A visit to to the Toronado

Binky asked once: “What would a visit to San Francisco be without a visit to the Toronado?”

Spam elucidated without hesitation: ”a day without great beer”.

Today we wanted the proverbial happy ending so we visited the Toronado with the Navy Blue Angels' F/A-18 Hornets roaring overhead flying practice for this weekend's air show over San Francisco bay.

It's fleet week here in San Francisco and car alarms city-wide will never be quite the same.

We wanted to do a micro pub crawl so we took the 6/71 bus route along Haight St. to this place. When we arrived, a Dutch door with upper half open, like a friend, welcoming, beckoned us inside to a cool beer bar. The way beer bars oughta be in the early Fall, imho.

Large Duvel bottles ring the table area on a high shelf and are privy to conversations for the ages: preachers preaching the gospel of the economic downtrodden; office workers unwinding with friends; lovers languishing over each other and a cool brew on a warm October day.

Take a close look at the draught beer board (50 beers on draft) and you'll see some great beers here: locals from Anderson Valley and Russian River Brewing Company, as well as a nice selection of Belgian and German beers to appease European beer-liking palates.

And further, some great progressive music: someone had the audacity to put on Bytor and the Snow Dog.

Amazing, huh?

(And when is Rush going to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Sheesh!)

S chose the Alagash White while we kept it local with Russian River Brewing Co.'s Consecratation `09. The Consecration has what we think is an ecumenical appeal, almost wine-like in nature--one that would be enjoyed by anyone and everyone as it is one for sipping. The Allagash White was what we remembered--cool, spicy, and refreshing.

Deeeeeeeeeeelicious!

The Toronado lives up to the legend we kept in our mind's eye: gruff `tenders, a scintillating draught menu, a cozy space: a beer drinker's paradise.

Highly recommended.