I suppose here could exist the year in review, but after five top five lists, I am sure many of you have probably had your fill with those shenanigans. So, once again, we look back to the first weekend of 2010. What a weekend filled with new and exciting brews and a few age old favorites.

Friday was New Years Day, and as expected, not a lot of folks had taken to the streets. However, it was Friday after all, and people love them a Friday. Thursdays mixing of beer, wine, champagne, and hard liquor made for a slow uprising for our posse on Friday. But, this did not deter our weekend beer excursions.

Taste the Roses

Walla Walla, Washington has been  a world class destination for wine connoisseurs since the 1970s. Producing some complex and flavorful varietals has garnered international acclaim for the Merlots, Cabernets, and most recently Syrahs of the area. In fact more than 100 wineries in the the Walla Walla Valley generate more than $100 million annually and make the area a hotspot for tourism. Walla Walla Community College offers an associate’s degree program in winemaking through its recently established school of Enology and Viticulture, which also operates its own commercial winery.

However, long before the emergence of the valley’s identity as a wine producer, beer was the lamen’s drink. Thanks to my friend Yvette Uber, I was able to learn a history of Walla Walla’s brewing culture from an issue of American Breweriana Journal which had an article by Herman Wiley Ronnenberg. In this magazine Yvette let me borrow, I learned that in 1855 pioneer brewer Emil Meyer established the first brewery in the future state of Washington. At the time this was Oregon Territory. When gold was discovered along the nearby Salmon River in 1860, Walla Walla became a major depot for supplies and by the following year, Meyer advertised his City Brewery and Bakery on Main Street in the local publication, the Walla Walla Statesman. Meyer’s focus was lager beer, bread, a variety of crackers, fruits and vegetables, wines and liquors.In 1862 Vancouver Brewery Ale from America’s Vancouver became available in Walla Walla to compete with the local brews. Making the long journey up the Columbia before being hauled over land, Vancouver’s ale offered a fruitier tasting alternative to Meyer’s lager. By 1864 Meyer was also in the ale producing business and had the beer brewed at his Second Street brewery on the east end of town. A real entrepeneur it has been documented that Meyer also briefly ran a brewery in Idaho City in the Boise Basin during times of gold rush. In 1865 Meyer was back at the Walla Walla City Brewery manufacturing bock beer. A report says that the brewer gave a dozen bottles to the newspaper and says that some “beer sops who happened to drop in hornswaggled it down and left smacking their lips with smiles of satisfaction beaming upon their countenances.”

Portland International Beerfest’s 2009 guide booklet reads “Tapped Out” boldly across the front top. After spending two of the three days at this well organized and executed beer geek event, I feel just that. On the opening night, Friday July 17, I decided to forgo the event due to hot weather that nearly hit 100 degrees. But by Saturday, I was amped to go. Equipped with my new Beer Rock Socks, a plump stack of drink tickets and the event’s classy glass sampler, I was of the determined mindset that neither crowds nor heat would stop me.

Baron Brewing LLC and their lineup of fine draught and Reinheitsgebottled brews and Pacific Northwest-styled pirate-themed ales have a new home in Seattle’s Greenwood District. The Phinneywood blog states that The Pillager’s Pub has filled the space where the old Tully’s Coffee used to be and are releasing a new India Pale Ale, Hop the Plank IPA, on April 13. Pillager’s Pub is located at 8551 Greenwood Ave N Ste 5 in Seattle and is pouring Sunday through Thursday 3PM-midnight, and Friday and Saturday until 1am.

Photo courtesy of Phinneywood.com

Just caught wind of a new beer from Sixpoint Craft Ales of Brooklyn, New York called “Hop Obama.” A link from FreeWilliamsburg.com directed us to this page on the Sixpoint’s website:

Just two choices is not good enough for Brewpublic

Call us brew socialists or communistic quaffers…heck, we’ve been even known to drink a pink beer or two. But, when it is all said and done, no matter your palate preferences, we should all be glad to live in Brewpublic. In Brewpublic, several tastes are welcomed, and infact, encouraged. For fun in lieu of the United States’ upcoming Presidential election, let’s look at what Brewpublic might look like if this was a Two-Party System. By Party, we are referring to choices, not a gathering around a keg or cooler filled with something libatious.

In a two-party system, bicameralist, or dichotomously divided beer world, we would only have two choices. Suppose, for arguments sake, the spectrum here of an obstensible right and left wing dichotomy ranged from light lagers to dark ales. In such a hypothetical system, the proportional representation of these choices would see just two beers’ attempts to include positions that will bring them a larger portion of drinkers (supposing this is a democratic beer loving society).