First Kick, Now to Beer

Ok, that was a satisfying way to start the domestic soccer season. Seattle proved themselves to be a formidable bunch against last year's actual league champions, and dominated for stretches in the game. Jen Chang badmouthed Alvaro Fernandez on Twitter, but to my mind, Fernandez was Seattle's only consistent playmaker toward the goal, and was warranted for looking like he was about to smash a petite Uruguayan fist through the plexi-glass of the Sounders' bench cover when he was pulled in the second half. Not to challenge a writer for the publication that foisted Rick Reilly on the world of sports journalism, but I found this analysis from MLS Talk much more persuasive. Fernandez's crosses kept Seattle competitive while he was in. Despite the fact that the game was almost more notable for who wasn't there - Juan Pablo Angel & Donovan Ricketts out, Blaise N'kufo going rogue, etc.- and the prodigious amount of missteps that come with an early season match, this may well have been one of the best hyped, prime-time MLS matches in memory. Which is another way of saying our standards are very, very low.

So: beer! Sunday I noticed my local convenience store had replaced its slot of highly marked up Terminal Gravity IPA from distant Enterprise, Oregon with new and decidedly well-designed Ninkasi Total Domination IPA six-packs from next door, i.e. Eugene. Terminal Gravity is one of my favorite IPAs, even if this particular convenience store charged an arm and a leg for it. Meanwhile, Ninkasi does an exemplary job of making people believe in its product- at a Ninkasi tasting Friday I almost expected the pourer to slip me a tract after he gave me his stump speech- and makes a beer that is pretty good and doesn't offend. I guess the relative efficiencies in having Ninkasi at my local store make it a better deal over all, but even at a silly mark up, I'll miss easy access to the way TG sparkled on my tongue.

(Photos: Trying to make a black & tan with Ninkasi IPA and a Widmer Imperial Stout: a chemistry experiment gone totally awry; my son at two months, enjoying some Wallowa Mountain sun at the Terminal Gravity Brewery in Enterprise)