Press mentions about City Beer Store.

Beer But Better
“Owners Craig and Beth Wathen are usually working the bar at their encyclopedic store. They can point you toward bottles of Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout, one of the nation's first and best bourbon-barrel beers. At the in-store bar, the on-tap list changes weekly, but you might find Firestone Walker's Abacus, a bourbon-barreled barley wine laced with silky fig, brandy, and butter.......”
(Sunset - November 2010)

Tastings With Craft Beers
“Craig and Beth Wathen looked to wine bars for inspiration when they opened City Beer Store (1168 Folsom Street, Suite 101; 415-503-1033; citybeerstore.com,) a spare loft in the SOMA district of San Francisco, in 2006. As is generally the case at tasting bars, the bottles are displayed by style rather than by brand. The tasting bar gives you a relaxed atmosphere where you can ask questions, he said. Take a sour beer: You can describe it, the way it tastes and where it comes from, but at a certain point you just have to taste it. ”
(The New York Times - May 2010)

The Modern Beer Bar
“At City Beer Store in San Francisco's SOMA neighborhood or at Bierkraft in Brooklyn, you can stop in for a weekend's worth of bottle-aged brews, but you'll probably end up pouring them there-both are a blend of beer store and bar, a kind of pinnacle of beer geekdom where the conversation will naturally lead to debates, like which batch of Russian River's Beatification is superior.”
(GQ - May 2010)

Pitcher Perfect Pairings...
“At City Beer Store, the San Francisco shop that Wathen runs with her husband Craig, customers can sample cheese paired with whatever happens to be on tap. Some beers are more cheese friendly than others. For an all-purpose pairing brew, Wathen likes wheat beers, which tend to have mild notes of coriander, orange, and white pepper. "This is the type of beer that doesn't wrestle for control", she says.”
(Say Cheese - April 2010 - Read more)

Best Beer Bottle Selection 2010
“Craig and Beth Wathen, the couple that runs this SOMA hole in the wall bottle shop, take painstaking care to stock the widest selection of hard to find beers from the most interesting breweries. And if the beer isn't distributed in San Francisco, they aren't above driving hundreds of miles to fetch a case themselves. While this is technically a bottle shop, guests are invited to drink their newfound bounty three steps below street level by paying a more than reasonable "corkage" fee of . But the fun doesn't end with the bottled rarities. City Beer offers tasting flights a complete sampler each week of whatever's new on its five taps, sometimes accompanied by elbow rubbing opportunities with the brewmasters themselves. Yes, beer is magical, so be the first on your block to try new exotic potions with the wizards (or brewsters) who alchemize them. ”
(SF Weekly "Best Of San Francisco 2010" - April 2010)

Brew Love
“Barrel Fever Blondes don't alway have more fun. Russian River Brewing Company's award winning Belgian style brown ale, Supplication, is aged in French oak Pinot Noir barrels handed down from local wineries. per 12-ounce bottle at City Beer Store.”
(7x7 - March 2010)

City by the Pint
“We loved the strong sense of community surrounding San Francisco Beer Week. Everyone was enthusiastic and engaging in the creative exchange of ideas with one another, which made for a vibrant calendar of unique events. The heart of the beer community is full of locally owned businesses dedicated to the craft, explains Beth Wathen of City Beer Store.”
(944 - February 2010 - Read more)

Beer selles: City Beer Store, San Francisco
“Craig Wathen and his wife, Beth opened City Beer Store precisely to fill that gap in the market, and because they believed in the contribution small businesses can make to the community. ”
(Beers of the World - January 2010)

Best of the Northwest Readers Choice Awards
“Best Beer Store Northern California "City Beer", San Francisco ”
(Northwest Brewing News - December 2009)

Genial gathering place for craft beer enthusiasts....
“For the last 20 years, San Francisco has been a hotbed of craft beer enthusiasm, embracing strong, complex brews long before most of the country could tell the difference between Bud and Bud Light. City Beer Store, on Folsom near Eighth Street, celebrates this affinity with a selection of more than 400 beers from around the world. On any given day, owners Beth and Craig Wathen offer six beers on tap at the store's tasting bar, where regulars become connoisseurs and strangers tend to become friends. We stopped by to blow the froth off a couple of pints and talk to people about the beverage that has fascinated great minds throughout history. ”
(San Francisco Chronicle - October 2009)

