NInkasi Believer Double Red Ale

Things are going well in the Bay Area. Especially because there are hella breweries I've never heard of and I can consistently walk into a pub or bottle shop and find something I've never tried before. Also lots of Lagunitas, but that's a given. What I don't see everywhere is the abundance of Oregon beer that I'm used to via geographical situation. And that's fine. It's tough, but it's fine.

Nonetheless, after a few months of stoically overcast never hot never cold never raining and never cold but always chilly weather, I went off for a pint. And drank some California beer. Good stuff. No complaints. But after I split, biking off into the night, I passed by Eddie's Liquor on College Ave. and figured I'd maybe grab one for home. I was tired, worn out from a six-day work week wine bender and I wanted nothing less than a finely brewed beverage. Eddie provided. The cooler stocked mad 22's. Out of dozens, four were Ninkasi bottles. I chose my favorite: two bottles of Believer Double Red Ale.

Now, we all know that as the years pass my guarantee on Ninkasi loses favor. As the industry goes wild, everybody making different wild shit, barrel aging, quintupple hopping, obscure Bavarian recipe making, brew secret keeping, natural yeast cultivating, those Revofuckinglutinists in Eugene have tried and tried and tried and I've kept on wanting to try them, to make something obscure. And it hasn't really worked out except for Sleigh'r Dark Ale, in my opinion. The others are somehow always too hoppy, too light, too something, lacking something. I still like them. I'll drink the shit out of some Ninkasi any hour of the day, but when it boils down to it, the originals are where the quality lies. Oatis, Total Domination, Quantum, Tricerahops and Believer.

Especially Believer.

This has been one of my top five favorite beers since I started paying attention, which was right around the same time it dropped. Which makes us old friends. We've been homies for six years. Believer and me. Double Reds. The two of us.

Thanks for the nostalgia, buddy.

P

Good Life Brewing; Sweet As! Pacific Ale

Good Life Brewing: Sweet As! Ale

This weekend, I celebrated my 27th year on this earth. Luckily for me, my birthday weekend this year was full of sunshine, friends, sports, and good beer. The majority of this good beer that I was drinking (and just like any proper birthday, it was full of many different beers) on Saturday was this well-balanced ale.

I knew that I was going to have a fantastic day of events when I took my first sip of the Sweet As!, because not only was I spending the day golfing with two great friends, but also enjoying an amazing beer. The Sweet As! was so good, in fact, that I finished my 12 oz. can (scoff all you want purists, it didn't bother me one bit), but that may have more to say about my golf game.

The Sweet As! was a true, Oregonian summer ale: well-balanced with 15 degrees of original gravity and an eighteen IBU rating. With the white wheat and Vienna based malts, the Sweet As! carries a bit of lighter taste for an ale, making it the perfect compliment to a warm summer day.

Naturally, I ended up buying a six pack before heading to the park to continue the birthday festivities. As perfectly matched with a golf game as it was earlier, I realized while we had a four person home run derby, the true place to indulge in the brew is with a hat and a baseball bat in hand. Taking a swig, then rubbing some dirt on your hand to take away from the perspiration from the can to improve your grip on a wooden bat, before belting home runs left and right, is truly the best way to enjoy this beauty by Good Life.

The Details:

Brewers	Good Life Brewing
Location	Bend, Oregon
Style	Summer, Pacific Ale
Original Gravity	15 degrees
IBUs	18
Beermigos Rating	Contemplating the Meaning of Life with your Beermigos: Such a solid summer ale, a great option for those who want a lighter beer, but not the extends of a pilsner or lager.

The Resident Spike Buckowski’s Red Rye Ale

By moniker alone, this beer had me sold from the outset. One, it is a red ale: my favorite style. And two, the guy who makes it shares a surname (if not the spelling) of perhaps the finest degenerate wordsmith rolling in his grave: Mr. Charles Bukowski. I had to write something. And I had to wait until I’d had several of these fine brews before I did so.

Slow Sunday afternoon.

Nothing like Mozart to

Chill the wind

Whipping down from the mountains

Extinguishing cigarettes

On the workaday weekend

Bender.

Except maybe Schubert

To wash down these beers.

