I’m very excited to announce that starting this Thursday (June 23rd) SodaCraft has it’s own stand on Thursdays at the Ferry Market Farmer’s Market.  From 10-2 we’ll be jerking sodas and enjoying our new spacious environs, right next to Hapa Ramen.  In fact, you can still order our sodas from Richie and Co.

To celebrate, we’re going big with THREE flavors!  On Tap:

Stone Fruit Sucker Punch – Made with White Peaches, White Nectarines and Red Plums. It tastes like summer. (Richie’s Favorite)

Bada-Bing Cherry Vanilla Bean – Made with Bing Cherries and Madagascar Vanilla Beans.  The soda you wish your deli served. (Sky’s Favorite)

Xtra Dry Ginger Ale - As always, made with a pound per gallon of Fresh Juiced Ginger and Eureka Lemons.  Ginger lovers only. (Eli’s Favorite)

AND get your float on with scoops of McEvoy Ranch Olive Oil Ice Cream by our friends at Humphry Slocombe.  (my favorite!) We like it in the Ginger Ale – ginger and olive, who knew?! – but if you ask nicely, we’ll drop it into any of our sodas.

Today is my last day at my “real job”.  As of tomorrow, no more regular paychecks, no more desk, no more safety and security.

Starting today, I’m turning to food and beverage related pursuits full time.

How did I get here?

This blog was originally started as a creative outlet, an escape from the drudgery of a day-to-day IT job.  I naively assumed that this little side project would be a fun distraction, and an appropriate place to post some photographs.  I liked to write, and even from time to time felt like I had something to say.

Fast forward to today: Beer & Nosh has expanded to more I ever imagined.  It’s become a (semi) respected part of the local food community.  I’m still amazed when people who aren’t my mom (Hi Mom!) tell me how much they like it, read it, and follow up on ideas and suggestions I make.  Without getting to soft and squishy about it, I’m very proud of the impact this blog has had.

It’s also reached beyond the computer screen and into the real world: I’ve sold out every beer dinner I’ve ever planned, and am constantly hounded for when the next one will be (specifically,  Notoberfest.  I’m working on it.)

Which brings me to today, and my newfound status as “self employed”.

So what will I be doing?  SodaCraft and Almanac Beer.  These are what will be my “real” job now.  I’ll be brewing beers and sodas and then taking the city of San Francisco by storm with my fermented treats.

First up: SodaCraft

The reception to SodaCraft has been nothing short of phenomenal. I suspected there was a market for sodas made in the style of local, seasonal ingredient driven San Francisco cuisine, and so far my sales have supported this theory.  Starting in June, I’ll be brewing these kegs full time, and selling directly to the public.  Where will you find me?  Thanks to the unbelievable support from Hapa Ramen, I’ll be jerking (yes, that’s the real term) sodas at Ferry Building Farmers Markets on Tuesdays and Thursday (and the occasional Saturday), inside the Hapa Ramen stand. Look for a rotating selection of seasonal flavors, as well as more floats featuring Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream.   We’ll be growing fast, and are already laying plans for addition markets and food cart meet ups to host us. Keep an eye on the SodaCraft blog and twitter feed to see where we’ll be popping up next.

Oh, and then these’s my other project: Almanac Beer. Damian and I have been hard at work building our brewery from scratch, and are very happy to report that our beer is in the bottle, and nearly ready for it’s public release.  In fact we can even put a date on it.  June 30th.  We’re extremely proud of what we’ve made and hope you’ll love it as much as we do.  It’s dry, with a fruity aroma and a sturdy malt and oak structure to hold it all together. Head on over to the Almanac Beer Blog to see us blending the final beer together and putting it in bottles.  We’ve got some great events up our sleeves, and are busting at the seams with excitement.

Lastly, there this blog, the one you’re reading right now.  For better or worse, things are going to change around here.  Now that we are licensed, I have to observe a set of rather strict (and yet at the same time amorphous) legal guidelines regarding what I can and cannot say publicly. I’d love to use this blog as a billboard to tell you exactly where to get our beer, but I’m afraid I can’t.  A slew of post-prohibiton laws designed to protect consumers and business from the alcohol production side of things means that Beer & Nosh will be changing.  To what exactly, remains to be seen, but a lot of what I’ve done here in the past, especially involving restaurants, is going to have to be evolve on a new tighter leash. (Not speaking my mind has never been my strong suit, so we’ll see how this works out.)

