ThirstyBear & Beers Made By Walking Collaborate for the Release of Yerba Buena Pale Gruit!

From ThirstyBear:

San Francisco, CA — Monday, November 9, 2015 — ThirstyBear Organic Brewery is thrilled to team up with Beers Made By Walking for a limited-edition release of YERBA BUENA PALE GRUIT, one of six local beers inspired by the trails of Mount Sutro. On July 9, 2015, ThirstyBear’s brewmaster Brenden Dobel joined a cast of celebrated San Francisco brewers to identify native plants and subsequently brew hike-inspired beers. Beers Made By Walking hosts a special tasting event at Sports Basement (Grotto Room, 1590 Bryant Street, San Francisco, CA) on Saturday, November 14, 2015 from 4:30 pm – 7 pm; tickets are $15. Participating breweries include:ThirstyBear, 21st Amendment, Barrel Head, Headlands, Magnolia, and Woods in collaboration with Fort Point. Tickets can be purchased via Eventbrite.

In this day and age, it’s quite easy to overlook what might be right in front of us: native edible plants and herbs growing wild on Bay Area landscapes. Sutro Stewards — an organization that offers various public hikes, collaborates with Beers Made By Walking to bring select SF brewers on an outdoor expedition to discover herbs and plants in plain site on familiar city hiking trails. The brewers in turn have churned out some of the year’s most distinct specialty beers.

"As a native San Franciscan, I’ve never really looked around to see which plants are edible," says Brenden Dobel. "You can forage for plants if you know what to look for, and you can actually survive on berries, herbs, nuts, etc.; it’s all surprising consumable. Before modern agriculture, the herb Yerba Buena was very prevalent across San Francisco. Along the hike, we tasted many different herbs, but I selected Yerba Buena, Mugwort, Yarrow, Sage and Manzanita for their aromatic qualities."

An herb-based beer pre-dating ales and lagers before the ascendency of hops, Gruit was popular leading up to the 16th Century before becoming an artifact of history partly due to Rheinheitsgebot (the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516). ThirstyBear’s YERBA BUENA PALE GRUIT features Organic Pilsner and Vienna malts, it’s fermented with Belgian yeast, and in lieu of hops, is spiced with Mugwort, Yarrow, Sage and Manzanita. A tincture of the rare Yerba Buena herb will be added for a post fermentation addition.

Dobel notes, "Our Gruit definitely has a minty quality to it, but also smoky notes are infused from the sage. If I had to sum it up, it smells like the Marin Headlands after a light rain or foggy day. It’s also similar to a Mint Julip with peat smoked Scotch Whiskey instead of Bourbon."

ThirstyBear’s founding brewmaster, Ron Silberstein, adds, "Given our affinity for all things organic, traditional styles and sustainability, we had to jump at the opportunity of taking on this particular challenge. Beer was originally brewed using native plants, and going entirely local is too much fun to miss."

Tickets to the Beers Made By Walking event at Sports Basement include entry and 4 oz. tasters of each of the beers. All participating breweries are donating their singular beers, and proceeds will support the Sutro Stewards’ education and stewardship programs. Sports Basement is giving a 20% off coupon to all event attendees.

YERBA BUENA PALE GRUIT will make its first public appearance at Sports Basement, and then will be available throughout the remainder of the year exclusively at ThirstyBear.
ThirstyBear Organic Small Batch Beers Are Available Fresh, Only On Draught, Only At ThirstyBear!