»In which we have a few familiar beers

A couple pints of North Star Brewing's excellent Blue Star Wheat, a delicious beer to drink cold and with a meal (oysters! deep-dish pizza! a meatball sandwich!); a bottle of Southampton Publick House's superlative Double-White Ale, a wheaty Belgian-style wit, which is one of my favourite beers, at least a favourite amongst what I have tasted in the past year; a Duchesse de Bourgogne, a potent and sweet Flemish "red" ale that comes in a distinctive, demure brown bottle; a Hinano, from French Polynesia — the exact opposite of a local brew, and one I am not quite certain I should have ordered. The standouts are the Blue Star Wheat and the Southampton, but those are both ringers, as I have enjoyed them before.

The Duchesse merits a warning: drink with the appropriate meal, as the thickness of the beer and its sweetness both make casual sipping difficult. Pairing it with a pork roast or other mild meat would balance it.