This isn’t goodbye to Beer & Nosh, so much as it’s a new chapter and evolution.  Of course you’ll have no shortage of places to hear from me moving forward.  I’ll be writing on the Almanac Beer Blog, The SodaCraft Blog, and maintaining a presence on twitter under my handle @beerandnosh.

So to you, loyal Beer & Nosh reader – I owe a huge debt of gratitude. This is the place where I evolved my voice, my vision and lasting friendships and relationships I’m building my new ventures on.  You’ve suffered through my typos and convoluted grammar over the last 3 years, through 290 posts and left 1,172 comments.  You’ve left feedback and questions, engaged in debate with me, and come out to dinners where my heady ideas about beer and food come together into an actual meal.  Without the community that’s grown around this blog I’d never be able to take the jump off this cliff I’m doing now, and land safely as the bottom.  So thank you, family and friends, for all of your support on this journey so far, and I hope to you soon for a soda or beer.

- Jesse

PS – Please, please buy my sodas and beer.  The wife doesn’t want to be homeless.

We’re also getting our float on with the help of local ice cream alchemists Humphry Slocombe. They’re spinning up a special batch of Strawberry-Bourbon Ice Cream for floats, just for us.  It’s kinda like secret breakfast, only fruitier. Add a scoop to either the smoked strawberry or our classic ginger ale (made with a pound per gallon of fresh juiced ginger and eureka lemons) to show the rest of the farmer’s market that you aren’t screwing around.

See you on Saturday!

PS – don’t forget you can follow where SodaCraft is jerking sodas at sodacraftsf.com and on twitter @sodacraft.  I’ll be posting an off menu soda special on twitter for the weekend.  Follow to play along.

It’s beginning to look a lot like summer around here, and the first strawberries of the season are popping up at farmer’s markets.  To celebrate, SodaCraft is teaming up withMission Gastroclub at this upcoming Saturday the 14th New Taste Marketplace with a big ‘ol pile of strawberry collaboration.  (This is also the first time we’ll be serving at the New Taste Market under the SodaCraft banner!)

This week we’re brewing up a special batch of Smoked Strawberry Vanilla Soda for the market, and pairing with a special offering from  Chef Neil of Gastroclub: Smoked pork shoulder with savory strawberry risotto. Yum.

Want more strawberry action?  No problem.  Make it a float with a scoop of Humphry Slocombe Strawberry Margarita Sorbet made with fresh strawberries, lime juice & Sauza Tequila.  You can also have us drop a scoop in our other soda offering this week: Blood Orange Gingerale.

It’s going to be a good time – see you at Saturday’s market!

Essential Details:

New Taste Marketplace
Saturday, May 14th, 12-5pm
500 De Haro St @ Mariposa

I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at his inaugural Duck themed menu this past weekend.  Here’s a photo journal of the meal.  But since discovering the process that lead to what is on your plate is such a key part of the experience, I’m going to hold back on commentary and critiques (it’s not like I’m unbiased anyway.)  Instead, I encourage you to take the plunge and join Eddie for dinner on an upcoming Sunday night, and find out what’s going on in that head of his, and the story behind each dish. If you’re the process driven creative type, this is the meal you’ll want to try. To find out more about the menu, you’ll just have to reserve a seat at the bar.

Early Cherry Aperitif
Early Sweet cherries, nigori, bluecoat gin, floc de gascgne and mint

Duck Egg in Tart
fried sous vide egg, english peas, baby carrots, ramp duck bechamel gravy

Smoked Pears Smoked Duck Breast “Tataki”
cherry wood cold smoke, aged shoyu citrus gastrique

Dux Poutine
pomme dauphine, duck confit, foie balsamic glaze, goat cheese curd, mizuna

Dux Tsukemen
”00” tagliatelle pasta, honjuku duck egg, fromage de canard

Foie Gras Chantilly on Strawberry Genoise
smoked strawberry compote, meyer lemon marscapone

First up: We’ll be at the SF Chefs Unite Dinner pouring a special brewed Orange Gingerale. Check out the full menu and reserve your seats here.  It’s going to be a good time.

