Barrel(s)

One Barrel beer in a 10 Barrel glass.  One Barrel is a neighborhood "nano" brewery on the east side of Madison, WI.  10 Barrel is a bit bigger, and in a bit more urban setting in downtown Portland, OR.  OK, that's not where they're from (Bend, OR), that's where I've been.

Both have extremely cozy taprooms – the kind of place you're really happy to have entered after coming in from the cold.  One Barrel has one TV, and it might be on, might not be.  Depends on who's bartending.  I don't remember 10 Barrel having a TV.  I don't think they did.  It's the kind of place, that if they had TVs, they'd have 3-4.

The comparison isn't altogether worthwhile because as far as I know, they're got nothing to do with each other.  Like that "Michael Bolton" character from office space, or that Berkeley professor Michael Jordan.  Nevertheless both names carry the same implied interest in small-scale brewering.  That smaller is better (10 barrels is still pretty small in brewery terms).  I guess it's a little ironic 10 Barrel were bought by the world's largest beer conglomerate.  

Anyway, this is another great beer from One Barrel.  I think I bought this six-pack back in the summer.