(SpoCOOL) A Spokane Blog

Firestone's XVII is one of those beers that fall flat between «excellent» and «first world problems». What does that mean? Well, let's have a look.

This truly is one of those beers that is worth the incredibly steep price tag of $20 (thrifty drinkers would have picked it up during one of Huckleberry's recent sales for a more humane price). When Firestone kicks out one of their special releases, they really do make them just that. Special.

Yet there are things that brings one to pause. A first world problem kind of pause? Certainly. But a pause none the less.

First, the XVII reminds me just a little bit too much of Firestone's Double DBA. The latter is a barley wine; the former a strong ale. I suppose one can argue that the similarity is there by design, and that the high ABV, the sweetness, and the velvet-y mouthfeel inevitably will put the two in the same sphere. One can also argue that this is not a bad thing. They both are very, very good ales.

My point is, for the price, it might be hard for many to justify picking up a couple of both.

Which brings me to the second issue: aging.

Now it's hard to say which way the XVII will go, but the XVI did not fare too well after a year. The flavor had dulled and the mouthfeel wasn't quite there anymore. Was this a one off problem with a single bottle? Who knows? But figuring it out requires opening a precious bottle for investigation.

First world problems indeed, but there they are. Maybe you should just get an XVII or two and enjoy them now? I could think of worse things to do. The velvet-y sweetness is unlike most other beers out there (Double DBA aside).

And it is worth the steep price. The XVII is excellent any which way you look at it.

A proverbial potpourri of things are happening around town, so let's have a look, shall we?

No-Li is releasing another new beer as part of the Expo Series: Skyrail. This is a single (amarillo) hop IPA, set to be released on Christmas eve. It is said to be similar to the brewery's Solar Winds, and at 6.25% ABV and 65 IBUs it could clock in as a semi-light Christmas sipper.

The Bartlett's doors are finally open! Check out their event calendar and go see how the Indiegogo funded venue turned out; early buzz is very positive. 

And speaking of crowdsourcing: the Yards Bruncheon and Wandering Table have started a Kickstarter campaign to fund their KY restaurants. I get the feeling a lot of us are getting burned out on this whole Kickstarter trend, but hey... Give them a few bucks if you so wish. Their perks are quite good.

It took its sweet time, but Santé's Butcher Bar is here and that should make us all happy. I mean, you voted Santé «Best Restaurant» in Spokane, so why wouldn't you want to try out their more casual bar offering?

And you should. We didn't actually expect too much as far as the vibe of the place goes; the restaurant always felt like it was as stuck in the bookstore it was stuck in. The Butcher Bar, though, manages to feel intimate, like it actually is a real lounge. Which it is. We had our doubts, and we're glad we were proven wrong.

The menu you find here isn't dissimilar to Santé's regular one, just a bit cut down and casual-ized. Sandwiches, meat and cheese plates... Pretty much anything based around that, all tasty, and we enjoyed a fairly wide pick of it during our visit. It was Santé quality in a lounge. That's all any sane person needs.

Cocktails? All excellent. Again, we enjoyed a good selection of both on- and off-menu offerings without a singe complaint.

Combine the quality of the drinks and food, and you have exactly what you'd expect from a Santé lounge: something quite extraordinary.

Note that the 3-5pm «social hour» -- for all intents and purposes a happy hour -- features half price cocktails, which is kind of awesome.

I don't care if we're gushing over the Butcher Bar. It's awesome. It deserves it. Go check it out. There's no reason for you not to love it.

Photo credit: Erick Doxey who got really upset when I forgot to give him credit.

Did social media lie to me?

I'm starting to think it did. Over the last few days I've seen multiple tweets every hour advertising... or informing... that Rosa's Pizza will serve up 500 free slices of pizza tomorrow. That's all well and good (and not a lie), but seeing many of these tweets included a mention of Rosa's also being the best pizza in town... Well, who are we not to try it?

Spokane's best pizza? It depends on your perspective, I suppose. If the only other pizza «parlor» in Spokane was Pizza Rita, then sure. Throw Pizza Pipeline into the mix, and Rosa's quickly gets demoted to number two. Add Veraci, Flying Goat, South Perry, Fire, Bennidito's, Ferrante's, and... Well, you know how it goes and you know where the comparison ends.

I don't want it to sound like Rosa's is downright horrible, mind you. The toppings are easily better then Rita's, right up there with Pipeline. The crust is flavorless, with Pipeline easily winning out. Take the sum of it all whichever way you want.

But Rosa's has its place. It's fast food pizza, and sometimes you just want that. It's better than Rita, and Rita is a step or two above many other places in town. Rosa's is fine for what it is.

I guess what really gets to me is this hyperbole we see from local social media rock stars. While it's all well and good that Rosa's is handing out free slices -- good on them -- do we need to see multiple social media gurus tweet about it every hour? And do they need to tack on that it's Spokane's best pizza when they clearly have never branched out beyond fast food?

Someday, when Twitter is dead and gone, I see a tombstone with an inscription of what killed it: Annoying, repetitive tweets. Social media experts who kept tweeting the same damn thing over and over and over and over...

But that, of course, is only my opinion, and I'm sure many will disagree. (As is evidentially the case.)

I sort of digress. Kind of.

Check out Rosa's free slices tomorrow, 4:30pm. It's worth it. And possibly grab one of their pies too. You can find worse pizza among the many fast food joints around town. I wouldn't downright recommend Rosa's, but it's at least worth checking out all the same.