Alright, that’s enough of that. This is an excellent beverage with rich flavors, good rye-intensity and a solid hop-profile.  It even references baseball and Tom Selleck’s moustache on the back of the label.  How’s that for a taste of nostalgia? Only one problem, though.  Upon closer inspection, it seems as though the brewery is not independently owned as the marketeering would have you believe. Instead it is a second small-batch label from an Auckland-owned conglomerate, no doubt the brew-master’s pet project.

I think the master of debaucherous pulp fiction and rugged poetry would only approve because of the relatively high alcohol percentage and the fact that at least they’re honest about exploiting American-bred ingenuity and kicking them out of NZ when their visas expire.

Choice as, bru.

Beermigos rating: Ballpark Brew. The booze-factor, the American influence and the fact that they mention baseball right there on the label would make me want to crush about a dozen of these at the cricket, hopelessly try to understand what the fuck was going on and d then go out on the town to chase some women with my mates. I’m sure both the brewer and the writer would support this.

Yeastie Boys Digital IPA

Yeastie Boys is perhaps the finest brewery name I have ever come across. It makes me want to fight for my right to drink fine beer. And the Yeasties up in Wellington have every intention to fight alongside.

This Digital IPA is the third Yeastie Boys brew I’ve tried and perhaps my favorite.  I spotted in on a casual walk-by of the single-bottle selection cooler and thought it would perfectly compliment a Saturday afternoon read of the book I bought from a Maori guy selling them from a shopping cart in front of the grocery store. It was his book, a true account of decades as a leader of the Mongrel Mob gang. Really cool guy, signed my book, gave me his e-mail and told me to write him and tell him what I thought about it.  Digital IPA seemed appropriate for the circumstance.

To the beer: This is a fine beverage, well balanced and not overly hopped. In fact, the malt characteristics give it a nice, semi-sweet flavor with a pseudo-Belgic, banana-peel element, and the hops, native Motueka grown at the top of the South Island , are more fruit-driven and aromatic than the bittering properties of Cascade varietals my palate is accustomed to. That said, I would be surprised to find the IBU to be very high, though it is an obvious India Pale Ale in style. With a solid 7% alcohol by volume, it registers as one of the stronger beers available in New Zealand, where even premium bottles by micro-breweries tend to hover around 5%. Not that that is the most important factor by any means.

More important is the taste (excellent), the quality (outstanding) and the sensation it gives me as it tingles past my lips, down my throat and into my fingertips as they transmit this information across the world (digitalicious).

Bonus: the recipe is open source.  You can download it from the website at www.yeastieboys.co.nz

Beermigos Rating: Burger and Brew Brew. This is an ideal complement to the kiwi-style burger, featuring standard toppings as well as pineapple rings, pickled beetroot slices and a fried egg.

Emerson's Bookbinder Ale

Welcome to New Zealand!

A few weeks ago I attended the Arrowtown Pints and Pies Festival on a weekend off from winemaking.  I caught a ride from strangers who work at a vineyard, but thanks to a mutual friend's disinterest in attending (he was worried about getting too drunk, again, with a pair of kiwi girls) I secured a spot in their vehicle for the beautiful drive through the Gibbston Valley.

Upon arrival, I lost them immediately.  First things first.  Beer.  Then a pie.  Being already familiar with Emerson's, a brewery I visited in Dunedin last go-around to New Zealand, I went for all the other ones I could find, washing down rabbit and mushroom pies, venison and cranberry pies, marsala chicken pies with a wide selection of local brews, mostly pilsners.  It was a warm day and it just felt right.  I felt kind of bad, though, for completely ignoring the Emerson's booth.

Today, though, I had the afternoon to relax and read.  During my trip to the grocery, I spied the perfect compliment: the Bookbinder English-style ale.  And it sorted me right out.

The Bookbinder is a smooth, mild, not-too-fancy beer with good balance, good weight and a surprisingly low alcohol percentage of just 3.7%, which meant I could focus on my reading without getting too buzzed after a 500ml bottle.

Beermigos Rating: Dinner with the in-laws brew.  Easy, refreshing with enough structure to stand up to a meal. Bonus: Dad will think he's cool for keeping up with your drinking skills and you can have about nine of them without hitting on your girlfriend's sister even once.

Glad to be back on the wagon.

