The Wine Knows

As I was writing wine reviews last night, I had not a glass of Cab but a seasonal ale.

Granted, it was from BridgePort in Portland, which was started by the Ponzi family, but I digress.

A couple of weeks ago, Washington formed a beer commission, an organization meant to market and promote the state's microbrew industry. The commission will represent breweries that produce less than 100,000 barrels annually.

An article on this mentions that Washington trails only California and Colorado in number of microbreweries in the nation, with 84.

I tend to favor Northwest microbrews when I have a beer. There's nothing like a good Ice Harbor Kolsch, a BridgePort IPA, Full Sail Ale or Walking Man Homo Erectus when I want to quench my thirst.

Northwest microbrews are so good that my Canadian neighbor Kenton admits beer from his homeland really has no advantage.

As mentioned in an editorial today in the Tri-City Herald, only one brewery from Eastern Washington is represented on the commission, even though the vast majority of our nation's hops are grown in the Yakima Valley. I'm not sure I care about that, as there are some really good beers coming from Western Washington.

I do find it strange that only smaller breweries are allowed representation. Imagine if Ste. Michelle Wine Estates was left out of the Washington Wine Commission because of its size. The Woodinville company makes so many superb wines and conducts a lot of research that benefits the entire industry. The Washington Wine Commission would have very little clout if Ste. Michelle were left out.

That said, I hope this new beer commission does a good job for the Washington microbrew industry. It's a sector that I've thought was waning a bit in the past few years, and I really like its products.