 500 bottles. I have come around to really appreciating beer in those six years. And i've learned a lot about various styles and flavor profiles. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that I like 1) really rare beer, 2) sour beer (with heavy fruit content), 3) beer that is never going to be bottled and can only be found on tap in one spot on one day, 4) beer with really high alcohol or 5) really expensive beer. And so, my collection reflects just that: ten highly-coveted sour beers!

So, in honor of SF Beer Week, here it is. My cellar, from left to right.

Russian River Consecration (10% abv)
Russian River Toronado 20th Anniversary (10.4% abv)
Alpine Chez Monieux Belgian Kriek (5.8% abv)
Lost Abbey Framboise de Ambrosa (7% abv)
New Glarus Cran-bic (6% abv)
Russian River Framboise for a Cure (5.9%)
Lost Abbey Veritas 006 (8% abv)
Cascade Vlad the Impaler (8% abv)
Lost Abbey Cable Car (7% abv)
Russian River Supplication (7% abv)