Redback "Original Wheat"

This beer gets its name from the infamous and deadly redback spider in Australia. These are little creatures that are much smaller than daddy long legs and they love to hide in little crevasses. Most people get bit without even knowing it because the spider was hiding under the couch or in their shoes. They start getting unbelievably sick and don't know why until after a trip to the hospital. Why they named such a delight after such a poisonous thing I don't know but it's a cool name.

After some research I still can't exactly pinpoint where the brewery is or how it started but evidence seems to point towards WA. I'll also assume this is true because people from WA take credit for it but there clearly is some rooting in Victoria and in the Melbourne region. It seems to mostly be with the Matilda Bay brewing company having a big standing out there. I looked at their beer list and actually some of the best Aussie beers I've noticed appear to be coming from this brewery. God stuff man.

Anywhom, Redback is delicious. I had a nice pint of it the other day for an impromptu afternoon beer cause I was feeling good. It's described as Australia's original wheat beer brewed from malted wheat and malted barley and a blend of saaz and ringwood hops (which I am very unfamiliar with).

This beer is meant to be refreshing on a hot day and let me tell you, it is refreshing on a cool autumn day as well. It has a rich creamy mouth to it. It has a lot of spice to it as well but the spice is balanced well with some woody undertones. There's definitely some bitterness on the finish but it compliments everything well. This is a relaxing, flavorful and refreshing beer for sure. But I will say, at the end when the beer became a little warmer, it was not nearly as refreshing or flavorful.

Beermigos Rating: In-Laws/ Girlfriend or Boyfriend - This beer is an impressive beer that will suit most tastes. The well balanced aspect of it with all the different flavors that aren't overwhelming shows sophistication and the unique international aspect of it shows worldliness which is a big bonus with Mrs' parents.

Brass Monkey Stout

Well I've been in Australia for over 2 months now so I figure an Australian brew should be reviewed. I actually had a couple of notes on some beers that I had but somehow...I lost them. But not Brass Monkey Stout however. First let me say, Australian beer generally sucks a hairy nutsack. They don't like to have any beer over 5.0% because they have too many problems with the drunk public. I've only found 2 Aussie beers that were over 5.0% and this was one of them. They also just aren't flavorful like the beers that we usually review. Now this can be attributed to many factors. One people are going to buy them no matter what. A typical pint at a bar out here is $10 and everyone goes out and buys it, even backpackers. Two people want something cold and refreshing on a hot ass day not heavy and weighing them down. Three, like I mentioned before apparently they have a real problem with binge drinking and alcohol related problems here. Four is that I may just be accustomed to the typical west coast, particularly Northwest microbrews and their styles and may not be very open minded to the Aussie styles but I still think they're crap.

Anywhom, this is about Brass Monkey Stout. This is actually one of the better beers out here and one of the only two I've been able to find that's more than 5%. It's 6% ABV which is more than any other by a long shot. And it's the same price as all the watered down ones. It's sold solely at a bar called Brass Monkey in Northbridge, Perth, WA. It's their only homegrown microbrew. Straight up, this is a good stout.

You get roasted nuts, chocolate and coffee on the nose and then in the taste as well. It's got a very flavorful and smooth but lasting finish. It's the same Guiness style that needs time to accumulate foam head properly but it's even darker than that. Even though it's a Stout, my goodness it's refreshing. When I first arrived in Perth and had time to kill I stumbled onto this place and 2 of these. I felt pretty welcome after this for sure. It's interesting to have such a dark and rich beer that is refreshing at the same time. I can only assume that this was the idea with the brewers when they wanted to make a stout for WA people.

Honestly I would just put this at a good stout. It's interesting how refreshing it is rather than heavy but I don' think this would even pass in many bars in Oregon compared to the flavorful stouts there. I've had this again a couple of times and it doesn't have much re-drink value. I'm not even counting on beer to be good here. If I want some alcohol that tastes good I go for the wine because that's the best bet here. Now that's not to say there are absolutely no good brewers out here. Check out Burleigh Heads Brewing in Queensland. They've got good stuff. But the fact is the beer culture and appreciation is just not as complex as it is back in the States.

Beermigos Rating: Onesy Brew. Look it's good and all but it's not something to make a habit out of. It's enjoyable but nothing special.