Then, SodaCraft is taking it to the streets! We’ll be jerking our fresh sodas with Pal’s Take Away this Sunday as a part of Sunday Streets.  Stop on by the corner of 24th and Hampshire between 11am and 4pm to find our sodas and Pal’s fine sandwiches.

On Tap: Our Ginger Ale, made with fresh squeezed ginger juice and eureka lemons, and the quickly becoming a seasonal favorite Orange Fennel, made with fresh navel orange juice and local fennel from Heirloom Organics farm.  All of our sodas are sweetened with organic cane sugar, and naturally carbonated via fermentation.

See you Sunday!

SodaCraft is popping up again this weekend, but with a Jew-y twist.  We’ll be joining up with Wise Sons Deli at the weekly food cart get together at Off The Grid McCoppin Hub this Saturday morning, doing our part to revive the true Jewish deli that San Francisco deserves. Evan and Leo will be making the rounds with their usual “so good, you should call your mother and tell her you love her” pastrami sandwiches on housemade double baked rye, and Jewish summer camp stoner-friendly (you know who you are) chocolate babka french toast.

SodaCraft is getting into the spirit of things by tackling some Jewish deli soda standards.  We’ll be serving our ‘Nilla Bean Cream Soda, infused with real madagascar vanilla beans, and Toasted Celery Soda.  I’m betting the celery seed will be outstanding with their new item:  housemade smoked whitefish. Both sodas are lightly sweetened with organic evaporated cane sugar, and naturally carbonated using baker’s yeast for effervesce and texture.

Essential Details:
Jackie’s Vinoteca and Cafe, 105 Valencia (at McCoppin), adjacent to Off the Grid: McCoppin Hub. Saturday., 9 a.m-2 p.m.

Wise Sons Deli Menu:
MATZO BALL SOUP- probably not as good as bubbe made it

BIALY AND SMOKED SALMON – our own bialy with smoked salmon, red onion, capers; sweet & sour cucumbers on the side
SMOKED WHITE FISH SANDWICH- on toasted rye with red onion and greens
SEMITE SANDWICH - crispy pastrami bacon, fried egg, swiss, & a swab of mustard on griddled rye
SMOKED MUSHROOM SCRAMBLE – smoked shitakes & beet greens with rye toast

BABKA FRENCH TOAST- with macerated strawberries and fresh cream
PICKLE PLATE – assorted vinegar & salt fermented pickles
SHTETL TOAST – rye toast with shmaltz, herb salad, breakfast radish, & sea salt

PASTRAMI OR CORNED BEEF – on double-baked rye, choice of potato salad or coleslaw & garlic-dill pickles (After 11am)
SMOKED MUSHROOM REUBEN - vegetarian, with smoked shitakes

and you should watch this video clip of Cumminty’s all black production of Fiddler on the Roof, “Fiddler Please.”   Because it’s awesome.

As my wife will tell you, I have a slightly obsessive streak in me.  Often it works to my benefit, such as when I’m nurturing a beer or soda recipe, constantly tinkering with it, redoing it, trying to get it just right.   Or the time I went on my lamb burger kick, constantly returning to the grill to make it just a little bit better. Other times it can be less productive – such as when I want the highest possible score in a video game.  It extends to restaurants too: I’ll find an exciting new place, and return repeatedly, trying everything on the menu and quickly achieving regular status.  It’s particularly true for lunch, where a strict time limit and limited choices out in the Inner Sunset where I maintain a day job mean that a new offering gets a lot of attention from me and my belly.

And the new offering I’m at twice a week right now: Wooly Pig Cafe.  On a quiet street in between Golden Gate Park and UCSF, there are some great sandwiches being made.

