My experience with Northern Ales is, at best, minimal. I know they're from Kettle Falls, which kinda makes them semi-local, and apparently their brewery doubles as a grocery store. So that's quite something.
Their Flume Creek IPA is not a bad beer either. It's not amazing, and I wouldn't travel to Kettle Falls just to drink it again, but it's worth picking up if you find a bottle. Heck, even a six-pack for that matter.
It pours a copper color with an OK head and decent lacing. Pretty inviting looking, and the scent of hops hits the nose straight away. A little bit of grapefruit might be noticeable too, but there's little here to suggest this being a particularly complex IPA.
And what do you know, the nose tells most of the story. The flavor follows it to a proverbial T. There are hops here, and little else, other than just a vague maltiness toward the end. That's not to say Flume Creek is a hop-bomb, it's just that there is little else to the medium bodied beer.
This isn't an exceptionally exciting IPA then, but it's refreshing all the same. Worth trying, particularly if you're a fan of this style of beer. Those who are still on the fence about IPAs might look elsewhere -- you should still be able to find this year's Celebration, for example.
Downton Abbey is, in a sense, a bit like meth: highly addictive, but most of us don't know why. As far as the TV show goes, it might just be that we all feel very very fancy and classy while watching it. And thus it lends itself perfectly to a droll drinking game:
Take a drink of Pimm's every time you call the show Downtown Abbey.
Sip a Campari and orange juice any time Thomas and/or O'Brien do something nefarious to set up Bates.
Enjoy a glass of red wine whenever Mrs Patmore chastises Daisy. (Take a second drink when it's done unfairly.)
Sample a good cognac whenever somebody mentions it's time for Mary to get married.
Imbibe an Old Fashioned whenever a Crawley sister backstabs or talks dirt about any of the other sisters.
Down a Scotch any time you exclaim words that could be taken straight from the show. Examples: "Scandalous!" and "What a scollywop!". Take a second drink if you say it in a British accent.
Sample a fine porter whenever Mr Carson eavesdrops on someone's conversation.
Drink a Drambuie if you're watching the first season on Netflix and you wonder why Laura Linney is introducing Masterpiece Classics.
Finish a bottle, any bottle, all the bottles, if you can come up with a good reason for why you're watching the show.
Rocket Bakery on Main will be going away soon. I'm sure that is shocking and sad to some, but life will go on.
Taking its place sometime later this year is a bakery and lounge headed by Alison Collins who you may (or may not) know from Mizuna. We are big fans of both her cocktails and baked goods -- her cheesecake sent many of us out during the first 7vs7 -- and are pretty excited about the prospects of this new spot.
The bakery/lounge will provide everything from booze to coffee on the beverage side, in addition to baked stuff. There will also be more "traditional" food, much of it with a vegetarian and vegan bend. A 6am opening hour is planned, which should be great for those looking for coffee a bit earlier in the morning.
Now, all of this is well and good, but if you fancy yourself an interior designer, there's more: You can be part of all this in a very involved way, through a booth design contest. Here you can, as the name indicates, make your mark on the interiors by submitting a booth design concept to alisoncollins@msn.com. Details from the source herself:
Long story short, there will be 9 booths built in that will require amazing "treatment" if you will. Submissions due by Jan 20th. Any theme, design, medium will be considered. Your canvas is wood seat/table and brick wall but consider your 5x5 booth/cubby/pod as a whole (wall, above space, etc). Chosen designs will be based on aesthetic as well as functionality. You will be executing your design if chosen. How sweet to come drink in your "own booth"!
Hey, cool stuff!
We're looking forward to seeing how this all will turn out as we think it has the potential to be one of the more interesting spots opening in town over the next year.
Whenever we throw an event here at SpoCOOL -- SpoBREW or Spiceawar for example -- we have stragglers, the ones who are just are too late to sign up and miss out on participating in the contest. Hey, we get it, self-doubt and what not, but disappointment is usually pretty severe for those who pull the trigger too late. Scenes like these aren't uncommon (probably)...
... and that is something we'd like to avoid, so consider this your early invite to sign up for SpoTOAST, next week! Or the week after! We don't quite know yet.
"But what is SpoTOAST?!", you cry. SpoTOAST is our AeroPress contest, where you'll be doing just that -- AeroPressing. Exactly when and where it will take place is still kind of up in the air, as are the rules, though they will be based off the world championship ones.
So this gives you a good week to think it over, if you want to be part of SpoTOAST contest. Got friends who might want to compete? Let them know -- some were sorely disappointed when they couldn't partake in SpoBREW because they heard about it too late.
Make 2012 a year of good coffee and think deeply and thoroughly if you want to partake in SpoTOAST!
Oh, and the "toast" name? Toast will be involved in one way or another, just because that makes perfect sense to us.
