Getting one's drink on

After this week's social events, beer is probably the last thing on your mind, but if you like beer and spend time on the West Coast you need to take a look at the Good Beer Guide: West Coast USA. Written by two British beer writers, they had the good fortune to tour the Western US to visit brewpubs, breweries and bars and provide exhaustive coverage of the beer drinking opportunities out here.

While I have dabbled in the delights of the West Coast, I know the Portland scene fairly well and they have it beautifully covered. They rightly point out the excellent Concordia Ale House as a highlight and also provide indepth reviews of the local majors like Deschutes, McMenamins and Bridgeport.

The writing is funny and enthusiastic, these guys really do like beer quite a lot. If you drink beer (decent beer that is) and spend time on the West Coast, this is an excellent investment.

It's the only thing that slowly stops the ache

OK kids, just so you don't think I have my tongue eight inches up the asses of the guys at Dogfish, I have to say I found Immort Ale to be NOT good at all. You might say that I should have been wary when the label said it had an "oak" flavor. If you ever hadve tried some Lagavulin and had that smack-in-the-face peat flavor, then you know what to expect in the Immort Ale. Yuck-tas-tic if you ask me, but then I like the clean flavor of the other Dogfish beers. I shoulda bought the Golden Shower.

Thank all the good in the world that I also purchased a bottle of Lagunitas Shut Down Ale, which meets the regular Lagunitas standards. The beer is fine, but the story is more interesting. Apparently, some folks were smoking the wacky tabacky at the brewery which led to a raid. As the label says "Whatever. We're Still Here."

Did you know that Kim Gordon once dated Danny Elfman? Yes, it is true, as I learned at Beulahland yesterday. It remains unknown whether he hung them from his car aerial (one zillion cool points to those who get this reference.)

The kind you find in a second hand store

Finally dropped the cash on a Dogfish Head Fort. Normally beer is not a considered purchase, but when it costs $16 for a large bottle, you take care. Anyway, it's a very good beer. It's one of their "big" beers, meaning it has a high alcohol content, but unlike Hair of the Dog, it doesn't taste too much of alcohol. This particular beer is brewed with raspberries which gives it a nice fresh fruit taste. It's not really sweet, but the flavor comes through. The high alcohol/raspberry combo may turn off a lot of drinkers, but try this one, it is so smooth.

This one, like most Dogfish, is hard to find on the West Coast. Here in PDX, you can get it at Belmont Station and Beaumont Market. The Beaumont Market cooler is small, but well stocked. You can (almost) always get the Dogfish 90 minute IPA or some strange Lagunitas you've not seen before. They carry a range of Belgians, high end American micros as well as your standards. The people who run it are quite friendly as well.