The top five beers I’ve had recently

“Everybody has to believe in something. I believe I’ll have another drink.” — all-around funny man W.C. Fields.

O’BRIENS IRISH PUB, Santa Monica — Greatest Pro Bowls of all time, and other stuff drank beer yesterday. Greatest Pro Bowls of all time, and other stuff will most likely drink beer again today.

With that fun in mind, here is a list of the top five beers Greatest Pro Bowls of all time, and other stuff has had recently (not in any specific order, really; listed alphabetically, actually) …

Blanche de Chambly — Went to the Westside Tavern in the Westside Pavilion for a couple drinks before an epic showing of Up in beautiful 3D (it was awesome, by the way). Their list of beers contained many that I’d never heard of, including a good number from an unfamiliar Canadian brewer called Unibroue. So, confused, I asked the bartender for something that was like a hefeweizen, you know, something light and refreshing to drink before hitting the movies. He quickly responded, “Blanche de Chambly.” I said, “Cool!” It turned out to be an impressive brew. Further research on the matter revealed that the official website of the beer describes Blanche de Chambly as “an alluring pale golden color, effervescent foam and a subtle bouquet of spice and citrus notes. It is a mildly malty, sightly sweet and refreshingly thirst-quenching.”

Guinness — O’Briens Irish Pub on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica pours it spectacularly. It gets a five-star Guinness pour rating on a five-star scale. This is one of the rare places where I’ll stop and look at the freshly poured Guinness and say, “Doesn’t that look beautiful?” Keep up the great work!

Pabst Blue Ribbon — Kicked it old school with PBR in a can recently at the Brig on Abbot Kinney Blvd. in Venice. Not sure what to think of the place (this recent analysis from that yelp.com link pretty much sums it up … “awkward, weird even. It had a very strange vibe”), but the beer was great. Sometimes that is all that matters.

Palm — This is another recent happy discovery (and by “discovery,” I mean, “you should try this. I think you’ll really like it!”). This Belgian ale is hard to find, but well worth the effort. Apparently, Belgian beer sales were up 32 percent in the U.S. of A. in 2008, and that means that Palm beer may get increased distribution over the course of an unspecified amount of time. That’s great news for people who enjoy fine beers.

Please take a moment to read the tidbits/history lesson on Palm at its official Internets site.

Pyramid Haywire — Don’t worry, folks. It’s Pyramid’s classic hefeweizen, just with a new, totally in-your-face name.