Boise Beer

Downtown Boise is a fun, very walkable city alongside the Boise River which features miles of park space, walking and biking trails, river rafting, museums, theaters, coffee shops, and Boise State University. A quick search on your map app will produce a bevy of breweries and tap houses in the area. 

Where to start? With this article from Washington Beer Blog featuring a guest contribution from Boise Brew Blog. I've been to Boise and enjoyed their beers but now I know more and can't wait to go back to explore the Boise beer scene a little more.

And you can bet I'll be following Boise Brew Blog because, like I said, Boise is a cool place to hang out. Good beer makes it that much better.

Cheers!

I can't imagine that there's any good reason for this.

Washington Beer Blog - Broadside Brewery and Columbia Sportswear Answer Nature's Call

Breakside Brewery of Portland, Oregon, teamed up with Columbia Sportswear to create a beer that reeks with the essence of the steamy wilderness: it’s made with bear poop.

 I will be watching the Super Bowl game (Go Hawks!) but I will NOT be drinking this.

What do these beers have in common?

• Sierra Nevada Pale Ale 
• Samuel Adams Boston Lager 
• Anchor Steam Beer
• Celis White (Witbier) 
• Anchor Liberty Ale 

Answer: these beers make up the inaugural class of Landmark Craft Beers. This recognition by the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame sets out to recognize "beers that didn’t just become popular—but actually shaped brewing practices, pushed boundaries, or paved the way for entire styles or movements."

While Celis Brewery went bankrupt in 2019 the new owner of Anchor Brewing, Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of the yogurt company Chobani, has promised to revive Anchor Steam and Liberty Ale. However, no such thing has happened in the year since he acquired the brewery in 2024. Only Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Sam Adams Boston Lager are still in production and widely available.

What does this mean for you? It means that wherever you go, you have the opportunity to drink a glass of history. If your latest, greatest, favorite local craft beer isn't available on tap, there's a good chance you can still get a legend in a glass. (If not on tap, then look for it in a bottle.)

It's easy to forget the beers that came before, the trailblazers that sit on the cooler shelves in the background, faded with familiarity. But it's important to remember, from time to time, and to honor the pioneers who brought us the craft beer movement. These are beers that deserve a place your home refrigerator.

Get a cold one and raise your glass. Cheers to the Landmark Beers! 

Would you bathe in beer?

The Washington Post:Soaking in beer while drinking beer? Now that’s a spa day

"...visitors treat themselves to the alleged wellness benefits of soaking in brewing inputs. That does not mean dunking in a tub full of Budweiser. Spas combine brewer’s yeast, hops, barley malt, hot water — and sometimes a little beer — to promote relaxation and healthier skin. Proponents of beer soaks say this mixture is great for your skin, improving damage and elasticity, exfoliating, hydrating and softening, and clearing acne. Allegedly the hops, barley and brewer’s yeast have antioxidant properties."

The above link is behind a paywall but you can find out more about how to take a spa day with beer, here.

Indio Brewing is here!

Check it out: Indio Brewing is now open (although their grand opening - whatever that is - isn't until later this month). We went yesterday and the place was packed nearly to capacity which was great. 

But here's the real surprise: good beer! While that, of course, is always the intention, new breweries often struggle their first year. Recipes don't always scale up to larger batches as easily as one thinks. The lines are new and can sometimes make the beers taste funky (like plastic). And, new breweries often offer only a small handful of beers which makes sense; it's hard to make a full menu of beers and have them all ready on opening day. Or any day, for that matter. 

They are open today (July 6) from 2 pm until 9 pm. Sunday Funday! My suggestion: order a flight. I had the Milkshake IPA while Hubby had the Mexican Lager. Both were solid which makes me think the rest of the menu is worth exploring (which I definitely plan to do). My expectations were low and I am happy to say they were exceeded. I wish they were closer to where I live but they are close to where a lot of other people live judging by how full they were yesterday afternoon.

Indio Brewing (not to be confused with Indio Brewing) is located near the intersection of Jackson and Avenue 42 in Indio, California. It's just north of and across the street from Dave's Hot Chicken, if you know where that is. (The other Indio Brewing is in Sugar Hill, Georgia.)

The foam really does matter.

Earlier, I posted about when it's desirable to have a thick foamy head on your beer. I researched how this is achieved, where it's usually found, and what it looks like when the glass has varying amounts of beer foam and how those different amounts of foam affect the beer drinking experience. But, I hadn't actually seen it or experienced it in person.

Until now.

On a recent trip to Las Vegas, we visited a brewery called Crafthaus Brewery. They have two locations: the brewery, which is in the nearby city of Henderson, and a taproom in the Las Vegas Arts District. We stopped at both.

We went to the brewery first. When I saw they were serving a Czech-style Pilsner with a side-pull handle, I have to say I geeked out a little. This is how it's actually listed on the menu:

Czech Plz- LUKR Handle | *Slow Pour

Not only do they identify the beer but they name the manufacturer of the handle that will pull the beer! LUKR not only makes tap handles, they also offer classes on how to properly pour a beer under a program known as the Perfect Pour Academy. These people are serious about their beer.

