Hello there.
My sister and her husband are avid alcohol drinkers. They usually prefer Sake or Beer, but have recently started getting into Wine as well. I on the other hand am mostly a social drinker. I drink a wide variety, like Whisky, Beer, and Wine, and have developed a taste for Sake because of them as well.
In terms of beer, I usually drink Lagers, and was not too familiar with the other types. While staying with them, I was introduced to a lot of different types of beers. Porters, Saison, Stouts, IPAs, and other types of beers. They usually take me to different breweries and taprooms to try out the specialties. But, they also have different types of beer cans at home that we drink while watching anime. They usually drive by Paulista on their way home to get some beer to keep their stock filled.
Last weekend, they decided to bring me along to Paulista. I already have a good grasp of what beers I like, and I can see and choose from a lot of different beers there as well. I have evolved from my usual Lagers to liking Porters now. Lagers are still a close second though.
Paulista is located in 4239 Park Boulevard, Oakland, CA 94602. It is near their house and is very convenient in helping them get their beer fix. When we got there, the place looked like a restaurant, that can double as a bar. My sister frequently just referred to it as Paulista, but seeing the other parts of the store's name, Brazilian Kitchen and Taproom, explains it.
We weren't really there to eat, but seeing the number of people just hanging out, eating and drinking, makes me think that their food must be good as well. While they do have their own Wine and drinks, they also have these fridge that have different types of beers.
Those are actually the ones we came for, and as I started getting closer to them, I was blown away. There are so many types of beers to choose from. Some of these beers are from other taprooms, some are from small brewers, and some are from other places as well.
When I eat in buffets, or restaurants with a lot of tasty looking food, I try to taste all of them. If I was living here, I can already see myself trying each and every one of these one by one, and slowly getting my own list of favorites. Unfortunately, that's not the case, so I just went with a nice looking Lager, and a Porter.
Paulista also sells the "Coffee and Cigarettes" Beer, and is one of their bestsellers. That is now my favorite, so I got that as well. My sister got a few of her Citrus/Saison beers, while my brother in law got a few of his IPAs. We also found a Filipino made beer that supposedly used Calamansi [Philippine Lime]. I'm not a big fan of sour beers, but I'm willing to try that as well.
After we got our respective beers, we headed to the counter. I'd like to add that the place really looks nice. It has a good mix of modern art/furniture, mixed with some traditional looking ones. The employees were nice, and very helpful.
After paying, we then headed home to watch anime and to drink our newly bought beer. If you are near the area and would like to discover different beers, I would recommend visiting Paulista and choosing from their wide selection of beers.