Brews You Can Use

A reader sends along this nifty little story: Top 5 Beer Tours. Excerpt: "Newport Storm brewery, in Middletown, R.I., near Newport, might be in the smallest state, but you won't find small portions here. The best "Beer for Your Buck" tour is only $5, but anyone who comes through the door can have free samples of the brewery's flagship Hurricane Amber Ale or other beers. At the brewery, beer is sold only in 64-ounce "growlers" for $10 with $5 refills."
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Trendsetter, me. When I was a younger man, and living in my bedroom at my parents' house, my friends and I used to buy those 64-ounce bottles of Little Kings. They cost about one hour of work at 1984 minimum wage rates, packed a wallop, and tasted good (that last part is a gross exaggeration). We called them "porta kegs." Turns out, we were on the cutting edge of high fashion:

[T]he next stage in the evolution of beer [is] from an everyday six-pack habit to a specialty product that increasingly is sold like wine.

Yes, I know, big bottles have been around for years - and not just those familiar 40s of malt liquor. Rogue and Stoudt's, to name two craft breweries, made their mark 20 years ago with oversized bottles.

But take a look at your friendly takeout store and you'll find even more space is being devoted to the big boys - 22-ounce bombers and 750 ml bottles seemingly more fit for Champagne. Some are boxed, many are corked and more than a few cost something north of $15.

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Another use for beer:

A Glenview man who poured beer over his apartment balcony onto the head of a restaurant employee who was smoking a cigarette late Saturday will not be charged, police said this week.

The man told authorities he was upset because the smoke from employees at the rear of a sushi restaurant in the 2600 block of Aviator Lane wafts up into his apartment.