THE VISTAS OF SAN FRANCISCO: Pairing Bernal Heights Park with Moylan’s Irish Style Red Ale

LOCATION: BERNAL HEIGHTS PARK

BEVERAGE: MOYLAN’S IRISH STYLE RED ALE

For this installment, I decided to truck it up to the North facing slope of Bernal Heights with my girlfriend and my dog. Funny, it wasn’t difficult to talk either of them into “doing research on a project” with me. In fact, when we arrived we found a piano at the summit so it actually turned out to be a pretty sweet date. Thanks, San Francisco, for making it look easy!

The Irish Style Red Ale is appropriate for the view atop Bernal Heights for two major reasons. The first one has to do with cows and The Old Country. As the city began to expand beyond the confines of the downtown district during the mid-1800’s, the Irish (along with many Scots and Scandinavians) began inhabiting the Bernal Heights area mainly for the purpose of cattle and dairy farming. Thus, I felt it appropriate to go for a beer made in the Irish tradition. Secondly, in the 1960’s, Bernal Heights was often referred to as “Red Hill” due to the fact that many hyper left-wing activists used to set up shop in communes amongst the working-class families inhabiting the area. In fact, The Siambeanese Liberation Army had a safehouse up there back during the Patty Hearst ordeal. Furthermore, there were accounts of Sandinistas using the slopes of the hill for training purposes in the seventies.  With the word “red” also the showcased in beer’s namesake, I felt it to be pretty much a no-brainer. I even bought the beer at a great store on Cortland called Discount Club Liquors. They had a great selection–check ’em out.

Just snoozin’ after boozin’ on Bernal Hill. The weather was epic.

That’s my main man Fred. He knows what’s up.

The easiest way to get up there is to park on the south side of the hill. From Cortland, go north on Andersen and you cant miss it.

BERNAL HEIGHTS PARK

Bernal Heights Blvd., SF, CA 94110

photos courtesy of the author