Good Blogs

Back in the olden days of blogging, we had ugly, junky blogs. We larded the side-columns with text no one ever read, including a thing called a "blogroll." These were links to blogs we bloggers read and each was a little shout-out, a recommendation to the wee trickle of readers who inadvertently wandered onto our sites. Modern blogs are streamlined and pretty and foresake this old grassroots tradition. But I, a dinosaur, maintain my old jalopy of a site, and I keep to the old ways.

I've just finished updating the blogroll, and on the off-chance you are not a dinosaur and haven't seen the changes, let me be more direct about drawing your attention to some of the new ones (handily designated with an asterisk (*) for your convenience):

• Lisa Morrison, the Beer Goddess. Google the words "Beer Goddess" and you find a lot of other citations. But those of us in Portland recognize only one goddess, and her name is Lisa Morrison. All others are false goddesses meant to confuse and mislead. Lisa's the one.
• Billy Brew. Especially good on homebrewing. Today, for instance, you will find a post on yeast-washing. Cool.
• Beer Wench. Apparently the beer blogosphere is the Beer Wench's and we just inhabit it. Easily the hardest tweeting blogger in the beer-o-sphere.
• Lost in the Beer Aisle, Beer Babe, and Seacoast Beverage Lab. New England for some reason gets less national attention that its beers deserve. This trio of blogs may help spread the word.
• Mutineer Mag Blog. Magazines rarely take their blogging seriously. Mutineer does. (Though it's a drinks mag, not just beer.)
• Hoperatives. This looks like the Cincinnati Beervana. Not to give offense, or anything. If you happen to be from the lower Midwest, check it out.

There are others, and keep in mind that every link in the blog roll is a recommendation, so you should check them all out--at least once. As always, send me a link if you have a blog you'd like to be added. (Though a word to the wise: your traffic volume will move almost unappreciably.)


Update. Okay, a few more added: Beer Cave, A Pint for Dionysus, Brewlimination, Girl's Guide to Beer (London writer Melissa Cole's excellent blog). Oh, and I added back one zombie blog that seems to have awakened from the dead.