Arizona, Day 2 (7/22/11)

We spent the morning playing with Emmett and talking, but after his nap, we all went into Prescott for an excellent lunch and great beer at the Raven Cafe. All organic with an excellent beer selection. We sat on the upper, outside level which was delightful. All entrees were huge and delicious.

Beerwise, Marlowe and Karen both tried Santan Pineapple Wheat beers, which the server highly recommended. They were very good and refreshing. Meagan had the Oak Creek Nut Brown, also very tasty. She lucked out, in that the tap ran dry so she got 3/4 of a pint and when the keg was tapped again, another whole pint at no charge. You know a restaurant appreciates good beer when they go out of their way to make sure the guests drink sufficient quantities. Both Santan and Oak Creek are AZ breweries, and our intent is always to try as many local beers as possible.

Chris had a non-AZ beer, but then he lives here and gets them all the time. He had Dogfish Head Chicory Stout, which is an excellent beer, and even better on draft.



Raven has upstairs draft beers and and a larger selection downstairs, so for round two some of us went downstairs and acquired:

• New Belgium's newest Lips of Faith offering: Vrienden, a tasty Belgian beer with a refreshing sourness This complimented Meagan's remaining Nut Brown, but since she was designated driver, Marlowe and Chris had to help her finish both beers. Tragic!
• Firestone Walker's Double Jack, a double-IPA with a lot of hop flavor, but well balanced. Marlowe lucked out on this one. Supposedly only available in 10-oz pours, the server accidentally gave him a full pint.
• Stone Ruination IPA, an excellent IPA that Chris enjoyed before pilfering some of Meagan's Nut Brown.
• Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale, a highly drinkable and refreshing ale that Karen enjoyed.
• Emmett didn't have any beer, but he ate several sweet potato fries.

Raven Cafe also sells bottled beer of a wide variety, so we bought a mixed 6-pack to try later. Haven't had them yet, so reports on the beer will be forthcoming.