21st Amendment

n collaboration with our local Bay Area friends at Fieldwork Brewing (who know a “little” about hops in beers) we bring you A Terrible Idea. Discover malt clouds supporting silky yeast with a creamy mouthfeel, then brace yourself for a MAMMOTH dry hop charge – 4 pounds of hops per barrel to be exact – which is twice our typical rate.

The story starts in 1999 when Shaun O’Sullivan walked into my Seattle pub. He’d heard about my massive pumpkin fest and wanted to get together and brew a pumpkin beer like no other: a Baltic-style Porter brewed with pumpkin, caraway and cinnamon. In a light colored can.

Inspired by Paul Revere’s midnight ride, we rebelled against the British style IPA, embraced the more aggressive American version and then recast it in bold, brave, defiant black. Our Black IPA is a Declaration of Independence from the tyranny of the expected. Back in Black is our newest year-round beer available now in six pack cans and on draft. Brewed like an American IPA but with the addition of rich, dark malts, this beer has all the flavor and hop character you expect with a smooth, mellow finish.

If you’d been rocketed into space against your will, you might be a little bitter too. Bitter American is our long-overdue tribute to unsung, unwitting heroes everywhere. This American session ale packs a lot of hop and malt flavor into a refreshingly lower-alcohol brew, making it the perfect beer to have on hand when you have a little history to make. Bitter American is available year-round, in six pack cans and on draft. This extra pale session ale has lower alcohol but all the flavor and hop aroma you expect from a much bigger beer. Give one, or three, a try.

There are over 3,000 breweries in America today, and IPA is the number one craft beer style. Now we love our IPAs, but it’s downright comical the sheer volume of IPAs out there. There are White IPAs, Black IPAs, Brett IPAs, Oaked IPAs, blah blah blah, English IPAs, west coast IPAs, New England IPAs, blah blah blah, mango-jalapeno IPAs blah blah blah! At the 21A we take our beer very seriously but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We just want to have fun making great beers, and Blah Blah Blah IPA sure seemed like a good way to do it. Blah Blah Blah IPA is a maltier, amber-colored take of the traditional IPA. We incorporated some interesting malts including imported Baird Caramel 80, a darker, sweet crystal malt; Belgian biscuit malt to give it a toasty flavor; and German dark Munich malt for body and color. We also hopped this ale a bit differently than we normally do with most of the hops being added at different times very late in the boil for a full hop "jammy" flavor and bright aroma. We then dry-hopped it very agressively using five different hops including a newer experimental varietal to pack in flavors and aromas of pine, citrus, grapefruit and jam. Blah blah blah, just try it. YEAST: American Ale MALTS: 2-row base Malt, Baird 70-80 Dark Crystal, Weyermann Munich 2, Weyermann Carafa III, Castle Biscuit HOPS: Warrior, Centennial, Ahtanum, Amarillo, Mosaic, Citra, Chinook, Simcoe, Equinox

An Imperial Blonde Ale brewed with over 500 pound of fresh blueberries.

BREW FREE! OR DIE IPA is brewed with some serious west coast attitude. This aromatic golden IPA starts with a sucker punch of six different hops to the nose, quickly balanced by a solid malt backbone. Our top selling beer at the pub, this IPA starts big and finishes clean leaving you wanting more.

Our Caldera Imperial IPA is a dry Imperial IPA with a sharp and clean pronounced hop bitterness. The aroma of the beer is reminiscent of mangos, pears, flowers, and apricots. Overall, the beer is intensely fruity and bitter with a moderate malt backbone to balance the beer. Brewed with Pale 2 Row, Vienna, Meladoidin and Carafoam the malt profile is slightly toasty and exceptionally clean.

Whether you have a long mission behind you or a full afternoon ahead, this session IPA will help keep things real. More relaxed than an IPA, but with all the hop aroma and flavor. Down to Earth is our Tribute to unsung heroes and unplanned adventures. Down to Earth is the natural evolution (pun intended) of Bitter American, our original session ale. We thought it would be fitting to bring our space chimp home and let him chill. Down to Earth is available year-round in six-pack cans and on draft and pairs nicely with a variety of things, including lunch.

Ale brewed with fennel seed, chia seed, and pink peppercorns - with mission figs added. In the 1700s and 1800s, missionaries and Native Americans grew a variety of crops along the El Camino Real. Apart from the famous mission grapes, mission figs, barley, and olives, fennel and chia were also grown... (The brewers) tried to recapture some of the historic flavors of the old Camino Real by brewing this beer...

Who is El Sully? Grab a can of this Mexican-Style lager, head to the nearest beach, even if it’s imagined, and perhaps he’ll come to you.

Like FDR’s Depression-era radio addresses, which were like a kick in the butt and a hug at the same time, our Fireside Chat is a subtle twist on the traditional seasonal brew. We begin with a rich, dark, English-style ale and then we improvise with spices until we know we have a beer worth sharing with the nation. Fireside Chat is our early winter seasonal brew available from October through December in six pack cans and on draft. Brewed like a classic, warming Strong Ale but with a subtle blend of hand-selected spices for just the right festive flair.

