A frothy legal spat is pouring out between iconic local microbrewers Anchor Brewing Co. and Boston's patriotic macrobrewers at Sam Adams, the San Francisco Business Times reports today. The Boston Beer Co., Sam Adams' parent company, have filed suit against the local makers of your favorite Steam beer for allegedly violating a non-compete contract when they hired a former Sam Adams salesman to manage Anchor distributors in the North Bay. Although the career move was obviously a good one for the 26-year-old beer salesman, Sam Adams doesn't see it that way: they claim Anchor's hire is an attempt to steal the larger company's trade secrets. Anchor CEO Keith Greggor, meanwhile, laughed of the allegations of what he calls a nuisance suit with typical San Franciscan sarcasm: more ›

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We're not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness - we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. more ›

Today, SFist would like to hoist a few for a man who has brought probably more joy and merriment to anyone over the past hundred years. In fact, one could argue that he's probably had more of an impact on people's lives over the past century or so than anyone. The man? Master Brewer Joseph Owades, inventor of Lite beer and Microbrews, the Thomas Edison of beers. Owades, a Bay Area resident who lived in Sonoma, died yesterday at 86. more ›