Brewpublic has excellent taste. Go figure.

I was in the Run Like Hell 10K on Sunday and took the day off yesterday, so it was a long weekend for your humble author. This was a rainy set of days, perfect for indoor weather, hearty soups, thick bread, and excellent beer.

As noted on Saturday, I headed down to Bailey's for Brewpublic's second birthday party. I drove in and arrived about two hours into the festivities, hoping that enough time had passed to let things thin a bit. With the weather, any outside-options were going to be slim and I had guessed that the demand would be wholly for the Cascade Blueberry concoction. Figured an hour for that to blow, another hour for the top 10-15 percent to bail, should be fine, right?

Ha ha ha ha ha - no. Not even close: it (understandably!) looked like a rock concert. Angelo from Brewpublic was at the front door when I rolled up and I kind of stammered a weak "Happy Birthday" as I gazed upon the sea of humanity. Shoulder-to-shoulder, absolutely no room to move around, body surfing (okay, that last one might be stretching it). I couldn't even see the hint of a line toward the counter and I felt that the enjoyment-to-CAN'TMOVE ratio was not in my favor. Or, anyone else's if I was going to add myself to the crush. I headed back to my vehicle, rolled across the river to watch my wife sing in a concert in NE, and then returned at about 9:30pm to a smaller crowd. Things were still solidly attended, even 5+ hours in, but definitely lighter. I mean, walking up and ordering was actually possible - success!

Two bucks for a five ounce taster, 3 bucks for a 10 ounce glass, or 5 bucks for a pint. With so much to choose from the 20 taps (the Cascade, as expected, was gone-daddy-gone), I kept to glasses and tasters in the hour I was there. None of my selections were misfires and here are my three favorites:

• Kentucky Coffee Girl (Fort George) - I like my coffee stouts to be a little filthy and this had some earthy qualities that I really enjoyed. A little thinner than the crude-oil that one expects from an imperial stout, but it was still creamy and carried some sweetness on the back-end that cut through the coffee.

• Full House Imperial Brown (Pelican) - What can I say? I love their Doryman's Dark Ale, so a doubled-version was only going to pander to my tastes. Malty and chewy, this was masking the 8.3% behind a swirl of flavor that I found to be very well blended. Slight hop on the back end with some nuttiness to the finish - a winner!

• Force of Nature (Lucky Lab) - I'd never been able to sample barrel-aged beer from the Lab before, so this was a must try for me and, wow, I was not sorry at all. It's an imperial pale aged in pinot barrels and the sour/tart qualities from the aging matched up very, very well with the hops. I sent the glass around to several people standing with me at the bar and all of them agreed with my assessment: more please.

Some of the beers at this event are still on-tap at Bailey's as of this posting. You could do worse than having a pint there before things kick.

Beer from Alameda Brewing on the radar this week.