Interesting Odds and Ends

Every now and again, a bunch of small items come over the transom that wouldn't, on their own, constitute sufficient reason for a post. Today is one of those days.

1. Bailey's Taproom open at noon--today only. The sole fault of this wonderful alehouse is limited hours. Go before 4 pm and you can only gaze longingly through the window. Today they're experimenting with an earlier opening time to gauge the market. Seems a little fishy to me--the word of this experiment only came out today. But anyway, go have a pint and let 'em know this should be a regular thing.

(Advice from a blogger. If noon's too early, try 2:30 or 3. This city loves happy hour. Partly they love the cheap beer--Bailey's might offer a 3-5 early happy hour--but partly it's because there's no finer way to end the long workday than with a pint of beer.)

2. Obama is a beer drinker. Yeah, it appears he likes the cheap stuff, but never mind. A beer drinker in the White House is a good thing. He's got eight years to work on developing his palate. (Yes, eight.) This NYT story mentions that he regularly hits the town for a meal, and not just chi-chi places. What I'm waiting for is a visit to the District Chophouse & Brewery or Capitol City Brewing--both in the White House neighborhood. The picture, incidentally, was taken at a recent presdential visit to the Bulls-Wizards game.

3. Belgian cheese and beer. I get quite a few press releases, and they mostly head right into the trash folder. This item, however, passed muster:
Whole Foods Market is pleased to announce the arrival of two new artisanal cheeses from Het Hinkelspel Cheese Co-op in Gent, Belgium. The Pas de Rouge washed rind cow's milk cheese and Pas de Bleu, blue cow's milk cheese are now available in all Washington and Oregon stores.

Accompanying these cheese selections is Lousberg Belgian Ale. Lousberg was designed by De Proef Brewery of Lochristi, Belgium specifically to complement the Het Hinkelspel cheeses.
As many of you know, I would really like to see beer taken seriously as a complement for food. Wine's hegemony on this score irks me. Clearly Belgian beers are the access point, and who can argue with Belgian beer and cheese? I'll include a flier that came with the release.


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Photo credit: Molly Riley/Reuters