The aforementioned beer cooler is the only thing left of Boise's Bucket o' Brew, a BoDo business that closed last weekend which created a variety of beer themed buckets for gifts for the last several years.

It was a good idea — Bucket 'o Brew would assemble a steel bucket, filled with six craft beers, peanuts, and some other stuff, depending on which theme was chosen — which made for a much cooler gift than flowers or a sweater, especially for a beer nut.

But owner Kris Query said it was too much work to run a business and work full time at HP at the same time, so she reluctantly closed down last weekend. So after almost four years of providing Boise with beer-centric alternative for boring gifts, Bucket o' Brew is no more.

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.