Samuel Adam's Thirteenth Hour Stout

Good day and good evening wherever you are. Doug the Thug is back. I finally am posting after losing my password so I'll be posting with a new name...D dub. I'll also be posting on another blog as well regarding my upcoming travels. But let's get to the task at hand here, this 100 cask barrel brand Sam Adam's ale which they describe as a...Belgian Strong Dark Ale!?!?!? Sounds bewitching. First I think it's worth noting, for as commercialized as Sam Adam's has become they were very big on developing the American craft brew "movement". I bought this when I was at their brewery right outside of Boston in Jamaica Bay, MA. It was a $2 suggested donation but tons of beer and the money all went to a charity for underprivileged youth in the Boston area. I'm always down with that. So I don't care what people say about them, they're a good company and they make some damn good brews. I wish I could say that about this one but I can't unfortunately.

They tricked me at several points here. 1. This is part of a 100 cask barrel brand that basically you can only get at the brewery or at a few select Jamaica Bay liquor shops. 2. 9.0% ABV 3. Seems like a worthwhile try because it is actually a combination of a rich dark stout and a well balanced and aged Belgian ale. 4. $10 for a 22oz. bottle with a cork. (I know but considering how much some nice 22oz. bottles go for sometimes in Chicago that's a deal)

Here's where I would say they went wrong. An aged Belgian Ale and a rich heavy stout don't mix well, or at least they couldn't find a way to do it. As far as having flavor they didn't miss that. There are some coffee, milk chocolate and dare I say caramel notes but they're not very potent. What's most potent are the spices and dark fruit flavors which are almost citrusy. It has the maltiness of a stout definitely but then it was also aged in oak barrels so there is a very noticeable oak taste. The mouth feel of it is almost watery which is not what you would expect from such a flavorful beer at all and I was supremely unimpressed with that. And you definitely feel the 9.0% overwhelmingly on the finish. I think the main problem is your expecting a rich stout (which I was on a rainy Chicago night on my deck) and you don't get that. It's not exactly an ale either because there are too many stout notes. Plus the watery mouth feel was a big downer. That's what pilsner's and Olympia are for.

Rating: I hate to do it...but I have to. Debating the Meaning of Life with Your Fellow Beermigos Brew. I think I'm pretty clear that I am not a fan of this beer. However, this is a complex one. This is one that promotes a solid discussion with your beermigos. It may have a watery mouth taste but it's no skunk beer. Like it or hate it, you're gonna drink it. It's not horrible, it's 9.0% and you just spent 10 bucks on it. It's going down the gullet. The main thing I would say that makes this beer get this rating is the discussion. You are gonna be talking about all the idiosyncratic details of the weird little tastes you get and trying to figure it out. This will inevitably lead to deep discussions about beer, which leads to deep discussions about life.

Ninkasi Renewale Porter

Now that was a defining day. My steadfast flagship of Oregon beer, the brewery I have praised with the greatest praise all my legal drinking years as the finest, most consistently satisfying and rejuvenating, not to mention intoxicatingly addictive this side of Mars, did, indeed, disappoint.

I do not use the term "disappointment" lightly. Especially because, as a promotional deal, the six-pack was significantly discounted, making it the cheapest six-pack in its weight class. I never thought, especially with a label that said Ninkasi, that they were cheaper because they were of lesser quality. It was an obviously amateur mistake that I take full credit for: always beware the outward appearance of a deal (read: Yoav): take it with a grain of barley. That being said, I still drank four of the six, having pawned off the others in the name of objective scientific research. And its not a bad beer...for a Porter.

I should have known.

See, the Stout, a style of beer made for rich complexity and body can withstand the sheer quantity of hops the Ninkasi brewers attack with. A Porter, although dark in color, lacks the depth of character that a Stout can provide. While the Ninkasi Imperial Stout, for example, boasts an impressive 9.2% ABV and a healthy dose of hops (and on whose reputation I approached the Porter), the Renewale's relative translucency made it crumple under the intensity of production. It tasted like a half-hearted attempt at a NorthWest Black IPA and whimpered in with a 5.4% ABV. It was a sad day indeed.

I realize that my standard are high, spoiled as I am, and I realize that perhaps my demands of Ninkasi were unattainable. Their production and expansion have been growing steadily and no doubt creating pressure to diversify and release new special brews, but when you work under pressure one of two things can happen: you can make a mistake (case in point) or you can start the Revo-Fucking-Lution (see every other example of Ninkasi).

