Thanks Tom! Reading that article made me quite thirsty again! I think this weekend, I'll go to the store and see what they have. I'll bring them over to my dad and see his eyes light up! He goes to Wisconsin a lot and has brought back some Spotted Cow from the New Glarus Brewing Co. which I thought was fantastic. Anyone else tried this before?

I have not had the Spotted Cow, but once - many years ago - had the pleasure of sharing the Wisconsin Belgian Red with a friend. It was fantastic and memorable. Looks like a great brewery!

Years ago when Ice brews were popular, there was one I thought was very good. I wonder if anyone else thought so and why it is not available any more. It was Moosehead Ice.

And while we are on the topic of alcohol, another discontinued favorite of mine was Wild Spirit. It was a strong liqour with a faint taste of chocolate. Anyone remember that?

True, there used to be ice filtered beer all over the place. If you lived in Saskatchewan, you could still purchase Great Western Ice Draft which, despite preconceived notions about drinking beer from a 2L bottle, isn't half bad!

Mary, I'm shocked; the last time I was in town it....oh, I already used that line. Well, possibly not enough folks in Davenport shared the online opinion about their fine beer/wine selection.

Joyfully sampled on Fathers Day, with my in-laws, I discovered perhaps the greatest beer of all time. Stone Brewing's Old Guardian Barleywine was just fantastic. Read the tasting notes on their page if you like. Glorious, I tell you. I've always liked their other beers - including Arrogant Bastard and Double Bastard - but this was my first chance with their barleywine. I had been cellaring a bottle for a special occasion for several months; I was richly rewarded.

Nice tasting notes -- but what beer won the gold medal that year???

Thanks for sharing, Tom. Was that beer hard to find? I've seen Arrogant Bastard around here, I believe, and had it a few times back in California, but I think I might have trouble tracking down Old Guardian.

You guys make my day.

Mark, it really should be "Old Bastard"; many barleywines preface the marketing name with "old". However, since they liberally use gargoyles in their marketing and they also have a special release Stone Vertical Epic beer that is designed to be cellared for some years, I guess they didn't want to confuse us.

Peter, I think you will have trouble. It was available at my local shop for only a short time. I have not checked at Bottleworks in Seattle yet, but I'll let you know if I am fortunate there.

We also enjoyed a Lozen Boer, which was new to me. It is a Belgian farmhouse/trippel (they label it as "Abbey Style", but it is not from an abbey, and did not really express the highly phenolic yeast associated with most trippels). Very rustic, rich and enjoyable. I bought it because it said on the label - appropos of nothing - "the legend of the cow smuggler".