(SpoCOOL) A Spokane Blog

Granted, he was more of a PBR and disco man, but you are pretty much a Swayze-hater if you don't attend SpoBREWING tomorrow. 3pm! Manito Tap House!

Hey, SpoBREWING for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is happening this Saturday! 3pm! Manito Tap House! Read all about it on the Facebook invite.

So who's brewing and, more importantly, what are they bringing for your sampling pleasure? Well, you have...

Cody is bringing three ales: "Hazelnut Brown Ale" (Brown Ale with a Frangelico addition for flavor), "Greenbay Pale Ale" (Lightly hopped pale ale bittered with magnum and a slow constant addition of Willamette hops), and "Smashing Pumpkin Ale" (Enjoy a taste of Fall with a very subtle pumpkin flavor on this modified pale ale).

Joe is rocking an oatmeal stout, described as "full bodied", "dark" and around 6.7% ABV.

Bad Seed -- bad ass name -- is all about a Juniper Imperial IPA, clocking in between 7-8% ABV with three different types of hops and fresh picked juniper berries.

Michelle is bringing a "Hint of Spring Raspberry Cream Ale" -- we have been told it's not an overly sweet beer and "had there been other fruit in the freezer, it may be called something else!" She's also showing off "Big Mountain Barley Wine" which sounds intriguing.

Steve is showing off "Pompous Pale" which is described as a crisp and clean hop monster, as well as "Harvest Ale" which, while agressively hopped, also have subtle notes of spices.

And that's just some of the beers you'll see! Some ales from the former SpoBREW will even make an apperance. If you like beer, you don't want to miss out on this! Run over and look at the Facebook invite, now.

Rocky Rococo is, at best, a guilty pleasure. Although, frankly, it's a whole lot more guilty than it is a pleasure, but that's neither here nor there.

Here they have a deep dish pizza that weighs around a ton. Not so much, I think, because of its depth, but because of the amount of cheese and grease. Don't get me wrong, cheese is good, but when you stack on half an inch of it things are not going to end well. Particularly not when the pie quite literally is floating in grease.

These two faux pas ruin the pizza to the point where it's almost inedible. The pizza is the biggest part of "guilty" in "guilty pleasure".

Somewhat more pleasurable is the salad bar, mostly because it is just that: A salad bar. You can pick and choose, and they even have a "lighter side" for healthier picks, possibly to offset the greasy cheese from the pie.

That's not to say this is a great salad bar. It's not really even a good one. But as far as iceberg lettuce with ranch dressing goes, it probably could be worse.

Hey, amidst all this negativity, I'm sure we'll be back. We'll probably say "Hey, we should go get some grease!" and we'll head right down to the Rocky Rococo. That's not to say you should do the same thing. It's probably better if you don't, because, in most ways, Pizza Hut probably is better than this.

Some might not get it, but Sierra Nevada understands fall comes before winter, and bless them and their brown ale for that. This might not be my favorite beer of theirs ever, but hell, it's Sierra Nevada and Sierra Nevada doesn't make bad beer. Therefore you can skip the rest of this review and just buy the Tumbler.

Still here? Well, OK then...

Tumbler is a brown ale, so not surprisingly it also looks brown. Deep, deep brown at that, and the head actually exceeds two fingers. I kid you not. You could get away with just sipping the head here, it's that flavorful.

Sniff it and roasted malts hit the nose gently, like with a lovable little slap. A sweet companion scent follows it.

That's largely a feeling that follows over to the flavor. This is a roasty, smokey beer, and if I have one criticism of it -- and I do -- it's that a monotones flavor might be just a bit overpowering. Now don't get me wrong, that is a nice flavor, but it can get a bit old after a while. It's almost like eating a piece of bread, the roasty maltiness.

Either way, overall, this is a good ale, and expectedly made at that. It's not quite something I love, but it's something I like. And you will like it too, that much I know.