We're back from our vacation, with a few beer stories to relate. (Actually, we got back on Sunday, but I've been catching up on everything else and decompressing.) I don't have them ready to post, yet, but here's a bit of an overview:

• Though we didn't visit Granville Island Brewing in Vancouver, B.C., itself, I did have a couple of their beers while out to dinner in Vancouver.
• The beer on the cruise ship was dull! Mostly Bud, Miller, Coors, with some Heinekein and Bass Ale thrown in for good measure.
• We visited the Alaskan Brewing Company in Juneau. I'll have a review and pictures.
• We sort of visited the Skagway Brewing Company in Skagway, Alaska. I say "sort of" because the actual brewery closed down three years ago, and all that's left is the gift shop.

Heading out for vacation tomorrow (er, today), so there's a good chance I won't be back online here for nearly two weeks. In the meantime, check out some of these excellent beer blogs:

• A Good Beer Blog
• Beer - The Blog
• Hail the Ale!

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Follow the links they give you, read all of them. I'll expect a full report when I get back :).

Yeah, I know I haven't posted much here this month. August is vacation month; tomorrow we're going camping for the weekend for a family reunion (I've got a cooler full of beer, so this is tangentally on-topic), so I'll be totally offline. Which is nice. For a change.

Next week, we leave for a ten day vacation: we're going on an Alaskan cruise for my in-laws 35th wedding anniversary. We'll still have the laptop with us, and internet access, but I imagine I won't be using it much. At any rate, back on the beer topic, I'll have to explore just how many varieties of beer you can get on a cruise... that, and we're going to try to visit the Alaskan Brewing Company when we're in Juneau. Maybe I'll blog that at the time.

Cheers!

I'm in Walla Walla tonight (as I wrote about last month), and got a chance to visit the Mill Creek Brewpub for dinner. Verdict: worth a visit if you're in or around Walla Walla.

Mill Creek is the only microbrewery within a 50 mile radius of Walla Walla, and it's next door to Whitman College, so I figured it would be fairly busy, even on a Monday. It wasn't really though—there were probably a dozen or so other tables filled (couples/groups and a few individuals). I sat inside rather than on the patio (it was just shy of 100 degrees). It's a fairly typical brewpub: everything is done in dark wood, there's beer posters and memorabilia on the walls, a couple of TVs with sports on. The bar allows smoking (something I'm not used to seeing anymore, since most places in Oregon don't allow smoking these days), though I sat at a table in the dining area.

Mill Creek brews four of their own beers: Brew 22, apparently a very light beer (the only one I didn't try), Walla Walla Wheat, Penitentiary Porter and an IPA. A note: their menus are out-of-date; they no longer have the sampler tray, and the ESB is no longer brewed.

I started with Walla Walla Wheat. It's not the typical wheat beer I've come to expect—it was more of an amber-style ale, and hoppier than a wheat usually is. ("Usually" in this case refers to the Widmer style of wheat beers—light, easy on the hops, a bit yeasty.) It wasn't really a traditional style, either... just a darker, filtered (clear) American wheat.

The Penitentiary Porter was next. This was a pretty good porter. It was dark, not too heavy—a light mouthfeel—moderately hoppy, and you could taste the roasted malt for a bit afterward. It didn't have the smoothness of a Black Butte Porter, but I think it was still good for the style, and definitely worth a pint.

The IPA was the best of the three I had. Hoppy, strong, much better mouthfeel, malty and complex. It was a very good IPA. Copper-colored, with a nice head of foam, it just tasted right. This would be the beer I'd drink regularly.

Dinner was fish and chips (halibut fish and chips), typical brewpub fare, and was pretty good, not greasy at all. The soup I got with it was a salmon chowder, their special for the night. It was pretty good, but more of a New York style chowder (I think; fairly thin, not thick like a New England style...), and it seemed they could have been a bit more generous with the salmon.

Altogether a pretty good visit. If I find myself in Walla Walla again, I'd come back.

I don't know, this just sounds kind of funny to me: a beer that cures hay fever. Brewed with honey and pollen, it supposedly builds up your immune system to the pollen or something, I don't know. But this was the funny part:

"I don't suffer myself but a regular who does really swears by it. He denied that it was just an excuse to drink more."

