Things are, apparently, happening. And if you followed us on Twitter you'd already know that Spokane has Italy fever!

First, Italia Trattoria has opened! Former Luna chef Anna Vogel is helming the Italian restaurant in the former Marron building. The word "authentic" has been thrown around, which certainly is a good thing, though we will wait and see for ourselves. Spokane doesn't have a history of much in terms of Italian authenticity.

Speaking of faux-Italian that goes better with our Olive Garden past, Ciao Mambo is opening in the Lincoln Plaza building downtown. You'll likely be pretty pleased if you've been looking for a new spot to hate. With a slogan like "Where even the pasta is sexy!" and "Italian Nachos" are proudly displayed as a signature dish… Well… Lord help us all… Look at the image above… Is that Italian and sexy? Is that what we've come to? Seriously.

But hey, they can always prove me wrong. There's a first for everything!

Well, tie me down and call me a fan.

It seems like someone should have thought of this before. Mixing coconut and porter? Something like that simply has to work. It's in the law of nature! (Look it up.)

It pours dark—shocking, I know—with about a finger worth of thick head. The lacing retains pretty well. This is a nice aromatic beer: Chocolates and possibly coffee meet your nose straight from the pour.

The surprise, to me at least, came in the flavor. It might be the coconut that gives off strong hints of smokiness, but really, I hadn't expected it. Not that it sits heavy or anything—there's more of a creamy chocolate flavor to it—but it's definitely there. There's a mild hoppy flavor at the end of the flavor too.

This might not be the most crazy complex porter out there, but as far as a refreshing porter, I can't think of many that would compete with the CoCoNut Porter. Seeing how it's really quite warm outside, I'd say that's a good thing.

Run out and try one at The Lantern or get a can from Rocket. Unless you're one of those anti-consumer Gen Y-ers of course.