Portland has a lot of fine drinking opportunities, with great bars and wineries in addition to about 30 local breweries. Even the gas stations have a pretty sweet beer fridge.

If you like beer, then Rogue Ales is certainly a familiar name. Its Dead Guy Ale,  among many others, has made it a big name in craft brewing. If you’re ever in Portland, Oregon, pay a visit to its distillery and public house. In addition to a big beer list and surprisingly advanced food menu, you can take the distillery tour any day Mon-Fri at 2 pm.

They have beer samplers that let you taste their many (many) brews. My two favorites:

Hazelnut Brown Nectar: A brown ale with a slightly sweet hazelnut flavor that hits you in the middle of your taste followed by a malty finish. Vanilla and hazelnut on the nose make for a unique experience all around.

Brutal Bitter: This is a well-rounded beer with a smooth mouthfeel that transitions to a bitter hops finish. If you like bitters, this one will make you smile.

This place will definitely give you a case of “too many beers, not enough time.” If you’re going for a sampler, I’d skip the St. Rogue Red Ale and make sure to try the Juniper Pale Ale, Shakespeare Stout or Mocha Porter.
Rogue also makes rum and gin. After being so impressed with the hazelnut beer, I tried the hazelbut rum. I was expecting to be blown away, but that didn’t happen. What I got was a pretty average rum with a little too much heat and not much hazelnut to discern.

I was starving when I got there, so the kobe beef sliders and generous side salad (topped with cranberries, hazelnut and blue cheese) made my day. I heard from a friend that the Blue Balls, which are meatballs stuffed with blue cheese, were outrageous.
Rogue actually has quite a few locations (many in Oregon, one in Washington and another in San Francisco). If you want to add a tour on to your drinking experience, there’s the Portland distillery tour and the Independence, Oregon hop yard tour.

If you see Rogue ales in your local store, grab ‘em. And if you’re ever out west, these friendly folks will pour you a tasty craft beer.

Rogue Ales

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Continuing the celebration of the 250 years of Guinness this week’s drink is a wonderful twist on the average pint that was introduced to me by my friend Jason. Yes, it is simple and wonderful a bit of fine port combined with a well poured pint of Guinness. This drink would certainly make Arthur Guinness proud, although I have a feeling he may have tried this himself.

Midnight

1 oz. Port
1 pint Guinness

Add the port to a pint glass, if you got a rounded Guinness glass even better, then fill with Guinness.

Enjoy a bit of video from yesterday’s Arthur day celebration in Dublin.

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Today, September 24th 2009 marks the day 250 years ago that Arthur Guinness started the great brewing tradition that is Guinness. The folks at St. James Gate are planning a world wide party to celebrate with such acts as the Black Eyed Peas, Tom Jones, and Sean Paul. The party starts at the St. James Gate Brewery and continues with live music throughout Dublin and in other cities such as Lagos and Kuala Lumpur.

The party continues west to the USA with over 5000 pubs celebrating and hoisting a toast at 17:59 (5:59pm) local time to honor Arthur’s achievement.

The events of the day will be telecast on Direct TV channel 101, with feeds from Dublin and pubs around the US.

So tomorrow at 5:59 pm, grab a Guinness at you local pub and relish in the gift that Arthur Guinness has given us.

For more visit Guinness.com

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Nirvino’s new iPhone app puts reviews of over 1,000,000 bottles of wine at your finger tips. Never wonder be lost again when staring at that wine menu. Honestly, I never know what order. Nirvino’s new iPhone app can help you pick the right bottle for the occasion. Not only can you find the perfect bottle of wine, you can add your rating. If on the off chance they don’t have the bottle you are drinking, simply add it in. The Nirvino wine rating app is quick, easy and only $2 bucks. Two bucks for better wine choices?

This will save you at the wine bar, really!

Where do you I sign up?
iTunes of course - Nirvino

The Wall Street Journal has a fun little piece analyzing stadium beer prices against the baseball team’s record.

What it found is that on average the more a team wins, the more its stadium charges for beer.

According to data collected by Team Marketing Report for the 2009 season, beer prices vary dramatically among big-league teams. A 21-ounce beer costs $4.75 in Pittsburgh, but you’ll shell out $8.75 for a 20-ounce brew at San Francisco’s AT&T Park. This led us to wonder: Does quality have anything to do with beer prices?

Surprisingly, it does. A team with a .600 winning percentage charges, on average, about $1.30 more for a 16-ounce beer than does a team with a .400 percentage.

I’d venture that the quality of beer has something to do with it, too. It’s true things are more expensive in San Francisco, but damn if there isn’t a pretty decent beer selection at AT&T Park. Looks like Phillly beat out SF for record/beer price relationship. But not so sure they beat the Bay when it comes to selection.

Can a Ballclub’s Record Justify Its Beer Price @ Wall Street Journal

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We’ve been hearing for a while now that red wine is good for our health. And resveratrol is the name of the compound that supposedly wields these healing powers.

You may have seen ads online or spam in your inbox hocking resveratrol in pill form. (Although, I’d prefer it in the form of a glass of red wine.)

Naturally drug companies want in on the action. GlaxoSmithKline has paid $720 million for rights to resveratrol research.
But what’s the science behind it? If a glass of red wine is good for the blood and heart, is a supplement also good or maybe even better?

The LA Times has a good article on this, for those who want to delve into the science behind these health claims:

To bring resveratrol cheaply to a growing market, supplement makers have taken to extracting the plant compound not from grapes or wine but from an exotic weed — Polygonum cuspidatum, or Japanese knotweed. They are mixing it with a wide variety of other dietary supplements (including the antioxidant acai, which also has taken the supplements world by storm), concentrating it in mega-doses, micronizing it “for optimum absorption” and capturing it in a pill, capsule, powder and even a topical cream. … The flurry of commercial activity has taken off despite the fact that researchers don’t even know exactly what resveratrol does.

Apricot is one of my favorite summer fruits, and what better way to enjoy it than in a champagne cocktail!

You can adapt this recipe to use any of your favorite fruits … or any of your favorite liqueurs, for that matter.
The Bubbly Apricot

2 oz. apricot and triple sec puree (instructions below)
champagne or sparkling wine

Pour apricot and triple sec puree into a champagne flute and carefully top off with chilled champagne.

Apricot and triple sec puree

1/4 cup triple sec
2 fresh apricots

Chop apricots and place blender along with the triple sec; puree. Makes enough for 2 cocktails. (Optional: put ingredients together and store in freezer for an hour or more, before pureeing)

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