Dan Bardsley, 42, a hay fever sufferer, has been won over. "I have been told that honey from local bees can help but I don't really like it on its own. But put it in a beer - now you're talking. I really think it is making things easier."

Er, right. I'd deny it was an excuse to drink more, too. "Now you're talking." :)

USA Today has an article on extreme beers—for some values of "extreme."

Though smarter marketing and better quality control have laid the foundation for the surge in interest, the true excitement is generated by brewers unleashing their creativity and honing their craft. Recent brewing trends include aging beers in wood barrels to give them winelike complexity; incorporating unusual ingredients such as maple syrup, raisins, chocolate and sweet potatoes; and boosting the level of hops and alcohol to achieve more powerful, intense flavors.

Some so-called extreme brewers, such as Sam Calagione of Delaware-based Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, are doing things that are unclassifiable. His Midas Touch Golden Elixir beer is inspired from an analysis of residue found on crockery in King Tut's tomb; his Pangea incorporates ingredients from each of the world's seven continents; and he's working on a version of tej, an African beverage flavored with hops and honey.

It's mostly one of those somebody-discovered-an-interesting-beer puff pieces, but it's not all bad. Of course, extreme is relative; most homebrewers wouldn't bat an eye at maple syrup, raisins, or chocolate (props to the sweet potatoes though). And we're not even close to truly extreme like Sam Adams Utopias or the guy who wants to brew a poultry ale...

Even better than earlier good news: The Senate gave final approval to up the alcohol level to 15% (from six). The only possible snag they face now is if their governor vetoes it. Is that likely?

On Sunday the Oregonian ran an article called The Pabst and the present, where the author tries to get to the bottom of the surge in popularity of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer in Portland.

Neal Stewart, the marketing director for Pabst, said the Portland phenomenon had perplexed the folks at Pabst as well. In 2000-01, they noticed that Portland sales of PBR were growing, without any marketing or explanation. "It just started skyrocketing." So Stewart, who had only recently started at Pabst, hopped on a plane and flew to Portland to try to figure it out.

What he quickly found were a lot of young adults drinking PBR. And they all seemed to be in some kind of subculture, from skateboarders and artists to Vespa-scooter owners and musicians. "They were very passionate about their subculture and very passionate about Pabst."

Then Andy over at Rooftop Brew has a post responding to this:

Cheap? A $2 pint for PBR is not a good deal. Considering that among the many excellent establishments in Portland you can routinely find specials for $2.50 for an Imperial Pint of a local brew, the PBR pales in comparison - not only in price, but also in quality, karma, coolness.

Both are good reads. Personally, I like Pabst. Of the various megabrewery cheap lagers, I think it tastes the best—the cleanest. Plus, it's the nostalgia factor that the Oregonian talks about; I remember my dad and relatives drinking it since forever. If I need to pick up some quantity beer—stretch the money just a little farther than a $7 sixpack of micros will go—then Pabst is it.

According to the AP Wire, N.C. Senate gives initial OK to removing alcohol cap on beverages. The article is careful to point out that the approval is tentative, but still, that's progress. North Carolina may get the limit raised to 15 percent (from six).

I realized also why I was taking an interest in North Carolina beer politics... my brother may well be relocating there soon. He'd definitely appreciate a raised limit :)...

See also: Repealing North Carolina's beer laws, North Carolina Senate committee approves raising beer alcohol limit, and Raising the alcohol limit in NC stalled.

Back in March I pointed to a couple of beer podcasts. I hadn't really looked around for any more since then, but another site flitted onto my radar tonight: podBeer.com. I haven't listened to any of their 'casts yet, but this is their welcome message:

Our podcast is an internet radio broadcast about good beers, good food, good friends, and good fun. We talk with guests from around North America and around the world—brewers, growers, chefs, maltsters, publicans, and many more. It’s about the latest and greatest, and history and tradition. People, places, and events, as sometimes seen through the refractive index of a pint of amber ale, a bike water bottle, or a hydrometer cylinder.

Sounds like they're doing it right...