Best Beer Shops
“City Beer Store This good-looking shop in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood features more than 300 domestic and imports, including an impressive lineup of Belgians. The shop encourages experimentation by offering a discount to customers who mix and match a six-pack, and weekly tastings provide another chance to try something new; for a small corkage fee, you can even open a bottle in the store to make sure you like it. A tasting room with six rotating taps where you can imbibe beers paired with artisanal cheeses and breads is just the thing to keep you coming back when your own fridge runs dry.”
(Imbibe - September 2008)

Eats!
“The two owners of this subterranean den-like beer shop with a tasting bar say they feel like beer should get the same respect as wine. They cram 300 bottles from all over into coolers, plus offer a revolving six on tap. Put together a six-pack of different beers to try at home, or schmooze with fellow beer fanatics over a bottle at the bar.”
(San Francisco Examiner - June 2008)

What to do in Northern California
“City Beer Store is the best place to stock up on thirst-quenching brews for summer. More than 300 speciality beers line the walls from floor to ceiling. Buy a bottle, or pop one open on the spot in the tasting room. Try warm-weather refreshers like Anchor Summer Beer or Russian River Pliny the Elder Double IPA. Thursday-night tastings (5:30-7:30; from ) pair beers such as Imperial stouts with brie, fig chutney, and other bites. ”
(Sunset Magazine - June 2008)

San Francisco City Guide
“City Beer Store and Tasting Bar Enjoy your tasting of exceptional local and Belgian microbrewed beer (6oz-22oz, depending on how thirsty you are) with a cheese sampler right there in the store, and assemble your own six-pack to go. It's not even stinky and the floor's not sticky, either. The residents in the lofts above descend on Sunday afternoons.”
(Lonely Planet - January 2008)

Beer Mecca By The Bay
“Craig Wathen has created an on-and off-premise hybrid for beer lovers in San Francisco. Since Wathen opened his store to great aclaim in May 2006, City Beer has attracted brew lovers from the Bay area and beyond. "Northern California has a large beer-loving contingency." he says. "Even people who like wine are coming in here to learn."”
(Market Watch - September 2007)

Best of '07 "Beer Store: Future Classic"
“City Beer has elevated beer buying above wine tasting. It's not pretentious (it sells Hamm's), but it encourages buying beer by the bottle: you get 10 percent off when you mix and match your six-pack. It specializes in Belgian-style beers, sour beers, and aperitif options like Allagash Curieux, a dark beer aged in Jim Beam barrels.”
(San Francisco Magazine - July 2007)

The Best of San Francisco 2007 "Best Beer Selection"
“Looking for a Belgian lambic or a Japanese ale? Beer aficionados, welcome to City Beer Store, the first of its kind in SF. Choose a six-pack or a single from the enormous selection of beers from around the world, sample a six-ounce tasting of one of six varieties on tap or ask owner Craig Wathen to pop the top on a retail bottle so you can try before you buy (a corkage fee will be added to the beer's price).”
(7x7 - June 2007)

ON TAP / Brewphoria in the city
“Trying to find that obscure stout you once enjoyed on that jaunt to Europe many years ago? Hightail it to City Beer, which carries more than 350 brands of brew from all over the world, from German hefeweizens to Japanese ales. This charming SoMa spot has a welcoming, mellow vibe, friendly staff and comfy couches.”
(San Francisco Chronicle - September 2006)

City Beer Store "It's About Time!"
“Finally, a proper bottle shop featuring beer opened in San Francisco. Craig Wathen, a Bay Area beer missionary, opened the City Beer Store on May 2, 2006. Wathen intends to help get the word out that beer is a beautiful handcrafted nectar of love. He says, "I want everyone to see this beverage the way we do, as a artisanal product of high quality. I want City Beer to be a catalyst for a more thoughtful approach to drinking beer."”
(Celebrator - June 2006)