Various curios for your reading pleasure

There have been a number of interesting news and blog items I've been meaning to catch up on:

- Ska Brewing Co. will enter Missouri some time in 2010, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Show Me State, gateway to the West, is looking better. Maybe Ska should get Albert Pujols to be its spokesman. He's a great ballplayer and a Missouri icon who hasn't run over any fire hydrants lately, unlike this guy.

- Here's a sonnet from the One Good Beer blog to Steamworks Ale Diablo, a fine Belgian-style ale. (A few bottles remain in the fridge at the brewery). If you're curious, my review from November is here.

- A new brewery in Fort Collins, Equinox Brewing, will open in April next to a homebrew shop, reports the Fort Collins Coloradoan. The owner, Colin Westcott, plans to allow people to brew their own beers and sell them on-premise.

This seems to be an emerging trend, and a good idea. The quality of homebrews may occasionally be uneven, but there promises to be plenty of variety and experimentation at such an establishment.

- Jeff Hammett of the Durango beer blog Beer N Bikes is brewing his Ska collaboration beer. Jeff chose to brew a Belgian-American IPA. He posted his whole recipe, as well as sexy photos of Ska Head Brewer Thomas Larsen. Go check it out.

This is part of the Ska-Durango beer blogger collaboration of which I am also taking part. I will meet with Thomas on Monday to figure out a recipe, then we'll brew the following Monday. After that, I will drink it all, and you will have none. (Actually, it will be on tap at Ska - I'll let you know when).

My beer will be an imperial red ale based on Ska's own Pinstripe Red Ale and inspired by an Oregon beer, Ninkasi Believer. I'll write a more detailed post about the recipe early next week.

- Beer blogs are being born at an increasingly rapid rate. Check out my "Other Beer Blogs" section to the right and down for some good new blogs. I'm not the only one doing this, just the best. :)

- Today is Beer at 6512's first birthday. Ain't it cute?