Willamette Week contributing journalist and coffee-lover Hanna Neuschwander spent a lot of time trolling the burgeoning microroaster movement here in Portland to give a nice overview of true coffee geekdom The article here.  Nice job Hanna!  We hope her caffeine jitters have calmed down by now....my only emendation as far as Badbeard's is concerned is her incorrect lumping me in with the "NW-style" espresso crowd, since I pointed out to her quite fervently my adherence to Northern Italian-school, Brazil-based blends a la Spella Caffe.

Nice front page article in today's Oregonian about the story reported here about the vicissitudes of an organ transplant.  In this case congrats to Lupe, Julio y familia y muchissima suerte! Jason Lett and the whole Eyrie family stepped up when it counted, and while the recovery process is ongoing, folks can still contribute.  La Luz is a WONDERFUL wine, filled with the hallmark boldness AND nuance which has made Eyrie one of our prized gems on the Oregon wine map for many years.  This is what community is all about, IMHO. Love the Letts!

No good quaff should go unnoticed in Portland, self-proclaimed "Beervana, USA", and hence no documentary taking an insider's look at the complex world of "Big Beer" should go unseen!  Writer/director Anat Baron's 2009 "Beer Wars" presents a sobering picture of the suds corporatocracy quite brilliantly, IMHO. The struggles and successes of the two featured indie enterprises, Dogfish Head Brewery (Milton, Delaware) and Boston Beer Co. co-founder Rhonda Kallman's New Century Brewing Company are so America...beyond the David and Goliath-like picture is the subtext of what it takes to be seen in the business world these days, nay be seen period.  If you love an underdog, this is the film for you.  If you want to understand the reach of a megalithic presence like the "big beer" juggernaut and what one faces as an entrepreneur and innovator, then see this movie. And then imagine what it would mean to actually undo the evils of the health insurance industry.