It’s the New Hampshire Liquor Commission’s 75th anniversary and it feels like celebrating.
To kick off the anniversary, the commission is offering a $10 gift certificate for every $75 purchase up to $750 (not sure who buys that much alcohol at once but they must have put the limit in for a reason).

The commission is also starting a year-long promotion starting April 17.
The first event is hosted by WBOS-FM where you could win an anniversary package or a $75 gift card among other prizes.

The $10 gift card offer runs through April 26.

When I first tasted Samuel Adams Imperial Stout , I thought I had not lived. That was until I tried it with bleu cheese. Then I knew. Part of the brewery’s new Imperial Series, the stout is not for the meek.

Dark as a Himalayan night sky and just as dense, this beer is prodigious in character and taste. Just pour it and see. A caramel-tinted foam atop the beers diesel opaqueness brings to mind an espresso, suitably, as coffee forms one of the layers of flavor. Chocolate is another, licorice a third. Try tasting each one independent of one another.

A good dose of hops lends earthy character and aroma, with a silky caramel maltiness rounding out the flavors. But for all its intensity, it goes down smooth and easy. But be careful; at 9.2 percent alcohol, it could possibly be too smooth and easy.

OK, that’s the beer. Here’s the beer with a good Danish bleu cheese. There’s salty sharpness, there’s subtle smokiness, there’s creamy smoothness from beer and cheese. If there’s more of both, there’s heaven.

Fortunately the area’s well stocked with the dark stuff. Market Basket and Hannaford have it, and so do Jasper’s on Temple Street in downtown Nashua and The Liquor Shop on Middlesex Road in Tyngsborough, Mass. Prepare to pay $10 or a little higher for four 12-ounce bottles.