BBE Editor's Pick

The Monk's Kettle

3141 16th St. , San Francisco (Mission)

By Laura Fraser

Forget the wine bar: The Monk’s Kettle is the Mission mecca for beer tasting and pairing. Named for the original Belgian Trappist Monks who brewed beer in a kettle, this place is for people who make a religion of beer. With 24 brews on tap and a gutted Encylopedia Brittanica housing the rest of the list, bartenders are happy to have you taste Pliny the Elder, Reality Czeck, Death & Taxes, and all manner of sour, Flanders-style, smoked, wild, gypsy, or non-alcoholic beers. The bar food is as artisanal as the brews, with gastropub burgers, a daily pickle jar, and locavore specials.

menu musts

Who can resist a bone marrow canoe with their beer? Or beef cheeks over polenta? Spent grain and chickpeas are cobbled into a burger that is anything but veggie and topped with fromage blanc and onion jam. Each entrée—including a daily roast —is paired with beer. Ale-bricked chicken, ale-creamed spinach… you’ll even find beer brittle on the arugula salad. view full menu here

the scene

A lot of the guys at this tavern could pass for medieval monks, with their short haircuts and long beards. But wait—do monks have that many tattoos?

... on the side

at your service
If anyone knows more about beer than the servers at this place, give them a PhD as a cicerone (one of the words you can look up in the Monk’s Kettle menu glossary).

overheard
“Which gluten-free beer do you recommend?”

decibels
OFF THE CHARTS—so much chatter about beer that it becomes a loud, hazy blur.

the inside scoop
This place must be doing something right because they're branching out: 742 Valencia will soon be the home of The Abbot's Cellar, a variation on the theme of beer lover's paradise.

hours

Daily 12 noon–2 AM

price range

$8 (local greens) to $25 (seared diver scallops with crispy crab risotto)

3141 16th St.  (between Guerrero St. and Valencia St.), San Francisco, CA 94103; 415-865-9523 monkskettle.com $$

Welcome To BlackboardEats