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A Little Beer, A Little Politics
Oct. 13th, 2017 05:20 pmSo OK, I've never considered myself to be a real beer drinker, much less a beer connoisseur or a (shudder) beer snob.
But I've gotta tell ya, this past week has got me thinking. And drinking.
But more on that later. Maybe. Depending on how the keyboard is working. Which depends on how my fingers are working. For things other than gripping a beer tumbler. But first, as they say in actor's workshop, the backstory.
About two months ago, our local mega-market, Wegman's, hooked me up with a locally-brewed Scotch-style ale called Middle Ages Brewing Company "Kilt Tilter."
I think they call it that because it's 9.5% ABV. And it'll definitely "tilt yer kilt." If yer wearin' one. Which I'm not. But more on that later. Naw, just kidding.
It comes in 22 oz. bottles and I'm good for about one glass or half a bottle. Told ya, I'm not a real beer drinker.
Another self-limiting factor is price. It's, like, $8 a bottle. Yeah. But I'm tellin' ya, it's really good. It's quite a dark ale and the flavor really POPS, first sip to last. I guess, at that price, it oughta.
Anyway, as I was saying, I started picking up a bottle every other day or so and, once I got settled in for the evening, all the driving done, the daily workout finished, I'd sit down and have a tumbler.
Until, one fateful day, I approached the familiar shelf at the back of the Fairmount Wegman's and...WTF!...NO MABC SCOTCH ALE!
And this happened 2 or 3 days in a row, which led me to conclude that it wasn't just some greedy f_ _ k drinking himself into a coma every night but...what?
So I went to the Middle Ages website and found out that these sadistic b _ st _ rds (you see where this is going), sitting around some corporate table in the very bowels of HELL, had decided to limit production of my beloved Kilt Tilter to... wait for it... wait for it... ONE, and only ONE, production run per year!
HOLY SPIT! And WTF!
In the days following this tragic discovery, I decided to do the only thing that a manly man could possibly do.
I would sacrifice my standards, I would place my reputation and, if necessary, my life, on the line for my fellow beer drinkers. In short, I would sample every single Scotch ale on the shelves of Wegman's market to determine if an adequate bridge could be found to span this yawning chasm between beer drinker's Heaven and Hell.
As it turns out, though, I've been kinda busy driving the grandson to soccer and working late with certain power tools which have the potential to maim if not kill, so I've only gotten to two of the possible alternatives on those bleak and...sob...lonely shelves.
(Think of Cathy, wandering the moors... alone... pining for her Heathcliff.)
Anyway, I'm sorry to report that approval ratings have definitely plummeted from the first to second alternate brew choices.
The first one I tried was MacBubba Scotch Ale by Custom Brewcrafters of Honeoye Falls, NY. And it wasn't bad. Had some of the same flavor characteristics as my beloved Kilt Tilter, just not as assertively presented.
The one that I'm drinking now, which I picked up and chilled last night, is Claymore Scotch Ale by Great Divide Brewing Company of Denver, CO.
And there, sorry to say, the flavor really drops off quite precipitously. It's sort of the PC of bottled Scotch ales, very mild-mannered, unassertive, not wanting to offend anyone.
But it's like, Dude, in these times you've gotta make a statement. You know, don't be such a Republican. Stand up for something, even it offends the Commander-in-Chief.
(Oops, that just slipped out. This is supposed to be about beer, not politics. Sorry. Well, not really.)
So you get the idea. I'm not actually sure how many more varieties of Scotch ale there are on the shelves of the local supermarket but, at this rate, I'm definitely gonna have to extend my search to other venues.
Just not tonight because, you know, even the sorry excuse now sitting in my glass is STILL 6.5% alcohol by volume and I'm STILL not really a drinker...
LPK
Dreamwidth
10.13.2017
But I've gotta tell ya, this past week has got me thinking. And drinking.
But more on that later. Maybe. Depending on how the keyboard is working. Which depends on how my fingers are working. For things other than gripping a beer tumbler. But first, as they say in actor's workshop, the backstory.
About two months ago, our local mega-market, Wegman's, hooked me up with a locally-brewed Scotch-style ale called Middle Ages Brewing Company "Kilt Tilter."
I think they call it that because it's 9.5% ABV. And it'll definitely "tilt yer kilt." If yer wearin' one. Which I'm not. But more on that later. Naw, just kidding.
It comes in 22 oz. bottles and I'm good for about one glass or half a bottle. Told ya, I'm not a real beer drinker.
Another self-limiting factor is price. It's, like, $8 a bottle. Yeah. But I'm tellin' ya, it's really good. It's quite a dark ale and the flavor really POPS, first sip to last. I guess, at that price, it oughta.
Anyway, as I was saying, I started picking up a bottle every other day or so and, once I got settled in for the evening, all the driving done, the daily workout finished, I'd sit down and have a tumbler.
Until, one fateful day, I approached the familiar shelf at the back of the Fairmount Wegman's and...WTF!...NO MABC SCOTCH ALE!
And this happened 2 or 3 days in a row, which led me to conclude that it wasn't just some greedy f_ _ k drinking himself into a coma every night but...what?
So I went to the Middle Ages website and found out that these sadistic b _ st _ rds (you see where this is going), sitting around some corporate table in the very bowels of HELL, had decided to limit production of my beloved Kilt Tilter to... wait for it... wait for it... ONE, and only ONE, production run per year!
HOLY SPIT! And WTF!
In the days following this tragic discovery, I decided to do the only thing that a manly man could possibly do.
I would sacrifice my standards, I would place my reputation and, if necessary, my life, on the line for my fellow beer drinkers. In short, I would sample every single Scotch ale on the shelves of Wegman's market to determine if an adequate bridge could be found to span this yawning chasm between beer drinker's Heaven and Hell.
As it turns out, though, I've been kinda busy driving the grandson to soccer and working late with certain power tools which have the potential to maim if not kill, so I've only gotten to two of the possible alternatives on those bleak and...sob...lonely shelves.
(Think of Cathy, wandering the moors... alone... pining for her Heathcliff.)
Anyway, I'm sorry to report that approval ratings have definitely plummeted from the first to second alternate brew choices.
The first one I tried was MacBubba Scotch Ale by Custom Brewcrafters of Honeoye Falls, NY. And it wasn't bad. Had some of the same flavor characteristics as my beloved Kilt Tilter, just not as assertively presented.
The one that I'm drinking now, which I picked up and chilled last night, is Claymore Scotch Ale by Great Divide Brewing Company of Denver, CO.
And there, sorry to say, the flavor really drops off quite precipitously. It's sort of the PC of bottled Scotch ales, very mild-mannered, unassertive, not wanting to offend anyone.
But it's like, Dude, in these times you've gotta make a statement. You know, don't be such a Republican. Stand up for something, even it offends the Commander-in-Chief.
(Oops, that just slipped out. This is supposed to be about beer, not politics. Sorry. Well, not really.)
So you get the idea. I'm not actually sure how many more varieties of Scotch ale there are on the shelves of the local supermarket but, at this rate, I'm definitely gonna have to extend my search to other venues.
Just not tonight because, you know, even the sorry excuse now sitting in my glass is STILL 6.5% alcohol by volume and I'm STILL not really a drinker...
LPK
Dreamwidth
10.13.2017
