Beer – Regular Guy

Safe Keeping

brian — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 15:19:11 +0000

Ah, that time in 2013 when I needed the safe in my hotel room for work documents, but it was locked so the security guy came to unlock it for me, and we found two cans of Bud Light inside the safe and then stood there and wondered aloud for a good five minutes about why someone would lock two cans of Bud Light in a hotel room safe and then leave them there.

Feeling Quite at Home

brian — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 12:40:41 +0000

I felt right at home inside the bar. Now that might sound like old news to people who know me well, but this situation had a different element.

The bar in question was in Cambridge, Mass., and I had never visited the place before. When I exited the subway station, I had to walk down the block a bit to make sure I was in the right place. But things felt familiar once I stepped inside.

This had nothing to do with the décor or the beer selection, although I found the latter quite impressive. I felt at home because I hadn’t seen the bartender in close to 20 years.

When I found out I would go to Boston for work in late June, I did the same thing I did whenever I start planning a business trip – I try to figure out what kind of fun things I can do in my free time.

Sure, I looked forward to giving my first presentation at an important industry conference on this particular trip, but the chance to explore Boston and maybe catch up with some friends really took priority.

I spent a lot of time hanging out with Jeff in college. He ranked as one of my closest friends during that time. I wouldn’t say we caused a lot of trouble, but so many of my great memories from that time period involve Jeff (and maybe an adult beverage or two).

We stayed in touch for the first few years after school ended. He graduated a year before me and managed to visit a few times. We saw each other at a few weddings, including my own in 1995 when he enjoyed razzing me as I waited for the ceremony just to see if he could make me more nervous.

But I hadn’t seen him since that day in October 1995 until I walked into the Boston bar where he works. When the planning for my free time started for this trip, visiting Jeff took precedence over everything else.

I have entered the time in life when I start to get extra sentimental over things like my college experience. Everyone experiences this, but I think it affects me more since I rarely see people who made such an impact on that important part of my life. Sure, we stay in touch via Facebook (which is a lifesaver in this regard), but nothing beats sharing a drink and some memories with someone who was there as you developed into the person you are today.

That’s why I felt at home walking into that bar. I knew I would have a good time regardless of any outside influences. The fact that he had to work while we talked didn’t matter. The band which played later merely added to the story. The other people who wanted to bend his ear just reminded me why I always had a good time with Jeff.

Nothing exciting happened that night, but it ranks as one of the best days of the year for me. Now I just need to re-kindle many other friendships. I know I can do it, one beer at a time.

Street Kayaking

brian — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 19:02:41 +0000

When I woke up last Friday, I knew we had a problem on our hands. The morning of our last full day at the beach brought a whole lot of rain.

We had already weathered the storm – literally. The rain came the day before as well, but we filled the time with crafts, Bingo and a group viewing of “Sharknado.”

I didn’t know what another rainy day would bring, however. We got very lucky with some incredible weather to start the week, and, in reality, we have had great weather for a number of years straight.

But what’s a group of close to 50 family members to do when the weather turns sour – really sour – on vacation?

Kayak in the street, that’s what.

The whole thing started, at least in my mind, as a joke. The road in front of the side-by-side houses two of my sisters rented started to flood. This brought back memories of family members putting a rubber raft in a flooded culvert on a trip many years ago.

One of the houses near the flooding this year happened to have a half-dozen kayaks available to renters. At some point in the mid-morning, Facebook messages started flying about whether the road had enough water to make kayaking possible.

I decided to hop into the shower and see what the rest of the day would hold. After I got dressed, I discovered an urgent voice mail from one of my sisters. My house was just a block from the flooding.

“You have to come out of your house and see what’s going on down the street.”

I grabbed my umbrella, realizing within just a few seconds that trying to stay dry would never succeed, and smiled when I saw the scene.

We didn’t just have one intrepid family member testing the kayaking theory. Several folks paddled up and down the flooded street while many others passed on umbrellas and hats, splashing around in their bathing suits.

Suffice to say, we had started to create one of the all-time best memories in my family’s 25-plus years of going to Bethany Beach.

There were kayak races and “rescues” of folks who lost control and ended up in the bushes. An enterprising group even used tin foil to dress up on of my nephews as the “Sharknado.”

