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Walking down Fore Street today I noted that Prost is closed. New management has reopened with about 20 beers on tap while they develop a new concept for the location.

Prost struggled from the beginning, and many felt that their demise was just a matter of time. I felt they never presented a clear image of what kind of bar they sought to be; I never knew whether the problem was conceptual or in the implementation. Others, more practical than I, were simply annoyed at how many beers on their list were not available.

There is a silver lining…  currently the as yet un-named establishment is selling their stock of Belgian beers at 1/2 off; on Tuesday five or six were on offer on draught. I had a pint of Monk’s Cafe sour brown that was in excellent condition. I may have to go back to help them finish that one off.

On April 19, 2008, at the Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego, CA, Allagash was awarded three medals in the World Beer Cup.

Allagash Dubbel was awarded the Gold Medal in the Belgian-style Dubbel category.

Allagash Tripel was awarded the Silver Medal in the Belgian-style Tripel category.

Allagash Curieux was awarded the Bronze Medal in the wood and barrel-aged strong beer category.

The Brewer’s Association World Beer Cup is held every two years and is the only international competition that awards just three medals for each category. This year Allagash was competing against 2,864 beers representing 644 breweries from 58 different countries! Allagash was one of only 17 breweries to wine three or more medals.

A hearty congratulations to Rob Tod and the crew at Allagash. I’ll be toasting to them tonight (with an Allagash beer, of course)!

Thanks to the following item from blogaboutbeer.com, Harry Potter (well, Daniel Radcliffe anyway) just got a whole lot cooler in my eyes. Would that I knew at 21 what I know now, and that I were a movie star, some Trappist beer straight from the monastery gates would definitely have been my first legal drink!

Some of you may remember a few months ago (November, 2007 to be exact) when the story of the The Trappist monks at St. Sixtus monastery and their famous Westvleteren beer vaulted to everyday stardom, thanks to this story in the Wall Street Journal. Well, apparently their mystique has caught the attention of another high profile star – Harry Potter. According to England’s Daily Star, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe will travel to the monastery in Westvleteren, Belgium to purchase some of the monks’ famous beer – beer that is regarded by many as some of the best in the world.

Supposedly one of the monks told the Daily Star,

‘[Daniel] appreciates fine wine and beer and is fascinated by Westvleteren. He wanted it to be the first alcoholic beverage he legally drank.’

Radcliffe has reportedly agreed to purchase two cases each of Westvleteren Blonde, Westvleteren 8 and Westvleteren 12, all of which can only be bought at the monastery gate. For more on the the Westvleteren Monks and their ‘holy grail of beers’, click here (WSJ) and here (wikipedia).

(Via blogaboutbeer.com.)