A Dog Days Swan Song: The Bittersweet End of a Legend
Hair of The Dog occupies a category of One. It’s remained the very definition of what “small independent craft brewery” means and SHOULD mean.
The Pour Fool
Veteran writer, Steve Body, on beer, wine, spirits, the Business Of, and those who make them…and occasionally Other Things.
Tacoma – and Your Hometown: A Metaphor and A Cautionary Tale
This future is something not that we have to create, it is something we get to create; a wonderful, limitless challenge and can be enormous fun and a good living, IF we have the guts and don’t let the knee-jerk naysayers drag us off the path, into their weeds.
Deschutes Black Butte NA: No Alcohol, No Suckage
When something comes along that changes the paradigm of a culture or even a product class, like Deschutes Black Butte NA absolutely has done, the bar, the minimum requirement for quality moves in an almost visible way.
Echoes Brewing and The Big Ol’ Yuletide Miracle
Echoes Brewing “Mother. Of. All. Tripels”, unless Washingtonians have even less general beer awareness than they used to, SHOULD wind up being considered a Pacific Northwest icon.
Looking For Trouble: My Take on The Lager Boom
It would be nice if today’s beer fans could bother to explore some of the styles of ale that sidle up to Lager Territory (Cold IPA, Brut, and Extra Pale come to mind) and quit reflexively running back to the comfortable haven of Less Flavor.
It Is More Blessed: Day One: The Botanist
Am I a big ol’ hypocrite if I admit that, when it comes to discussing the relative merits of the planet’s many, many Gins, I am at least willing to discuss the fact that Bruichladdich Distillery’s brilliant offspring, The Botanist Islay Dry Gin, has to be in any conversation about “Best”?
Dexter “Three Wood”: Bourbon Out of Bounds
Dexter is a gorgeous bottle of rock-solid, all-American, all-Bourbon crafted Whiskey and, at just $49.99 a pop, a slam-dunk Bargain.
Less Is More (I Hope!): Reds for Holidays
These are five iconic reds that have stood the test of time and shown reliable, remarkable skill in the winemaking, by a producer tight-focused on drinkability first and art down the list a bit.
The Pour Fool 