Ale brewed with pumpkin and spices

Like Lady Liberty, we stand for independence and perseverance. In the pursuit of innovative beer, there is no obstacle too great. No journey too long. No fruit too gigantic. This American wheat beer is brewed with real watermelon, for a flavor that’s surprisingly crisp, dry and refreshing—summer in a can. Hell or High Watermelon Wheat is our summer seasonal beer available from April through September in six pack cans and on draft. We start by brewing a classic American wheat beer, which undergoes a traditional secondary fermentation using fresh watermelon. A straw-colored, refreshing beer with a kiss of watermelon aroma and flavor.

Shaun and Nico have to break out of Alcatraz. And fast. The Hop Syndicate is hoarding hops, depriving the people of their right to hoppy, aromatic beer. Join Shaun and Nico on their adventure to Free the Hops! First, they plan a daring escape through the sewer pipe, then they surf monster waves on ironing boards, and finally they attempt a high speed cable car getaway. Hop Crisis. Crisis? What Crisis? A few years ago, when hop prices shot through the roof and the worldwide hop market went into a tailspin, at our pub in San Francisco we decided there was only one thing for us to do. We made the biggest, hoppiest IPA we could imagine and aged it on oak for good measure. This Imperial IPA breaks all the rules with more malt, more hops and more aroma.

Imperial Jack is a deep amber ale with an equal abundance of malt and hops, an ABV of 8.5% and 45 IBUs. The beer was brewed with a very special English heirloom malt called Simpson’s Golden Promise. We also used English crystal and biscuit malts, Belgian honey malt and chocolate malts. The hops are Warrior, Northern Brewer and Styrian Goldings and we used a classic English ale yeast to round out the profile. Richard’s life-long goal is to open a brewpub outside his home, in his San Francisco Noe Valley neighborhood and we got that chance as the story continues.

Our black IPA is brewed with a generous amount of local Buckwheat Honey. The honey is complemented by subtle pine, spice and citrus notes from Chinook and Cascade Hops. The light body and slight caramel and coffee malt notes of the beer allows the sharp clean bitterness of Nugget hops to shine through.

To produce the Scotch ale, 21st Amendment turned to their employees. But not just the ones with brewmaster cred. Kilt by Wildfire is actually a crowdsourced ale that came out of a company-wide exercise that beats the crap out of trustfalls. Back in September, the brewery broke up its staff (from brewers to dishwashers) into groups of eight. Each was tasked with coming up with a recipe for the newest 21st Amendment offering. The San Francisco Brewers Guild was brought in to judge the stuff, and the winning selection went on to Cold Spring Brewing Company, where 21st Amendment’s beers are actually brewed and canned. There was then a boat party and custom T-shirts to celebrate the newborn Kilt by Wildfire, plus what we can only assume were infinity high-fives for the winning group, Team Glory.

In 1859, Shaun and Nico arrive in San Francisco for the gold rush. Ten years late. That was Shaun’s fault. They stop in Cornelius De Boom’s supply store. Cornelius pegs our boys as suckers and sells them a forged “treasure map.” Shaun and Nico find themselves in a dinghy in the middle of the Bay. “Curse you Cornelius!” Jumping in anyway, Shaun finds two boxes of riches: In one, gold ingots; in the other, a rare and perfectly preserved beer. Suddenly, the dinghy springs a leak! They leave the gold and grab the beer. With this “liquid gold,” they become beer barons. They acquire De Boom Supply and throw Cornelius out the back door. Today whenever anyone gives them trouble, they exchange a look across the pub and say, “Lower De Boom.” Lower De Boom is a powerfully balanced American-Style barleywine packed with citrusy Pacific Northwest hops. Chestnut brown in the glass with notes of toffee malt, fruitcake, toast, piney hops and more than a hint of alcohol. Our liquid gold is the first American craft beer in a can offered in the traditional barleywine “nip” size. Perfect to enjoy sipped at the end of a long day. More than that and you might feel like the boom has been lowered on you.

Exhausted by the tedious work and rancid beer, deck swabs O’Sullivan and Freccia abandoned Sir Francis Drake’s Galleon. Days later, they washed up on a tiny island in Tomales Bay, where they encountered local oyster farmers John and Terry. Soon, these beer mutineers and oyster mercenaries were feasting on roast pig, fresh oysters and goblets of the captain’s finest ale. They could think of worse fates than being MAROONED ON HOG ISLAND. Marooned on Hog Island is our 2012 Collaboration beer with the Hog Island Oyster Company. A rich and chewy stout brewed with Hog Island Sweetwater oyster shells for a silky, salty finish. Available now in limited edition four-pack cans and draft.

Monk’s Blood pays homage to the monks of Belgium’s monasteries who have been brewing some of the world’s great beer for centuries. During times of fasting, the monks subsist solely on beer, which they refer to as “liquid bread”. Beer, quite literally, is in their blood. The most sublime of the monk’s premium brews is dark like blood, rich and nourishing. 21st Amendment founders Nico Freccia and Shaun O’Sullivan traveled to Belgium to develop the recipe for this special beer, visiting small, traditional breweries in the hop fields of west Flanders, not far from the famous Trappist abbey of Westvleteren. Monk’s Blood is designed to pair beautifully with rich winter stews, creamy cheeses, unctuous desserts or just by itself, in a Belgian tulip glass, with a good book by the fire.

Collaboration with Surly Brewing Co. Oak-Aged Double Brown Ale with Coffee a coffee and oak, double brown ale. This lavish brown ale was brewed with over 100 pounds of locally roasted coffee and was rested on oak for a toasted finish with extra complexity.