Fat Olives is a buzzing place, and despite our reservation
we had to wait for half an hour before our tables were ready.
Lilli and I ordered a double mozzarella double pepperoni
pizza, which came with a very bland cotto salami and not an
enormous amount of cheese, part of which was provolone anyway.
Otherwise it was okay. I was going to eat just one slice out
of six, but Lilli wheedled me into taking a second and then a
third piece, which went down much better after someone found
me the hot pepper flakes shaker, which contained nice hotness.

I was offered a glass of Adelaida Grenache 13, which was
livelier and more attractive than the other Adelaida and had
both fruit and character (there's apparently no corkage here).

For Lilli I jumped at one of the wines offered on the list,
the Schooler Nolan Malbec 14, which was excellent and amazing
for the price - it goes for $28 a bottle at Fat Olives and
retails at $20 to 25 if you can find it in its home state of
Washington. I'd put it with the better Malbecs from anywhere.

The Iron Horse Irish Death, a dark ale that despite its name
was rather soft, not too alcoholic, and nondescript, went
well enough with pizza. Speaking of which, Spencer and Jeremy
at our table ordered an 18" and just about managed to down
the whole thing. Ah, to be young again.

We hitched a ride back with Spencer this time, preferring
to share the wealth.

A good night's rest at the inn; I woke up well before the
9:00 alarm; Lilli slept past the reset 9:30 alarm for a
10:00 checkout. We got out around 10:15 - I had wanted to sit
on the excellently kept lawn and stare out at the beautiful
bay waters, but every one of the chairs, even the ones far
from trees, was covered with bird bombs, so I just wandered
about a bit before Bob W came to pick us up at 10:30.

We cruised along and easily made our 12:30 rendezvous with
Spencer and his passengers Jeremy and Steve, all beer crazies,
at the Kenai Brewing Company, one of the up-and-comings of
this beer-minded state. I tried a coffee stout that I found
too obvious, sort of Starbucky but that got the approval from
others, especially the three young folks, who probably grew
up with that kind of charred coffee flavor.

For me, a flight of browns, all at 30-40 IBU, which is what's
most comfortable for me and the hop level of IPA when I was
growing up but now is considered small potatoes.

Naptown nut brown was good, malty, and dry, moderate both
in alcohol and bitterness; a nice quaffer.

Grateful red was almost the same color and taste, maybe a
little lighter in both - I could swear that the hopping
recipe was the same.

For malty, the Skilak Scottish was perfect, but the texture
(thin) and sweetness (lack thereof) made it not so Scottish
but still kind of interesting.

BB9 black bock is supposed to have been made with German
hops and German techniques, but it tasted very, very American.
I liked it okay but would not order it again.
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