It’s all about the details to make a sandwich move “pretty good” to “outstanding” and Wooly Pig makes the jump seem casual and inevitable.  Fresh daily bread from Semifreddi’s is toasted to order.  The green for each salad (and there are quite a few based on the house list of special sandwiches) are individually dressed like a tiny salad before being piled on top of the ingredients.  Housemade flavored mayos are kept ready to go, and squeezed with  abandon.   Clearly, I’m not the only obsessive in the restaurant when I visit.

Here are some of my favorites at the Wooly Pig:

The Asian Tuna – lightly dressed tuna is flavored with lime and wasabi, then dressed with fennel and avocado. It’s like a sushi roll re imagined as a tuna sandwich.  My go-to order.  You can see the finished sandwich getting final touches at the top of the post.

The Briny Egg – Egg Salad served open face on a Ciabatta roll, mixed with pickles, capers and topped with anchovies.

And then there is my favorite sandwhich: the special Bánh Mì (Hidden Menus, get on this!).  While the normal one, made with pate and cold cuts is good and all, sometimes they break out the big guns, and offer and off-menu special.  The best is the black pepper braised pork shoulder, slow cooked and sliced thick under a  pile of lightly dressed green papaya salad.  All of which is put on a nicely toasted, soft roll (again, GREAT bread choices here.)

When I went in with my camera last week, a new filling had appeared: Vietnamese meatballs.

Surprisingly light, with a nice balanced sweetness from the basil, the meatballs were pretty good.  But the pork shoulder is still my favorite.

Of course, you could just get whatever soup is on special.  Last week, it was a coconut curry udon noodle offering.

Of course, I have to mention the namesake Wooly Pig Sandwich: carmel braised pork belly topped with lightly dressed arugula.  The greens add a nice peppery balance to the fatty pork, but this is not a “go back to your desk” sandwich.  This is a “take a nap after lunch” sandwich.

The Veggie Sandwich also reaches far beyond a veggie burger.  Slices of roasted beets, matched with goat cheese and french green beans.  Lots of texture, great flavors.  Even my IT coworkers love this one (an impressive feat.)

This also goes great with their house made iced teas – here is their blackberry infused tea.

Plus, there are nooks and cranny of their menu I’ve gotten to yet.  Such as their Croque Monsieur or turkey melt.  Guess I’ll have to go back, and extra time to try that too.

For the past few months, I’ve been regularly brewing sodas for the New Taste Marketplace, each month combining sugar, fresh hand-squeezed juice and yeast to create fermented sodas.  These sodas had a light sweetness character, loads of fresh fruit flavor, and were a great compliment for the creative and unusual wares of the market. To my delight and surprise, I found myself selling out of sodas and even garnering a little bit of local media attention for them.  Each month I refined my process, improved my recipes, until I had something I think I think is really great, and worth putting a name on.  Which brings us to now.

Introducing SodaCraft.

We make handcrafted sodas using local and sustainable produce. All of our draft sodas are lightly sweetened with cane sugar.  We aim to be on tap at local farmers markets and street food events in San Francisco.

With the help of the always delicious and foul-mouthed Hapa Ramen, I’ll be floating a little soda making test balloon this Saturday at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market to see how they fair in the big leagues.  So stop on by – I’ll be in the back at the Hapa Ramen stand, dodging flying pickles and noodles to pour my sodas.

On tap this Saturday: my Ginger Beer, made with fresh juiced ginger, eureka lemons, cane sugar and bakers yeast. The fresh ginger juice provides a floral bite (this is not a ginger beer for the faint of heart.  Ginger lovers only.)  Along side it will be Fennel & Navel Orange, a bright soda bursting with spring flavors – a great match for a bowl of ramen or a Ryan Farr cheeseburger.

So come on by the Ferry Building this saturday for a soda and bowl of ramen.  You won’t be disappointed.

PS – My outstanding logo was designed by Damian Fagan, who also happens to be the other half of Almanac Beer. Speaking of Almanac – our license was issued by the ABC this week!  We’re now scheduling our first bottling run, and WILL have bottles on the shelves this summer. For reals.  Check out Almanac’s twitter feed to stay on top of upcoming launch events and dinners.