Good thought, but my wife also likes the micro brews so no additional selling required. Isn't it great to have wives that love beer? (except when they drink the last one on you!) However we're also too frugal to give up on that deposit so we take 'em back - makes the next batch a bit cheaper to get cuz you don't have to pay the deposit on the bottle again.

Deposits on growlers? We just have to buy them, but it is VERY popular in WA now, thanks to a fairly recent statutory change that allows taverns and bottle shops to fill them (instead of just breweries). I'm a big fan, because I notice a very significant correlation between drinking "fresh" (draught) beer and feeling good instead of crappy the next day.

I had a Firestone Walker Double Jack DIPA last night. It is a really great beer, with tremendous hops and alcohol. A little more viscous than I prefer, but I had no trouble finishing it anyway.

Elysian Brewing in Seattle is producing a series of one-off IPA's this year (Manic IPA Series). Had one the other day - Idiot Sauvin - that featured the Nelson Sauvin hop from New Zealand. I really liked it a lot.

I think Kaiser Wilhelm said something to the effect of "give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world". So, you guys are underachieving badly. As am I.

My wife is a hop-head. I think I did pretty well.

Nice article on Slate.com on how macrobrews want you drinking cold beer. Hint: it's not so much that it'll taste better. It's so it'll taste less bad.

@pmbuko - check out the nod to Churchkey! (plus this Bonus article from the same author)

@tomtuttle - check out the words from Charles Finkel of Seattle’s Pike Brewing Company!

@Ken.C - I like turtles!

Well, JP is certainly meeting my beer journalism needs today. But I'm still thirsty.

I applaud the Cicerone program. But I'm tired of people saying that "beer is just as complex as wine" to justify these endeavors. Beer is fantastically MORE complicated than wine, since it involves cooking and multiple ingredients in addition to sourcing.

Thanks, JP.

I'm supposed to be picking up a couple of cases of growlers of This today.

If I'm lucky, I'll have a special guest, coming tomorrow, report on his/her impression.

Which one(s) of those brews are you getting? The pecan one looks interesting!

The linky should have taken you to the Ginger Jacque variety, but yes, the pecan is very nice! I used to roast the pecans for that brew when they were getting started. I also malted and roasted the rye when they were still on their back porch running 5 gallon batches - that recipe eventually turned into Amber Jacque when they were running 15 BBL batches.

Rye is one of the few food flavors I just don't seem to enjoy.

But, yeah, Dan, the Pecan one is fantastic as is the Stout. I would never have known these things without Scott's generosity, for which I remain grateful.

Edit: wait, CASES of growlers?

Yes, Tom! - CASES I actually only brought one case one case of 6 growlers home tonight, but I was 12 feet in the air on top of a double stacked pallet of them earlier today.

They've changed the rye recipe drastically from when I was malting and roasting. I went for a dark roast at the time (325F for 40-45 min) and the rye flavor was quite pronounced - which I enjoyed. Their recipe now uses something much lighter in roasting - maybe 175F and only long enough to dry it out.