Cars passing on the nearby main streets stopped to take photos or video of this crazy crew (ranging from 3 to 60) making the best of a rainy day at the beach. Some even drove by, threw the car in reverse to make sure they saw what they thought they saw, then captured the scene on their phone.

Some of my nephews spent the bulk of the afternoon in the kayaks, just chilling out and creating their own memory. The rest of us brought food from our individual houses for a potluck sort of lunch, then enjoyed a few cocktails, took a nap or did both.

Two nights before this, my daughter and I walked back from the downtown area (where 30 of us huddled on the covered bandstand to escape the rain and broke into an impromptu version of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”) and said, “our family is kinda awesome, huh?”

All we needed was a downpour and some kayaks to show that to everyone.

I Want My Fat Tire

brian — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:43:31 +0000

I loved hearing the news earlier this year that Colorado-based brewer New Belgium would bring its products to Maryland in 2011. I love their well-known Fat Tire Ale and look forward to bootlegging it since Pennsylvania was not on the list of states added to the distribution.

Signs have appeared advertising the beers, but they only have sent the 22-ounce bottles at this point. Luckily, I found out yesterday that 6-packs will be here within a month or so.

I have only had Fat Tire a few times while traveling on business and loved it each time. I can’t wait to put it in my rotation at home.

This post was brought to you by the Foundation to Encourage Brian to Blog More Even if It’s on a Short Subject (EBBMEISS)

Hooray Beer!

brian — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:35:14 +0000

Congress does its best to avoid every chance it has to show us that the two sides can work together. Thankfully, we have found an example of bi-partisanship on an issue which truly can transform our country.

Move over, Sam Adams: Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) want to make it easier for craft breweries to produce more beer.

On Wednesday afternoon Kerry and Crapo introduced the Brewer’s Employment and Excise Relief (BEER) Act, which would cut taxes for microbreweries and on the production of smaller quantities of beer barrels.

What’s more American than supporting our beer entrepreneurs? I’ll drink to this if the two sides can put their differences apart and actually support small American businesses and the people who like to patronize them,

PA Liquor Laws: Still Stupid

brian — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 18:16:16 +0000

One of the key aims of Pennsylvania’s new governor is to get the state out of the liquor store business. Currently, all liquor and wine is sold at state-run stores. The plan is to auction off those licenses to raise money and open up the marketplace.

This will eliminate one of the problems with the alcohol industry in the state, but, in reality, just scratches the surface. It’s sad to report that this one move will probably serve as the only move in this saga for a while.

A post about the differing fortunes of beer drinkers versus those who enjoy wine and liquor appeared on the RockTheCapital.com website this week. It looks like those of us who enjoy brew will have to continue to patronize more than one kind of store to get our fix.

You see, if you want a case or keg of beer, you can go to a distributor. These are usually pretty big businesses with lots of variety and pretty competitive proces. But you need to buy at least a case.

If you want six or 12 beers at a time, you pretty much need to find a bar which sells carry out beer. Most of them do, but not all of them really push this part of their business. That means they generally have pretty limited selections and tend to charge a premium price.

At least this is my experience in York County where I live. The only places I know of with a dedicated cooler for takeout might have one or two micro/craft brew options in their cooler. Maybe. The places that carry a good variety of beer don’t really cater to carryout customers with no takeout cooler and higher prices.

On the flip side, if I go to a package store in Maryland – which has beer, wine and liquor all in one place – I can find a really good variety of interesting beers to choose from. This is why I buy a lot of my beer in Maryland, where I work, and bootleg it home. yes, I am breaking the law when I buy beer in Maryland and bring it home. But I’ll take that risk.

All of Pennsylvania’s problems in this area come down to lobbyists. The Tavern Association wants to keep distributors from selling 6 and 12 packs because they “bought their licenses knowing they can sell cases and above,” meaning that no one should ever look at changing a stupid law created in the 1930s because people know what they are getting into. The power of this group against the distributor group against whatever group will represent the new liquor store owners against the church groups and teetotalers will win out against the interests of the people who want to spend Monday in the state.

So instead of taking a comprehensive look at the entire alcohol sales industry in the state, all we will get is the politically and fiscally lucrative baby step of simply selling off the liquor stores. I’ll drown my sorrows about this decision with a beer I bought in Maryland. I only wanted a 6-pack.

