Marin Mt. Tam Pale Ale

8 beers on tap here, Including 21A back in black and Drake's blonde. Went with the Pale because I was having French toast with strawberry preserves. What beers go well with sticky?


They also have Aventinus in bottles. Tempting, but I do need to be able to make it home.

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Hofbräuhaus Las Vegas

No bachelor party in Las Vegas is complete without a fresh litre of beer.



And Obazter.

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Kalifornia Kölsch: Magnolia Pub

I hated the Magnolia remodel, not because it removed the hippie ambience, but because it changed the crowd from beer drinkers to Mission hipsters. The food was always variable at Magnolia, but they had some amazing beers on tap. We served Spud Boy IPA at our wedding, and the Kölsch and Ashbury Alts are favorites.

But the beer list isn't as good as it used to be. They serve a new and relatively lame Bittersweet Motel, Cyprus Brown, and the tepid but true to style Ruby Mild. The wheat's only on cask and four of the beers are guest beers. One or two is fine, but four means the brewmaster's distracted.

On the other hand, the fried chicken sandwich was excellent (though the avocados were a little much) and my Reuben was very tasty. We used to come here for both the food and the beer, especially brunch, because they were both so very good. Magnolia was the exception that proved the rule.





The better the food at a brewpub, the worse the beer.

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Ahhh, Blueberry beer.

When July rolls around, one of my favorite styles of beer to found from microbrewers all over is a wheat or pilsner brewed with blueberries.



Wachuesset Blueberry at the Asgard in Cambridge, MA

It's not easy to brew good fruit beer - goodness knows there are plenty of bad ones out there: overly sweet, all fruit and no beer taste, etc. I had a peach beer once that smelled and tasted like a compost pile, for example. Blueberries seem to be brew-friendly, and I rarely meet a blueberry beer I don't like. One of my faves is the 1 Ton Blueberry Ale from 3rd Street Aleworks in Santa Rosa. Other notables include Wachuesset Blueberry, Marin Brewing, and Boston Beer Works. Celebrate the summer with a tasty bluebeery pint!






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On fancy mustard and other elitist consumables

I probably should not have bothered reading the article that lead me to this ridiculous photo montage and survey on boston.com about the Gates incident last week and beer, since the journalism was anything but stellar. I found this slide in the deck, claiming that Becks and Red Stripe are elitist:



Seriously??? If he'd said Rochefort 10 or Eisenbahn Lust or some other lesser-known and expensive imported beer, I would have no problem with the elitist label. But BECKS? Please!!

Higgins Restaurant

Brewdog Paradox McCallan Stout and a glass of Argyle Brut at Higgins Restaurant.


We've been going here when in Portland for a few years. 100+ bottles and 10 taps with not nearly as much Oregon Brews as you'd expect. Good food, only a bit pricey, very nice. They have an excellent wine list to complement the food as well.

What I love most is that there are new beers to try, and rarer ones that always hit the spot. This is the first place we had Eisenbahn Lust.

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Pelican Pub and Brewery

Nice view.


Great Saison.



Coastal brewpubs often have subpar beers; Drive to the good ones, especially on a hot day.

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