Craig and Beth Wathen, the couple that runs this SOMA hole-in-the-wall bottle shop, take painstaking care to stock the widest selection of hard-to-find beers from the most interesting breweries. And if the beer isn't distributed in San Francisco, they aren't above driving hundreds of miles to fetch a case themselves. While this is technically a bottle shop, guests are invited to drink their newfound bounty three steps below street level by paying a more-than-reasonable "corkage" fee of $1. But the fun doesn't end with the bottled rarities. City Beer offers tasting flights — a complete sampler — each week of whatever's new on its five taps, sometimes accompanied by elbow-rubbing opportunities with the brewmasters themselves. Yes, beer is magical, so be the first on your block to try new exotic potions with the wizards (or brewsters) who alchemize them.