The Beer Authority: New Bottle Shop in Lake City

The Adams' Seattle Beer Authority (Barry, Porter and Shellane) has been open for one week, and so far business is great, yet more evidence of the fact that craft beer ranks as a recession-proof mini luxury. The shop reserves one cooler each for German, Belgian, and English, with the other three coolers being domestic. Altogether, a selection wide and deep enough for all beer lovers north. There's even a small selection of wine.

My favorite feature: The coolers have the normally cheese ball lighting displays replaced by simple white poly imprinted with great beer quotations: A Homer Simpson quotation (5th one downhere), next to one by Oscar Wilde, "Work is the curse of the drinking class," and chased with one by Frank Zappa (#11 here). Adams offers daily informal tastings from 4:30 to 7:30pm (all day on Saturday), and the shop also sells kegs and any other sort of paraphernalia, tools with which to use them, including nuts and horseradish mustard.

Seattle Beer Authority, 12716 Lake City Way NE, 417-9629