When in Portland at the beginning of August, we stopped by Whole Foods in the Pearl District and I picked up a few specialty beers, Fraoch Heather Ale among them. Fraoch comes from the Craigmill Brewery in Scotland, and is one of the oldest styles of beer in the world; … Continue reading

Beervana points to this old Rainier Beer commercial on YouTube. The motorcycle one. That’s a classic! Although I can’t find what year it came out… some site said something about the late 80s, but it seems to me that it was much earlier. Anyone know? And for that matter, what … Continue reading

RedEnvelope is selling thermos-y double-walled beer glasses for a whopping $75 per six glasses. They’re clever and all—made from "borosilicate glass, used to make scientific lab gear, the heat-resistant glass weighs less than traditional glassware, but is actually stronger"—but myself, I think I’ll just stick to my regular pint glasses … Continue reading

Delirium Nocturnum is a Belgian ale weighing in at 8.5% alcohol by volume, and packaged in a funky faux-ceramic painted bottle. The particular bottle I had was a big one—one pint, 9.4 fluid ounces—and sealed with a cork and cage setup, like a champagne bottle. There’s also a pink elephant … Continue reading

Details magazine has an article on "The World’s Best Beers." Yawn. 🙂 Actually, it’s an amusing read… they have some serious "categories" like Best Beer in a Can (Dick’s Pale Ale) and Best Beer Web Site (BeerAdvocate.com), and then some goofy ones: Best Beer to Drink Quickly (Miller Lite, if … Continue reading

From Slashfood comes this pointer to this piece of art/design concept: the Beertable. Weird. The main problem that I see is that there’s no cooling unit for the beer bottle holders. But for those beer geeks (like me) who prefer to drink beer from a glass rather than the bottle … Continue reading

I keep running across the name of the Great Divide Brewing Company in reading about beer, and it’s always something good; they seem to be producing very good beers and making a buzz. Recently I had their Wild Raspberry Ale (my wife found it downtown), and while I’m often skeptical … Continue reading

I got so tied up attending and writing about the Oregon Brewers Festival that I’m behind on posting my beer reviews. No matter. Tonight it’s Deschutes Brewery‘s 18th Anniversary Pilsner. This is one of their 22-ounce seasonals (the Bond Street Series), and weighs in at 5% alcohol by volume. Appearance: … Continue reading

Just a quick note on a couple of beers we picked up from Trader Joe’s while in the Portland area last week: Mission Street Pale Ale and Black Toad Dark Ale. Both were the cheap beers: $4.99 for a six-pack, and they’re good enough to make that a good deal. … Continue reading