Getting The Beer Right

Beer is important. So why do so many otherwise fine restaurants get the beer list wrong? It doesn't have to be an extensive list to provide the needed variety. An example of a local venue which gets it right is Blue, the live house on Congress Street between High and State. It's a small place, with limited taps, but the beer menu is thoughtful and demonstrates knowledge of beer and beer drinkers (confession; I have to be careful there because the taps include Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA, non-locavore compliant and one of the world's great beers).

Barry, who runs Blue, includes an English style pale (Geary's), a White (Allagash), a flavorful lager (Brooklyn), a shite lager (PBR), a pretentious shite lager (Stella), the mandatory Guiness (which Barry tells me is his best seller), and two IPAs, the best-of-local Frye's Leap, and the aforementioned 90 minute. Maybe a brown or a red could be added to the mix, and a seasonal (which he may have, I forgot), but that's nit-picky. This is a fabulous beer short-list, with something for everyone. I also appreciate his apparent unwillingness to stock anything with "light" in the name (water or Chardonnay works for light "drinkers".)