Beer: A Taste of Indiana

brian — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 12:04:12 +0000

I have been on the road the last few days for work, attending a conference in Indianapolis. As is my custom when I travel. I tried to limit myself to new beers on the trip. The only time I had to change from that strategy was at the Indiana Pacers game I went to one night. Luckily, I was sitting in the club level and had Fat Tire at my disposal instead of the swill they served elsewhere in the arena. Both cost the same – go figure.

To enjoy in my room, I picked up two Indiana brews – Ol’ Woody Pale from Fort Wayne’s Mad Anthony Brewing and Blind Tiger Pale Ale from Barley Island Brewing in Noblesville, Ind. Out of these two, I enjoyed the Blind Tiger better. Nothing wrong with Ol’ Woody (he he he). I just didn’t like it as much. The Blind Tiger had a heavier flavor, which is what I like best. Both were good straight-up pale ale brews with nothing fancy.

The other three I tried came courtesy of Scotty’s Brewhouse, a great bar which was recommended to me by more than one friend and did not disappoint. I tried Bloomington Brewing’s Ruby Bloom Amber, Bell’s Beer Two-Hearted Ale and Three Floyds Bewing’s Alpha King. Each made me happy for different reasons.

I tried the Ruby Bloom last, after eating a half-dozen wings and drinking an Alpha King. The beer had enough heaviness, but not too much to overwhelm my full belly. I really appreciated the flavor even though I’m a shitty reviewer when it comes to these things because I am terrible at describing them.

The Two-Hearted was a nice, solid ale, the first one I tried on my first of two visits to Scotty’s. I have heard of Bells, which is based in Michigan, so wanted to try one of their beers. This one really did a nice job complementing the monster Shewman’s Special burger – which includes peanut butter and jalapenos in a surprisingly good mix – for dinner.

But the one that really won for the weekend was the Alpha King from Three Floyds Brewing in Munster, In., outside of Chicago. The beer had a drinkability and flavor that just made you shake your head and reach for the glass again, that is if you like the American pale style. I now know this is their flagship beer so can tip my hat to them for getting it right the first time. They didn’t need to do anything fancy – just create a really good beer.

Now if I can just fine any of these beers back home. I don’t know when I will hit the road again so I need something to keep me happy until then.

My Favorite Young Man

brian — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 18:53:40 +0000

I discovered Yuengling beer sometime in 1992. That’s when I moved to central Pennsylvania. back then, I thought splurging for beer meant getting Budweiser. In bottles. That was top-shelf.

Now I’m a minor beer snob and try to avoid most A-B, Miller and Coors products at all costs. But I still loves me some Yuengling, which translates into “Young Man” in German. So the title of the blog post is an homage, not an erotic confession.

Yuengling is pretty much my go-to beer. I get it pretty much exclusively when I go out, partially because I love it and partially because it’s something I know I can count on wherever I go locally. For a variety of reasons, I read this story with mixed feelings.

Yuengling announced last week that it signed a letter of intent to buy a former Coors brewery in Memphis, Tenn. The facility would be the Pennsylvania brewer’s largest and could more than double the company’s overall capacity and allow it to expand distribution into multiple states beyond its 13-state footprint in the Eastern U.S.

Part of me likes knowing that others across the country will get to enjoy the cool deliciousness of a Lager. For those who don’t know, you can pretty much say I’ll take a Lager” in these parts and get a Yuengling without any confusion. Kind of like how people say “I’ll take a beer” in a movie and get a glass without any question about which brand. Sure, Yuengling makes other varieties, but Lager is the go-to.

I also like knowing I can get a Lager on the road, even if I would probably pick a local beer instead of my hometown choice. That comfort factor would be nice to have.

But a couple of things also trouble me. I don’t worry about Yuengling getting too big because the gap between brewers like them and the really big boys is so vast that adding one really big facility will not even come close to making the playing field even.

I do worry about the hipster factor. Yuengling is already a semi-kinda trendy choice because if its price point and old-school look, especially in places outside its Pennsylvania comfort zone. That won’t stop me from enjoying the beer, but I don’t like knowing that some jackass in a throwback NBA jersey and visor might get the same beer I do. I’m shallow that way.