Status: Onesy Brew. You really only want to drink one of these, just to get the curious itch out of your system.

Boneyard IRA

Recently, perhaps I've spent a bit too much effort on my palate of vinafera--this being a direct result of outrageous quanties (read:free) of fermented grape juice. Despite this, I've struggled against the grain (pun intended) and have made the extra effort for fellow beermigos. Availability and consistency may be in flux, but my preferences remain the same; as we all know, in beer, wine and women, my tastebuds favor reds.

And the Boneyard is a whippersnapper! I mistook it at first glance--and indeed glanced no further--for I believed it to be a Boneyard IPA, which in it's own right it a magnificent brew, but when informed otherwise, that the on-tap offering was the India Red Ale instead, I could not help but congratulate my good fortune.

As with most Red Ales, Boneyard's was sufficiently well-hopped and malted with complexity. The unique part was the bitterness, more like a dried-out old elk skull than the heavy floral heartiness of the West Cascade beers. And that sere, unforgiving dryness on that finish, that's the rodeo. Definitely from the other side of the mountains.

Status: Burger and Brew: Alongside a Hellion Jalepeno Burger from Cornucopia, the compliment of food helped keep me calm despite the natural nationalism inspired by the IRA.

Lauginitas Lil' Sumptin Sumptin

Yeah, that's right. I got a little sumptin sumptin for you. Yeah, you, you dirty ol' brewhaha. That's right. That's right. Thaaaaat's right. I got just the taste for you. Lil spicy. Lil crispy. Lil tart, yeah, you like that tartness, don't you. Lil extra right there under that dirty ol tongue of yours. MmmmmHmmm. MMMMMHHHHMMMMMMHHHMMMMMHHHHMMMM. Delicious. And tell you what, shhhhhh, but that other one, that Lil Wild Sumtpin', you best watch out for that one. That one gon' break your throat.

Bridgeport Kingpin Red

As we all know, red ales are among the finest fermented beverages known to the global pantheons throughout mythological history. When that ale, however has been doubly brewed and hopped in triplicate, the result is something that could have only, and obviously, been made in Oregon.

Bridgeport brewing, long an unremembered standard of the Portland scene, has reached out to take a stranglehold on the red-headed underbelly of the city of roses. Kicking down wharf house doors with a hard-nosed, readily alcoholic 7.5% and using it to drown fools at the dirty junction of the Willamette and the Mighty Columbia rivers, Kingpin is the undisputed tyrant of the Pacific Northwest.

Beermigos Rating: Burger and Brew. Although complex enough to warrant onesy brew status, the fact that you'll inevitably drink two or three of these guys means you should probably back that up with some meat, cheese, bun and probably double bacon.

Ninkasi Believer Red

Last night I drank six pints of Ninkasi Believer Red and today I feel like a champion. The crazy part is, I felt even better than that last night after drinking those six Believers.

Honestly, whenever I drink Red Ale, I feel as though I can conquer the world. Believer just happens to be the best Red Ale ever produced. Fortunately, I have no deigns to conquer the world. I just want you to drink six of these pints.

Love,

Pat

Augustinerbrau Edelstoff

After a long day's work I decided I deserved a good beer. Originally I planned on running down to HUB, knowing the high quality those fine people make, would fit the bill. However, a flash of memory came to me of a small bottle shop on Division that I wanted to check out. My first impression was of disappointment. There wasn't as extensive of a selection that I hoped for, yet then again I have been spoiled with the local Bierstein down in Eugene. As I looked, I found the usual selections of Oregon beers, some usual German beers, and some not so usual German beers.

A glimmer of hope came across my mind that I might be able to finally find the one beer that's been escaping me for almost a year. The St. Augustiner beer that I drank a liter of in a beer garden in Munich, and have never forgot about the beer since. Naturally since I've struck out at finding this beer virtually everywhere in the States, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the Augustinerbrau label. I almost cried right in the bottle shop. The Beer Gods peeked through the clouds, a smiled ever so brightly upon my taste pallet, and my nostalgic tendencies.

With it's light golden color, crispy malt taste, and smoothly blended hops, my visions of sitting in a park and getting drunk with a bunch of Australians, and dancing in one of the oldest breweries in Germany danced in front of my eyes like an old fabled tale.

