Santa Cruz's Uncommon Brewers is a rarity among micro-breweries in that its beer is canned rather than bottled. That makes the brewery's Siamese Twin Ale doubly rare: it's made with lemongrass, coriander, and kaffir lime leaves, which, if not completely original, is, I'm pretty sure, the first such brew to be commercialized.

Despite these unusual spices, the beer at first encounter seems like a fairly conventional Belgian-style double: brown, malty, strong (8.5%), and slightly sweet--not too different from the Afflingen Dobble and Anderson Valley Brother David's Double I usually keep on hand. The big difference comes in the slightly bitter, assertively spicy finish.

This tasty local beer is priced quite competitively, at least at City Beer, where I found it. Each $3 can is 16 ounces, which is to say, one pint. Brother David's and Afflingen come in 22 ounce bottles, and my most recent purchases cost me $6.50 and $7 respectively, which works out to around $5 a pint. See uncommonbrewers.com for other places to find Siamese Twin and Uncommon Brewers' other organic beers, both in cans and on tap.

With separate divisions for amateur chefs, restaurants and corporations, the 28th Annual Santa Cruz Clam Chowder Cook-Off & Festival offers a unique cooking competition for all levels. The event, which has its own silly theme song, takes place on Saturday, February 21 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (400 Beach St., Santa Cruz). Admission is free and chowder tasting kits are $8, with proceeds to benefit the city's Parks and Recreation Department.