Willkommen, the beer hall at Sanchez and Market from Black Hammer Brewing, is finally open and pouring beer, and it's celebrating a grand opening on Friday evening, May 17.
Billed as an "indoor wurstbiergarten," Wilkommen will offer the brewery's beer on tap — much like Black Hammer's SoMa taproom at 544 Bryant Street — as well as sausages from Rosamunde.
Black Hammer specializes in German styles like helles, witbier, hefeweizen, and Marzen, but they also make IPAs, saisons, and other styles like imperial stouts. They also sell a Belgian blonde ale in cans called Sparkle Pony, colorful cans of which you may have seen around town.
As owner and head brewer Jim Furman told Eater in March, the idea for Wilkommen comes directly from the outdoor beer gardens of Munich, only the team decided to do it all indoors because of San Francisco's notoriously fickle weather patterns, and fog.
"Imagine you’re walking through Golden Gate Park and stumble across 150 people enjoying beers with friends in the woods," Furman said, by way of explaining the vibe he hopes to establish.
Bringing the outdoors inside includes a big living wall, and two live, 14-foot redwood trees.
Black Hammer Brewing has some of its roots in Furman's Burning Man Camp, and indeed Hammer is his Burner name. ("Sparkle Pony" is also a Burner reference, referring to a "beautiful but useless" attendee.) And there's been a BM-inspired, DIY aesthetic to the operation from Day 1.
Black Hammer also specializes in gluten-reduced beers, which while not entirely gluten free, are just about gluten-free. (The brewery's tagline, which appears on the front door, is "Gluten tag.")
Info about operating hours is not yet available, but they've been quietly inviting in customers this week, and will be hosting that big grand opening party Friday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.