Beermigos rating: Contemplating the meaning of life with your Beermigos brew. Pat, I'm bringing some down. Doug, when you get out here, it's the first thing we're doing.

Wychwood Brewery: Hobgoblin Dark English Ale

So I was cruising through Binny's, an alcohol emporium, when a new beer caught my eye. The picture of an ugly little mythical creature caught my eye. As I poked around I noticed that creature was Hobgoblin and that this was a selling point for the fellas at Wychwood Brewery. they describe this beer as being Hobgoblinish because it has a character very similar to one. "Very likeable...once you get to know him..." There's no better way to get to know a beer than by buying a six-pack so I certainly did.

This is a very interesting beer. Seeing as it's a Dark English Ale it was very dark and bitter. However the mixture of malts in there was very interesting. It was dark and bitter but with an interesting combination of sweet malts. There was a slight chocolate taste and toffee taste as well. Probably the malts they used.

I would not even begin to describe this beer as refreshing. It was not smooth, the uniqueness of the taste makes you think whether you really like it or not. It was very dry. It smells delicious, sweet and malty, but the taste doesn't quite match the smell. I will say though, with all the different kinds of flavors they have in a Hobgoblin beer, they do a good job of mixing them and not having one be too overwhelming.

By that 6th beer I was past the questioning of what is this and getting pretty used to taste and starting to like it some. The guys at Wychwood Brewery had it right. Very likeable...once you get to know him...

Onesy Brew: I think this fits into this category because the uniqueness of the taste is so gosh darn special and complex that it must truly be enjoyed slowly. i also could see this at a Bingo event. At 5.2% ABV it's nothing to write home to mother about but a couple of these would leave you bewildered and out of place...probably feeling like a Hobgoblin of sorts. I would say In-Laws/ Girlfriend and Boyfriend's Parents but because of the unique and odd style I wouldn't want to risk serving an unpopular beer. Onesy is the way to go.

HUB Lager

After a long, long, long sabbatical (actually, me just being lazy), I've decided to share my latest beer experience with my fellow beermigos. I figured, "hey, a while ago, we had this thing rolling pretty well and I've just been slacking. I mean, we were almost at 100 posts!" Regardless of huge, gaudy post numbers, I felt I was doing a dis-service to my fellow beermigos by just letting this beautiful mix of tasty beer, and literary mastery sit idle while I continue to drink.

This lager I enjoyed the other night was during a bit of a bitter sweet moment. I recently moved up north to lovely Portland, and I just so happen to be four blocks away from Hopworks Urban Brewery (I shan't tell you the address, as I don't want thousands of adoring fans constantly on my door step). Tuesday night marked the first, of most likely many beers I will consume at this fine brew house. All while watching the Blazers get their butt's kicked in game two of the NBA Playoffs, by the Phoenix Suns, hence the bitter of the bitter sweet moment.

The lager was the second beer of the night, and the most necessary, as I consumed it during the ugly second half of the game. As all lagers should, this bad boy was bright yellow and clear as my pasty white, translucent skin (gross). HUB has replicated the Czech Republic style of lager in their flagship beer. Un-like many lagers today, you can tell they use nothing but malt rather than any corn by products like most of the big boys. The lager has a strong biscuit flavor that dominates the taste at the beginning, and finishes with a slight bit of hops and honey. Right above 5% in ABV, 32 degrees of IBU, and 11.5 Deg Plato OG.

Beermigos Rating: BBQ with your best Beermigos brew. This is a great beer to be hanging around an old Webber grill, cooking up some man meat, while doing some male bonding over current sporting events, and what have you not. However, due to the high quality of this beer, I would suggest a BBQ of Brats, or something a little fancier than Ball Park hot dogs. It would be like bringing an expensive bottle of wine to a pot luck where the main course is KFC.

P.S. THIS IS POST # 100. OH YEAH!

Bellringer Red

I got off work at 11:30 and went directly to the bar. I got there before my friend and ordered a Bellringer Red while I waited. When he arrived, we talked about writing and boxing, innevitably Hemingway. I biked home. Holy shit. Eight percent? McMennimans does it again.