I knew I was in for a treat and Crafthaus did not disappoint. It was more than a perfect beer; it was an experience. The beertender didn't mind answering all of our questions and explained that the Czech Plz Milk Crate, also on their menu, is a crate of six small bottles filled with just the pilsner's foam. He also explained that pouring just the foam into the bottles takes time to do properly. We opted to have just the pints but I remain curious and will try the milk crate next time.

We also visited their tap house location in the Las Vegas Arts District and ordered pints of the Czeck Plz. It was good but not as good as at the Henderson location. That could be due to any number of reasons but I remain a fan of the brewery, the Czech Plz, and the craft that goes into pouring a Czech Pilsner with a side-pull faucet. Keep an eye out for the side-pour handle and if you see one, consider ordering whatever comes out of it.

As a side note, foam is important for other beers poured from traditional pull handles as well. The foam isn't just something that takes the place of more beer in the glass. It's meant to be part of the experience and therefore a well poured beer will always have a small amount of foam.

While foam is a byproduct of fermentation, it isn't just the burps and farts of the yeast doing all that work. There are many different kids of yeast strains which contribute to the aroma and overall taste of beer. So, while the side-pull handle produces a specific kind of foam, traditionally on a specific style of beer, all beers should have some foam to enhance the consumer's experience.

Conclusion: Don't be afraid of the foam! And when you have the opportunity to try a Czech-style Pilsner drawn with a side-pull handle, dive in enthusiastically!

Sad news for local craft beer enthusiasts

If you're a resident of the Coachella Valley (in California), you may already be aware that La Quinta Brewing is closing its tap house in La Quinta. Certainly, if you're a regular there, you've been lamenting this news since it was reported in The Desert Sun two weeks ago.

Let that sink in: There will no longer be a La Quinta Brewing in La Quinta. There is no Palm Desert Brewing in Palm Desert but La Quinta Brewing will have their main brewing facilities there. Likewise, there is no Palm Springs Brewing in Palm Springs but La Quinta Brewing has a tap house there.

Pop quiz: Where will La Quinta Brewing not be? Answer: La Quinta.

It doesn't make sense unless you're La Quinta Brewing who was hit with a rent increase that made it unsustainable for them to remain in their namesake city. Or does it have to do with the brewery's leadership restructuring that took place in 2024? Maybe both.

We remember when LQB brewed in Palm Desert in a little warehouse space off Washington just north of I-10. (Why it was located there and not in La Quinta, I don't know. The space is now occupied by Canyon Creek Mushrooms). Mychal was behind the bar then, serving up a smile  as he poured our favorite beers upon seeing us walk through the door. He also knew how to throw a party! In the parking lot, old-school style, with lights, tents, folding chairs, and a band. There was less of a touristy vibe and was more of a community hangout where everyone was welcome.

There was a yellow barrel where people would put stickers from other breweries, like this one from Trusty Brewing in Vancouver WA that we added in 2018. (While Trusty was one of our favorite hangs, it is no longer in business.) When the Palm Desert location moved to a larger facility, the barrel moved with it and the stickers we added are still there for all to see and to remind us of the many places we've been to over the years.

It wasn't until two years after LQB was founded that they opened a tap house in La Quinta (in 2015). It was a small venue with outdoor seating, games stacked in the corner, friendly beertenders, and the same local vibe as the original Palm Desert location. There was no food there, but you could bring in food from a neighboring restaurant and enjoy it with your favorite friends and brews. (Talking about you, J&L!)

In 2021, the La Quinta tap house expanded to include more seating and food service with a move across the street to its current location. There, we contributed more stickers like these from Ghost Runners Brewery (Vancouver, WA) and Barrel Mountain Brewing (Washougal and Vancouver, WA).

The Palm Springs location opened in 2018. It's a great place to sit outside and people watch but it's decidedly touristy as is the Palm Desert location to a large extent. The second iteration of the La Quinta location had a good balance of both tourists and locals, and being as it was the closest location for us, it was our favorite and most frequented LQB location of the three.

And now we say goodbye to Carlos, Kenna, Sara, Alyssa, and Sage - names that come quickly to mind. There are others whose names are out of reach but who always recognized us as one of the regulars and treated us well. There are the regular customers - Harriet comes to mind. A real character. There's the guy who always sits in the corner under the TV at the end of the bar and the woman who is usually on the next barstool with her dog tucked under her feet. We always greeted each other, sometimes we'd strike up a conversation. It was a community with good craft beer and good people at its center.

Where will we all go now?

I'm sad to say that for us it probably won't be to another La Quinta Brewing location. Instead, we'll find a watering hole that's closer and hope a new brewery moves in either to their old space or another nearby.

Thanks for the good times, La Quinta Brewing. We will miss you. All of you.