San Francisco recently lost local beer biz legend Eric Cripe to San Diego. Eric was an evangelist for great beer (and whiskey & Aussie wine) long before it was cool. He was with The Jug Shop in Russian Hill for a decade, where he ran the beer program, whiskey program, did certain categories of wine buying, and set up and hosted their weekly beer tastings. Eric was one of the first Certified Cicerones in the Bay Area (think beer Sommelier). His love of good beer inspired many locals, including myself, to learn more and ultimately join the industry. Lucky for us, Eric’s brother Evan is still at the Jug Shop and will continue Eric’s legacy.

I caught up with Eric as he was packing his bags and hosting the “Eric's Last Call” beer tasting at The Jug Shop to ask him a few questions. He shared some great insights, history, and some fun beer biz inside baseball with us. Oh, and he also says SD has better burritos than SF, so feel free to flame him in the comments!

Chris Cohen: Are you originally from the Bay Area? How long have you been in San Francisco?

Eric Cripe: I grew up in Turlock, CA and moved to SF to attend USF. My parents did an amazing job of keeping me from being a country bumpkin by bringing me into the city at least a dozen times a year to see plays, visit museums and attend concerts. It’s been fifteen years and now I have to say my goodbye to this amazing city full of amazing people. Luckily, San Diego is pretty awesome in it’s own right!

CC: How long have you been at The Jug Shop? How long did you run their beer program?

EC: I started working at The Jug Shop a decade ago as a stock boy and cashier while I waited tables and bartended at the now defunct TGIFridays in San Bruno. I got into craft and import beer in college and also become fascinated with the new “small batch” distilling movement. When The Jug Shop’s buyer took another job I jumped at the opportunity to buy the beer and help with the rapidly growing spirits department. That was back in 2007. The craft beer movement had a full head of steam going and spirits, especially the brown stuff, was just exploding. That was right when bourbon was taking off and rye was starting to resurrect itself. We had an amazing wine buyer at the time, Chuck Hayward. The guy is a legend, one of the foremost authorities on Australian and New Zealand wines in the country. He took me under his wing and got me tasting incredible wines from all over the world.