Dear beer diary

Yes, there is good beer to be had in Door County, one of the most popular tourist getaways in the Midwest. The Old Stage Station, right on Highway 42, offers 12 beers on tap, tap root beer and 100 bottled beers (many of them Belgians). Draught selections this day included Dab, Bitburger, New Glarus Uff-da Bock, Sam Adams and Pete's. Up the road in Fish Creek, the Bayside Tavern had eight tap choices, including beers from Gray's, Sprecher and New Glarus.

Syracuse, N.Y., June 24

It was owner Ray Clark's day off, but we bumped into him outside Clark's Ale House, anyway. He was loading kegs into the back of a convertible (and you think we lead the good life). We talked about beer, of course, and when he said he was headed for Rochester, we noted we'd found Old Foghorn on tap the night before at MacGregor's on Gregory Street. He shook his head. "It's going to be a longer night than I thought," he said, smiling broadly.

Holderness, N.H., June 25

Found another place mixing good beer and bowling. The Lighthouse on Little Squam in downtown Holderness is a brewpub/ice cream parlor with candlepin bowling (skinny pins and a ball that fits inside your hand), a large arcade area (electronic games) and a separate small room for darts. Three beers are on tap, and the dining area overlooks Little Squam Lake and the Lighthouse boat slip.

Boston, Mass., June 27

If you visit the Bull & Finch Pub just across from the Boston Common on a busy day, you can expect to stand in a well-organized line of tourists waiting to walk down the stairs to the "Cheers" bar. We managed to stick our head inside but couldn't see the beer selection. We did see "Cheers" T-shirts were $19.95. A few blocks away, we found T-shirts for $15 with "No Norm. No Cliff. No Carla." on the front and "Just Sam" and the Samuel Adams logo on the back. These and nothing but Samuel Adams beer are available at the Sam Adams Brewhouse at the Lenox Hotel. A metal plaque out front promises all kegs will be tapped within two days after they are delivered and served within the next two. By allowing the hotel bar to use the Sam Adams name, the Boston Beer Co. angered other restaurants in the Back Bay area so much that many stopped serving Sam Adams beer. Given the number of tourists in Boston looking for Sam Adams beer, we question the wisdom of this boycott.

The T-shirts at Brendan Behan Pub in Jamaica Plain are even a better deal. They cost $10 and quote Brendan Behan: "There's no place on earth like the world." The pub has won Boston Magazine's Best Irish Bar award for four out of five years (there was no contest in 1992), and Boston is the major league of Irish pubs. The entrance was filled with kegs of Guinness as we walked in. "They'll be gone by the weekend," the bartender said. A tiny place that was packed for an Irish seisiun the night before, the pub goes through 16-17 kegs of Guinness a week from two taps. There are another eight taps with good beer and Cider Jack on tap. The man at the bar next to us was fresh off a plane from Dublin. We found one item in the decor especially intriguing, a directional sign to "Uaighna Mna Moire (Long Woman's Grave)."

Narragansett, R.I., June 29

You can just see the edges of Narragansett Bay from the sunny outdoor deck at the Twin Willows, where U.S. 1A is also known as Boston Neck Road. There are 15 beers on tap, including Anchor Steam, two from Sam Adams, Pete's, Bass, Guinness and two conditioned Emerald Isle beers (brewed in West Warwick), a bitter and a porter, served by handpump. Twin Willows regularly offers two clam chowders -- South County and New England -- and the special this day was Manhattan Clam Chowder.

New York City, June 30

The other patron at the bar at Riverrun was working his way through the pale ales on tap, as he tried to decide if the friends who were supposed to join him for his retirement party would show up. He finished the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, then explained to us that the Ballantine IPA was the standard to which he compared others. He pronounced the Brooklyn Brewery East India Pale Ale better than Sierra Nevada, but not as good as the Ballantine, then asked the bartender what was next. "Wild Goose," was the answer. His friends finally arrived 40 minutes late, and he groaned to find there were five others for lunch. "I wanted to sit at the bar," he said, his mood darkening as the Wild Goose tap ran dry after dispensing only a few ounces. The bartender handed him the glass as he walked to the table. A few moments later he returned with the empty glass. "Too bad," he said. "That was the best of them."

Riverrun, a delightful little restaurant with 15 taps and pull-chain toilets, is just down from Nobu, the trendy restaurant owned by Robert DeNiro. Sometimes Nobu patrons drop by after dinner. What do they order? "Pina coladas," the bartender said, laughing.

Philadelphia, July 1

Quality beer is as chic here as anywhere, and easy to find at trendy clubs and restaurants -- but there are always reminders that it's not what most people drink. We stopped in a corner bar called Cavanaugh's, which is different from the Cavanaugh's near the University of Pennsylvania, which has 16 taps and an extensive bottle selection. This corner pub had a small island bar and five taps, including Guinness and Yuengling's Black and Tan. It's an Irish bar out of the 1950s, with two fine murals and a fair Guinness draw in one room, and a classy dining area in the other. Three sweat-covered men entered shortly after we did. "Working on a Sunday, are we?" a young woman asked, her Irish accent coming through. They grinned and nodded their heads. As they drank their beers, they talked in thick Irish accents. One drank Miller Lite, another Budweiser and the third had Coors Light on ice.

Later we struck up a conversation with a man at Bridgid's, a genuine Belgian restaurant specializing in Belgian beer. He was a pastry chef from Belgium, who soon would be returning to help his daughter with the bakery she was opening. We asked him where the city's Belgian neighborhood is, since the town has not only this restaurant, but Copa, Too! -- our first stop of the day and the first bar in the country to serve Belgian-made Kwak from the tap. Philadelphia doesn't have a Belgian neighborhood, the man said -- just himself, the owner of Bridgid's and a few others. He suggested checking Detroit (next in our travel plans, by the way), then happily extolled the magic touch of Belgian brewers . . . while he sipped on a Rolling Rock. He pointed out that Rolling Rock is now a Belgian beer, since Interbrew bought out Labatts, which owns the brewery.

Seaside Heights, N.J., July 3

About every three days into one of these trips, Stan throws his hands in the air and laments that we'll never be able to put together a complete list of good beer bars. Shouldn't we list, for instance, a place offering Guinness, Bass, Pete's, Sam Adams, Murphy's and even Rogue Red? Of course. Well, right here on the boardwalk you can win your best girl a giant stuffed Red Dog, buy her some fries with gravy, pick up salt-water taffy to take home for Mom and settle into a stool at the Sawmill Cafe to choose from one of those beers. Up the boardwalk a few blocks, a place called JR's has 16 taps, including six or so decent beers.

Cranford, N.J., July 3

Antones had 15 taps when we visited in December, but has more than 30 now. We wanted to see if this wonderful blue-collar gathering place had changed (do you have to have an upscale crowd to sell upscale beer?). We found the horseshoe bar still full of neighborhood regulars. They were watching the 6 o'clock news and the weatherman was warning viewers of the danger of sunburn under clear Fourth of July skies. "What's UV-9?" a customer asked. "It means I have to wear my sunglasses in here tomorrow," answered another.