Next weekend, on August 12, craft beer mecca Toronado will be ringing in 30 years in the Lower Haight, and as Eater explains, they'll be doing so with a "insane" list of special-edition beers made just for the occasion by 30 different breweries from around the country most from California but with several entries coming from the East Coast and Chicago too.
This follows on similar celebrations that the bar has had for its previous anniversaries and, for instance, Russian River Brewing will debut its Toronado 30 for the occasion, they previously made Toronado 25 and Toronado 20, some of which you can still find on the open market.
Lagunitas debuted their "Super Critical" at the bar on Thursday, and Eater tells us it's "an experimental concept using cannabis terpenes for flavor." Tonight you can try Mraz's "Black & Red,” which is "a barrel-aged wild ale that’s their Gabriel Belgian blond ale aged in wine barrels for a year with Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus as well as black currants, red raspberries, and red cherries."
But it'll be next Saturday that all 30 beers will be tapped at once, and it's first-come-first-served, with all the implied lines and waiting that goes with that.
Below, a few more highlights to expect, via Eater's descriptions:
Faction (Alameda) brewed a double IPA called “Paulie Pour,” named after one of Toronado’s notoriously gruff bartenders. It’s a traditional west coast IPA that’s filtered.Pizza Port (Carlsbad) brewed “547 Haight Street,” a hoppy red ale they’ve made for past Toronado anniversary events.
Cellarmaker (San Francisco) brewed “Cash Only,” a big double unfiltered IPA tribute to the cash-only bar.
Societe (San Diego) brewed “The Patriarch,” a ferrel-style sour that’s a “true wild” beer with boysenberry described as a super soft, delicate sour.
Barebottle (San Francisco) is doing a beer called “Toronado Dust,” part of their dust series (Galaxy Dust being a popular example). It’s a blend of two hops, Nelson and Mosaic, that makes for a super tropical, very cloudy beer.
Allagash (Portland, Maine) is doing one of their sour variants called “Anniversary,” and to keep it a surprise, they’ve reportedly been rather hush-hush on details.
Temescal (Oakland) has an IPA called “Your Favorite Jerks” made with Simcoe and Citra cryo hop powder “that’s mellow, ripe, fruit-forward, and ultra-soft.” They’ll debut it on August 8th at Toronado and their own taproom and will be selling a limited number of cans at the event.
Half Acre (Chicago) debuted their anniversary tribute beer, called “Toronado Daisy,” on August 1, the first variant of their hazy beer series. It’s hopped with Mosaic and a “super tropical” experimental hop
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Sixpoint (Brooklyn) are doing a beer called a “Toronado Smoothie,” a super hazy “New York-style” IPA.Hollister (Goleta) is sending their “543 Haight Street” which they’ve brewed in the past for Toronado’s 25th Anniversary.
Anderson Valley (Boonville) brewed “Peachy Keene,” a Brother David’s Tripel inoculated with their horse-tongue sour and then aged on barrels with peaches that’s already been released.
Bagby (Oceanside) brewed “Thirty Years of Haightronage,” a Belgian double, for the occasion.
Toronado - 547 Haight Street between Steiner and Fillmore