(SpoCOOL) A Spokane Blog

Awesome came early this year, as Stone released the 2012 edition of its Imperial Russian Stout a few months earlier than last year. It's currently on tap at Jones and other fine establishments, as well as available on bottle. So really, you're probably not somebody we want to associate with if you're not planning on sampling this soon.

This year's edition is not surprisingly similar to the 2011. Similar, but not identical, and possibly even less similar than what I had expected.

Up front everything seems securely familiar: The chocolate and vanilla are right there on the nose, and the malts are as present as they should be. It's the type of smell you want to be friends with and have a beer with.

Sip, and you'll start noticing some differences from last year. Oh, the usual suspects are there, but... What's that? Anise? Apparently Stone has snuck in some hints of my favorite Belgo Anise, and the addition is welcomed. Flavor wise I'd put this between the 2011 and the Belgo Anise, though certainly with more emphasis on the former.

Where the 2012 slightly disappoints is on the mouthfeel. This might improve after some aging, but this feels surprisingly thin compared to the 2011. It's not that the mouthfeel pulls down my overall impression that much, but when you encounter greatness, you just don't want to feel even vaguely disappointed. And I do feel vaguely disappointed, at least right now.

I'll be curious to see what some aging does, and by all means, this is a great beer, it just has a small asterisk next to it.

Clover is set to open tomorrow at 11am. Their menu might, at first glance, look a bit high-end for the Gonzaga neighborhood, but hey, maybe that's too cynical of an attitude on our part. It's always good to see some more ambitious places open all around town after all.

David Blaine's #SpokanePicnic will go down on Sunday, May 20th, 12pm, at the Finch Arboretum. This will be a DIY type of event (as picnics tend to be) so make sure you check out the small print of the invite.

And if you follow Veraci like others would follow Phish, you should probably know the mobile pizza makers will be at 12 String Brewing Co in the Valley on Friday at 5pm. That's 11616 E Montgomery. A good time to try a new-ish local brewery while eating some awesome pizza. (Breaking: They'll also be at The Hop Shop on Saturday, starting at 5pm. Make this a Veraci Pizza weekend!)

Spokane has cupcake fever, a disease it caught a few years later than the rest of the country. In that sense, it's not much different from the frozen yoghurt situation, but I digress. Sweet Frostings. Blissful Bakeshop, with its awkward punctuation and all, kind of got lumped in with the many new cupcakes shops in town, and we find that to be a bit unfair. Sure, there are a lot of cupcakes here, but there's more to Sweet Frostings than just that, be it other sweet or savory offerings.

With that said, the cupcakes here are good, this is coming from someone who doesn't particularly love the stuff.

We tried the strawberry/champagne flavor which was a few notches better than your average cupcake, largely because it was not too sweet. Here you could actually taste both the champagne and strawberries, and the frosting did not overpower anything with an over the top sweetness. (Kind of ironic, I suppose, name of bakery taken into consideration and all.)

Even better was their s'mores bar. Again, not too sweet, yet rich, with the marshmallows nicely balanced on top of a brownie-like bar. Granted, having more than one of these might be an overkill, but that's kind of in the nature of the pastry.

The location has a nice feel to it -- walls painted in vaguely loud colors that don't actually pin you down to the ground and scream in your face -- and the counter has the various baked goods well laid out, making it easy to pick and choose.

So we like Sweet Frostings. Of the wave of new bakeries opening, this might just be the best one.

SpoBREW alumnus and professional cynic Ted was laying down some smack talk about gjetost on Twitter last night. Gjetost -- aka geitost or brunost -- is a Norwegian cheese, and its name literally translates to "goat cheese". This isn't the type of goat cheese many are used to, mind you; the "brunost" monicker means "brown cheese", which reflects the color of the cheese. Its consistency is also harder than many more common types of goat cheeses.

Now, we might have said something about gjetost detractors being sick and demented, and we stand by that! Gjetost does pack a punch, with a powerful, sweet flavor of caramel. It melts in the mouth, and might even stick to the roof of it which... I suppose I can see how that's less than ideal if you don't like the flavor. But if you, like us, enjoy cheeses with hints of butterscotch, then you can't go wrong with gjetost.

Serving it on Norwegian style waffles with strawberry jam is the best way to enjoy it, but there are more savory ways to eat it too. Get some good bread and butter, make an open faced sandwich with the cheese, top it with slice of red pepper, and you're set. Keep in mind the richness of the cheese makes this a filling meal.

Make tonight a gjetost night! You can find the cheese in most stores, including Huckleberry's and Yoke's.