BEER TRAVELERS

The Wellington Arms in Watford has banned Chancellor Alistair Darling for his “tyrannical, anti-pub” budget.

Licensee Warren Baker has written to Darling to tell him he is no longer welcome and has put up a poster, which states “We hereby give notice that Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, is barred from this pub until further notice..

The Wellington Arms is one of hundreds of pubs taking direct action against the Chancellor as part of a national campaign supported by pub industry bible the Morning Advertiser.

Additionally, Rob Hayward, British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) chief executive, said: “Alistair Darling has just launched the £6.50 pint in time for the London Olympics. This will escalate pub closures, which are already at record levels “Government is punishing all beer drinkers rather than tackling the minority of drunken hooligans.”

The Chicago Tribune reports that Goose Island Beer Co. will close its original brewpub at 1800 N. Clybourn St. will close at the end of the year due to the firm’s inability to renew its lease. The brewpub began operations in 1988, with a separate production brewpub following in 1995.

The company announced it Wrigleyville Brewpub at 3535 N. Clark St. will remain open, as well as its Fulton Street Brewery at 1800 W. Fullton St.

There’s been discussion among Chicago beer enthusiasts that the Clybourn location may be saved.

If you are going to open a multi-tap in Michigan it should include a lot of Michigan beers, right?

Hopcats in Grand Rapids includes 22 Michigan beers in its 48-tap lineup. I might like more, but it’s not my business.

There’ll also be a 49th tap for limited-edition cask beers.

And another nice touch:

An in-house brewing operation is slated to open in February featuring one-off beers created by local brew masters. The first brew is expected to be created by John Haggerty, of Holland-based New Holland Brewing Co.

Since I’m old enough (and then some) to have children visiting this place, I might not have smiled as broadly at this one as you: “The sole macrobrew on tap will be reserved for the lawn mower tap, which will feature beers your dad might have cracked open after cutting the grass. On opening day, that tap will feature Old Milwaukee.”

Pints range from $3 to $7.

Let’s call The Beer Guppy’s Guide to Southern California another piece in the puzzle, and hope that author Jay Sheveck doesn’t quit with just one.

Another piece because this gives us one more regional guide to places that serve quality beer. As you can tell by the title, it’s for Southern California. It’s quite a bit different than the format Lew Bryson established for guides east of the Mississippi. Since followed rather closely by Paul Ruschmann and Maryanne Nasiatka (Michigan) and not so closely by Andy Crouch (New England). And also different than books about Illinois and Wisconsin breweries or the Brewpub Explorer of the Pacific Northwest.

[The quick aside here. If these regional guides had existed in 1994 we never would have set out to compile the Beer Travelers Guide, and sure has heck wouldn't have done an update. We'll soon been headed back for an extended stay on the road, and may even write about a few beer joints along the way, but there will NOT be a third edition.]

Jay Sheveck’s book is different first of all because it looks like a magazine, with an 8 1/2 x 11 format and 100 pages. Open a page and you’ll think utilitarian. Generally three entries to a page, lots of information, not a lot of prose. Icons for everything (backed up by information).

For instance, let’s turn to Page 58. Old Baldy Brewing (in Upland) occupies the middle column, Seven house beers are listed, seven seasonsals, just a bit of information about the brewhouse itself, some about the pub itself, regular events, easy-to-read hours and a bit of history. And at the bottom the icons tell you about live music, outdoor seating, if you can find hand-pumped beers, etc.

Sheveck says he spent five year researching the book and it shows. He plans four more books like this one. (Or four more pieces for those of us who see the United States as a giant beer puzzle).

He’s included 300 microbreweries, brewpubs, alehouse, restaurants, retailers, homebrew organizations and beer events (beyond the basic events at breweries and pubs).

More information is available at www.BeerGuppy.com.

Heading home from the Great American Beer Festival last week I swung through the town of Las Vegas (New Mexico, that is) to look again for the Rough Rider Brewery. It was supposed to open in the spring, and by mid-simmer one local brewer asked me if I’d had the beer.

We drove through Las Vegas in September, but didn’t know the address (and didn’t realize we’d driven past the brewery – despite the sign pictured here you can miss it).

The brewery is located at 400 Grand (in case you get there before I), in a building that previously housed Fred’s Lumber.

I looked in the windows, and beyond a couple of motorcycles couldn’t see much. But the walls of one room are decorated with wallpaper that looks to be barley. I also spotted a bag of grain. Good sign.

The former Taco Mac in Sandy Springs, Ga., has reopened in the hands of new management and been renamed Charlie Mopps.

That Taco Mac was one of America’s first multi-taps, featuring nearly 100 beers.

The first time we visited for all the bartender new we were just customers – rather than undercover beer sleuths asking a variety of questions. He spoke proudly of the cooler set up, with very short lines that could be cleaned easily. “You want to come back and look?” he asked, not unlike a father showing off the latest pictures of his child.

Andy Klubock, then the manager at Taco Mac, still runs two other Atlanta area multi-taps, both called Summits Wayside Tavern.

The New York Times goes brewery hopping around Portland, Maine.

At times an adventure.

The directions Steve Gorrill gave me to Sheepscot Valley Brewing Company, which he runs in Whitefield, 60 miles out of Portland, were the first clue it was a different kind of place. We followed them through Wiscasset, past the Alna Store, over a metal bridge, up a steep hill and onto a dirt road somewhat inaptly named Hollywood Boulevard. A little farther down, in a green barn where until 2003 another company had carved moose meat, is Sheepscot’s one-man operation.

Makes you want to race up there before winter arrives.