The more worrying factor for me, strangely, is their possible expansion into other beer styles. The article says they are working on an India Pale Ale. I love IPA. It’s one of my favorite styles, but I don’t know if I like Yuengling taking its eye off the ball (i.e. their already successful styles) in order to try and compete with microbreweries.

My worries are probably for naught, but I still worry about important things, like something bad happening to my favorite beer. I have put in a lot of time developing this attachment. Don’t screw it up now, Yuengling.

So Goes Philly

brian — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:24:08 +0000

I like to drink good beer. To further this quest, I like to try new beers from breweries I usually don’t get to sample. That led me to a sampler case (since Pennsylvania’s stupid laws make it almost impossible to just buy a 6-pack of anything except macro-brews) from the Philadelphia Brewing Co.

First, a word about Philly. I grew up in Baltimore and still have my sports allegiences, for the most part, there. That means I’m not too fond of the city with the Liberty Bell. Except for a brief dalliance with the Phillies before I was too young to know the wrongity of sports bigamy, I’ve spent much of my time loathing the City of Brotherly Love.

I put all of this aside in my beer quest though. I had already had one of the beers in the case in a little project I took part in in late 2008/early 2009 called Beer Appreciation. A friend set up a program so we could each get a case with 24 different beers. The Philly Brewing Kenzinger was in the case, and I had a decent memory of it.

I was right on that count. It’s nothing stellar, but a decent beer to sit and enjoy. At 4.5 ABV (I’m not a total beer geek, but I do check out this statistic), you can definitely enjoy more than one of these golden ales. I completely passed on the Walt Wit beers in the case because I don’t really enjoy wheat beers. I gave them to my nephews (all of drinking age).

I had high hopes for the Rowhouse Red, but something happened and all of them turned out way too foamy and didn’t taste right. I really enjoy interesting ales so was a bit disappointed. The final beer in the case was their Newbold IPA, which comes in at 6 percent ABV. It was OK. I think I have one of the six left in the fridge and will eventually drink it. I wouldn’t go out and get most of these beers again, but I would definitely drink them if offered.

I’ve already started my way through a sampler case from New Orleans’ Abita brewery, and I can say that in this case, just as in football this year, New Orleans kicks Philly’s ass all over the place.

The List

brian — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 18:49:50 +0000

I started to think about something the other day when I posted something about “Jersey Shore,” aka the greatest television show ever created. I have enjoyed watching The Situation so much, I decided he ranked among the top five people I wanted to have a beer with.

I remember a guy I went to college with telling me that he couldn’t really trust a guy until he sat and had a beer with them. I tend to agree. Even if you don’t drink, the casual attitude at a bar really lets you learn a lot about a person. Plus, a beer takes somewhere between 20 and 40 minutes to drink at a casual pace, so that’s plenty of time to get to have a substantive conversation with someone you find interesting.

The only problem with that declaration was that I don’t recall ever considering what four other people would make the list (inspired by a great storyline on “Friends”). That changes right now. Without further ado, my top five in no particular order:

The Situation, formally known as Mike Sorrentino. He has burst onto the scene with his bravado and humor from “Jersey Shore. He has blown me away with appearances an appearance on The Tonight Show and a Funny or Die video which slayed me.
Peter Buck, guitarist for R.E.M. He was the driving force in the rock return of Accelerate,the band’s most recent album. He plays in several other groups, including The Baseball Project, and is a total music geek. To top it off, the humor and insight of the liner notes he sometimes contributes to the band’s projects would provide for lots of conversation.
Bill Lawrence, creator of “”Scrubs.” My man crush on the man behind one of my favorite TV shows is well known. We almost went to college together. I could have been his right-hand man. Plus, he provides the most refreshing interviews I have ever read. Easily a two-beer conversation.
Jason Segal, “How I Met Your Mother” and Judd Apatow movies. He just seems cool.
Rhett Miller, singer, guitarist from the Old 97s. Ever since I saw him play earlier this year, I have had a slight obsession with the band’s music. A writer and terrific performer, I would love to swap stories with a guy who wrote a line “My name is Stuart Ransom Miller, and I’m a serial lady killer.”

That’s the list, for now. Like all endeavors in this vein, I will probably think of someone else later, and I reserve the right to change things. I also disqualified people like Tim Quirk and Charlie Todd, who I have interviewed for my dear, departed podcast.