Healthy Spirits

This San Francisco mini-chain touts three locations in the Castro, Bernal Heights and the Inner Richmond. Owner Rami Barqawi, a former stock broker, opened the original Castro store in 1998, offering a sizeable assortment of beers alongside batches of his mother’s “Rami’s Mommy’s” homemade hummus. Since then, Barqawi has vastly expanded his booze business, hiring a certified Cicerone to manage the beer buying and growing beer club. (The five-year-old Inner Richmond shop looks more like a library than a typical corner store, decked with dark wood shelves floor-to-ceiling and library ladders for reaching rare bottles.) The variety of beers is enormous, from the full range of Hitachino ales to heady triple IPAs. The store clerks are eager to nerd out about tasting notes and brewing styles.