Tuesday 7th of June 2011 10:43:31 AM

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As Eastern Arizona apparently burns to the ground (this is being written in the summer, 2011) - we decided to leave our happy, seaside home and take a "look-see."

Actually, our lovely seaside home won't be ready for 45 days so we are on our way to house-sit for friends of friends and came through Yuma.

193 degrees outside when we got to El Centro and I desperately wanted a brew.

Nothing.

The place was completely devoid of anything resembling a beer which includes the mountains of Bud, Bud Lite, Coors, Ultra MGD and the rest of that "crowd."

So when Yuma loomed as the 1st night's destination, I was pretty much resigned to the fact I was going to have brew up a batch in the hotel room. Then the nice lady at the counter suggested this place (after telling me about the hotel's happy hour which served lots of beer. "Oh?" I inquired. "What kind?" "Oh, Bud, Bud Lit..." "Stop, no...that's not what I mean by beer."

Burgers & Beer was less than a mile down the road and if big and open inside and although they don't make their own -- (Yuma, like El Centro, is missing an opportunity here for some home-brewer to step up!) -- they do have more than 80 bottles available and listed by origination...Mexican, Czech, etc. A few local brews are here including 4 Peaks' Kilt Lifter which seems to be everywhere in the state (Good for them!)...Stone Brewing (of course!)...Santa Fe Brewing out of New Mexico and several others.

The menu is extensive although I found it interesting and a bit off-putting that some of the "appetizers" were more expensive than the "entrees." For example, 4 chicken sliders were $10 while 3 chicken tacos w/beans and rice were just over $7. In fact, most of the items were, I thought, over-priced. My burger with fried egg was grand -- the fries not done well enough for my liking (even though I was quite clear with the waittress when I said "double-dip 'em." "Burn them?" she said. "You bet" I replied....but they came to me just cooked enough to be called "fries.") While wife Persimmon's 3 shrimp tacos were too greasy to eat & held a lot of onions and peppers and perhaps 2 shrimp.

The wait staff was attentive but not what I would call friendly.

TV's are everywhere and the sound was off, at least until the hockey game came on...then we were all forced to listen. That was our cue to exit.

So to all home-brewers in Yuma...here's your clarion call. If your beer is even close to being good, you might want to think about doing it for a living.

There are a lot of beer geeks out there who would love to find a wet spot in this hot, dry place.