Hello, Boise beer enthusiasts. Welcome to the new Idaho Statesman beer blog — something I hope will evolve into a clearinghouse for local, regional, and national beer news for all us beer nuts out there.

As regular readers of my monthly Scene columns on craft beer know, I love writing about America's favorite barley malt beverage. Idaho is situated right next to ground zero of the modern US craft beer movement (Oregon, California, Washington) and is really starting to establish itself as a good beer state.

Boise is leading the way, with four unique brew pubs and several killer tap houses, like Bitter Creek and The Front Door. You can walk into the Boise Co-Op any day and discover new and interesting craft beers to sip on the porch.

And the rest of the state is not far behind, either. From Laughing Dog in Ponderay to Trail Creek Brewing in Sun Valley to Grand Teton Brewing in Victor, killer beer is being brewed in the Gem State.

So there are lots of stories to tell, and lots of news to pass on, whether it is about what is new on tap at local bars to how much craft beer is being sold nationally to whatever happened to those guys who stole the beer truck from the Guinness factory last year. (I promise blog postings about all those in the near future).

I would also like to extend an offer to readers — If you have a question about craft beer or the beer industry, I will try to answer it on this blog. We are all part of beer nation Boise, and I would like for this blog to be interactive. So if you hear about some beer related news, pass it on and I will try to get to the bottom of it.

Just email me at porr@idahostatesman.com or post a comment and I will try to get to it as best I can. Regular readers of the Statesman also know I am the public safety reporter (the job that pays the bills), so it might take me a while to get an answer. But I'll get it if I can.

Beer is a big part of our history (there were kegs of beer on the Mayflower, yo), so lets celebrate it.

Check back later for news about Boise's Bucket o' Brew closing last weekend and a new black IPA from Laughing Dog coming our way.

Cheers!