Dragon's Breath

The library is a beautiful place. Where else can you go with the sole purpose of passing time surrounded by knowledge?* There are rows, aisles, floors dedicated to the transference of information from the minds of others directly into mine. I just go inside, wander around for a while, pulling books off the shelves and flipping through them. Usually, I gravitate towards the oversize photography section and see some waterfalls, and paintings and portraits and then i'll find whatever comic book somebody left lying around and look at those for a while, too. Then I'll go and read a couple newspapers and a couple magazines, take some notes, y'know and then head downstairs after making another swing around the shelves. On the ground floor is the library collection of music and film, a quite extensive collection. In perusal, today, just before I took exit, I found a live Miles Davis concert film from 1970. I checked it out and went across the street.** I was thirsty.

Across the street is a small grocery, and for a grocery that size, in the location it inhabits, for this town, the beer selection is ridiculously small. However small the beer section may be, what it lacks in quantity is sufficently balanced by the quality of available delicado. Dragon's Breath, is one of these delicacies.

Brewed and bottled in Missoula, Montana by Bayern Brewery, this beer is indeed a magical beast. Technically, Dragon's Breath is a Dark Heff Ale, three words that each seperately hold great meaning but that together as one phrase, conjure the epitome of strength, flavor and rejuvination. Dark, strong, 6% ABV forged with the sweet, citrus wheat, and bound by the crisp bite, the pale, ale energy, a fire grew in the belly.

And the fire was quenched.

I drank the Dragon's Breath as I watched that Miles Davis concert and when it was done I stood, and took a piss and then I came to write it down. It was perfect.

Beermigos rating: Debate-the-meaning-of-life-with-beermigos-brew

Truly exqusite. Only a night of hot, dragon, firebreating with my beermigos could top this.

*Sam Bond's Bingo

**guess how much it cost? Freeeeeeee

Maui Brewing Coconut Porter

As the weather is turning from fall to winter, so does my taste for beer. I find that nothing goes better with the season of falling leaves than a nice amber to match the color of the foliage outside. Yet, now that we're in November, it's getting a little bit colder out, and many trees are bare, I find myself focusing my attention on the darker and hearty brews of porters and stouts. Interestingly, while I enjoy these porters more in colder weather, this particular one comes from a place where it is rarely below 70 (in Fahrenheit that is).

Maui Brewing company is a favorite of mine, all of their beers coming in very cool designed cans are great for BBQ's (see their blond lager, and big swell IPA), and if I ever get the privilege to go down the Colorado river again, these will be the beers I take.

Alright, enough of my personal digression, and on to the beer. This porter is quite dark in looks, with very minimal breaks in it's black color. Sweet in smell, and a standard coffee taste at first with a subtle, sweet taste of roasted coconut at the end. The blend with the roasted malt and coconut is fantastic, making me believe that I could really drink this beer regardless of the weather outside as the coconut flavor lightens the brew up. My only gripe would be that the light brown head didn't last long enough for me. But I like a bit of froth on top more than your average beermigo.

Beermigos Rating: Burger and a brew beer. Fairly high in abv (5.7%), but I would imagine that a nice cheeseburger with a pineapple ring would buddy up with this beer like PB and J.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Oh dear Beermigos, I know, I know, the recent updates have been severely lacking. But I do have a decent excuse in the fact that I was in Europe. Other than Germany, and Guinness, there isn't much good beer in the Old World. I will not complain however, because the trip was fantastic and while I was missing beer, I would willing sacrifice Northwest beer for another go 'round in that region.

Any-who, my first beer back in the US was a familiar one that I had not drank in a long time. Naturally, this fine brew was consumed at the amazing establishment, Sam Bonds Car Garage, on another Monday Night Bingo. Pat was there to enjoy a beer with me, and we discussed our two different European experiences, and how I had missed Northwest-ish beer. Sierra Nevada is made in Northern California (geography!), but still has that hoppy, bitter, Northwest taste. It was fantastic to have a familiar beer, at a familiar event, with a familiar Beermigo. For those of you who may not sampled this beverage, it's a pretty typical pale ale. Copper in color, off white head, a spring floral scent, and a pleasant bitter finish.

Hot damn how I missed Northwest(ish) beer.

Beermigos rating: Beer with the Girlfriend/Boyfriend's parents at dinner. Solid taste, decent amount of alcohol, reasonably priced. Can't ask for too much more.