Its April, and time for that venerable tradition; a review of the happenings in the Frosty Goodness world of beer.

• To begin with, I took a tour of Pike Brewery recently, and sat down with a taster of their on tap brews. Apart from making the mistake of drinking them all before my food arrived, I was pleasantly surprised by the full range of Pike offerings. Only two weren’t worthy of a return swig. The IPA, which I give a pass to since I think IPAs are nasty, and the Stout. I like stouts generally, but this one was so roasted, it gave Snow Plow a run for its money on “most like drinking burnt wood”. All in all though, good selection, good food, and a solid recommendation, even if I couldn’t get the wifi to work.
• How sad the fall from grace for Dixie Blackened Voodoo. It used to be one of my favorites of all time, but either my tastes have evolved, or they still have some Katrina water in the fermenters. Its not that it was bad, just ‘meh’. To their credit, I’m pretty sure the Dixie brewery isn’t actually brewing the beer. I read somewhere that they have given the recipe to some other breweries to do the brewing, so I’ll give them a break this time.
• Two weekends ago I had 3 pales and 2 belgians in one sitting. Thanks a lot Quinn. I won’t say who the brewery was, but needless to say I was doing it for drunk value more than taste.
• So Sad, Papa Haydn isn’t serving Lompoc Special Draft on tap any more. The bottles are good too, but the draft really is the best way. And what did they replace it with? Hoegaarden. I mean really…come on.
• And finally a sad appeal to my favorite brewery Bridgeport. They decided to bring back one of their “big brews”, but decided on Hop Czar instead of Stumptown Tart. Come on guys, we have enough hops around here already. Bring on the Marionberry.

Stay tuned this week for our review of Widmer Drifter Pale Ale. Here’s a hint: Bottle, meet Sink.