Number 4

4 Portneuf Valley Brewing

“It was the best of beer; it was the worst of beer…” we’ll, actually it was the worst, then the best, as we motored south through Idaho in search of draft…in fact we nearly missed the finest because of the nastiest-it was icky! I’m lookin’ at the glass half full, remember, so let’s just say that the place in “IF” (Idaho Falls) was mixing bad beer and passing it off as a good, and that was their best beer-yep, that awful!
We dragged our tired butts into Pocatello just ahead of noon, behind a not so superb break in Idaho Falls, the brewery and the dump we lodged in, had us in...get-er-home kind of mind. Pulling into Poke-town an hour prior to PVB lunch opening, I almost… "Did not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee."…I was set to bid adieu to the Gem State, a mere two hours north of 11 Linkin Park Drive and its ringing door chime.
Hey, let’s change the oil in Libby (our Jeep)…yah, that’s the ticket! Wham-Bam-the oils changed –Mam…shit--the closed sign‘s still up-damn it! “I’m goin’ in and Imma go hard” I yelped as I launched myself from the drivers side and yanked on the breweries front door, “…grab a stool before someone kicks us out.” I implored Patti scurrying past the portal! The spicy pork Macho Nachos are as first-rate as any we have devoured, but it was the bitchin’ medley of Pennies beer that make this place worth the drive!

Annie our amazing keep lined our samples under the tap before the place opened…she thought it was such a cool idea; she wanted me to send the picture to her boss, the owner and Brew Mistress Penny Pink. I can still recall my favorites…Twisted Stick Amber Ale with its caramel malty personality, the well-rounded Belligerent Ass Nut Brown Ale, the chocolatey Portneuf Porter, but my darling was Grog, a hoppy aromatic India Pale Ale to frikin’ die for!

All this food and brew, plus live music can be found in the old East Idaho Brewing Company building on First Ave in Pocatello. I started with Mister Dickens, so I better end with him as well… “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better beer that I go to, than I have ever known.”