Friday the 13th News Bits

I don't bury the lede:

The tasting room will be open for the first time at 2:00pm tomorrow, Friday the 13th. Stop by and help us break in the bar.

I am so on it. I admire Alan's choice of Friday the 13th as the grand opening. Bold. (Oh: 61 Southeast Yamhill, PDX, 503-232-6585)

Next up, we have a whinge. In journalism, the word "lede" refers to the the leading sentence (the spelling of lede was to distinguish it, in those old days of dead trees, from the use of actual lead in printing) of a news story. The nut or crux of the thing. Well, writing in today's Oregonian, Michael Zusman reviews Spints Alehouse. This is the key paragraph, and it is the eleventh of twelve that appear in the review.

Though [owner Alyssa] Gregg is obviously serious about food, Spints remains above all a place to drink. For those passionate about their libations, Spints could limit its edible options to pickled eggs from a jar and the world would still be good. Last I counted, there were more than a dozen draft beers -- from local IPAs to brawny Belgians, nearly two dozen choices by the bottle dominated by German and German-style brews -- and an impressive list of spirits to boot. Patrons arriving primarily to eat should be prepared for a barroom layout -- albeit one with windows -- or a secondary dining room like the kids table at a family gathering: off to the side and not nearly as interesting as the main space.

That right there is whatcha call "burying the lede."

Last, I would like to draw your attention to a project Billy Broas--one of my newly linked bloggers and the man behind BillyBrew--just launched:

In the spirit of that quote, I am very excited to announce The Beer Bucket List – 50 Beers to Try Before you Die.

While myself and the BillyBrew readers drink quality beer on a regular basis, there are those selections that soar above the rest. These are the beers that no man or woman should miss out on in their short time on this planet. These are the beers that should be on everybody’s beer bucket list. I’ve assembled a team of distinguished beer bloggers to help me bring you the top 50 beers in the world.

I am one of those bloggers, and I have already selected my five beers. Two, of course, come from Beervana. I figure at least 40% of the best beer in the world comes from here, so that seemed appropriate. Which two? You have to sign up so you can receive the emails and see.

Now, I'm off on a tour of the Oregon hop fields sponsored by the Oregon Hop Commission.