Share a good place-based memory involving beer

Enjoying a Westie XII and a Westie VIII with your feet in the sand whilst dining with your beautiful bride at Madame Janette's in Aruba was a pretty great evening.

 

Living the Dan Fogleberg story:
Genny Cream Ale in the back seat of a Corvair

 

Drinking Brains at a really beautiful old pub in Cardiff, Wales. We were passing through, hitchhiking, and mixing with the locals. They housed us, fed us, and two guys getting ready for vacation asked us to join them for a trip through The Lake Country and all over Scotland. Best Summer of my life! I still communicate with Geoff from Cardiff.

 

Countless cans of Genny Cream while in the top row of Oswego Speedway's back grandstands, watching the Modifieds and and supermodifieds race. And, one sad night, when a simple spin and light contact took the life of a northeast racing legend, Jim Shampine. Also, plenty of nights atop Beer Hill at Williams Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg PA, tipping back Yuengling Black and Tans watching the Pennsylvania Posse. My first Smuttynose Old Brown Dog and Finestkind in the parking lot of New Hampshire Speedway. Or, my first cask beer at Rock Bottom Indianapolis while in town for the Midget races at the old Hoosierdome.

I used to travel a lot to the races, and beer was always there for us.

 

I remember drinking a Maui Coconut porter on the summit of Mt. Sneffels. Because of the climate, we started before dawn and had to negotiate some precarious sections before reaching the summit. It was about 8 AM, 40 degrees with a howling wind, by the view was sublime! That Maui coconut porter was so delicious and really enhanced my experience.

 

I had a recent one I can add to this. The day after my son was born, my wife and I were still in our L&D room at the hospital for observation. My buddy came by to meet the baby and to my surprise, snuck in a bottle of Dragon's Milk w/raspberries. Before the nurse made her hourly rounds, we celebrated the occasion by sipping the beer from styrofoam cups

 

A couple come to mind for me. My wife and I went for our honeymoon to Paris and then Belgium. In Paris we made a point of picnicking on the banks of the Seine or in the Jardin des Tuileries each day. We were/are big Cantillon fans, and although we had bottles before, they were always because someone shared them. Each night we brought the first bottles we ever purchased off the shelf with good cheese, preserves, and bread and just soaked in the atmosphere. It was hot the first few days but we didn't care one bit.

We ended our trip by staying at the St. Bernardus B&B that is next door to their brewery in Watou. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it. Western Belgium is beautiful and it was such a relaxing end to our trip. We spent each day out amongst the farms and hop fields, drinking St. Bernardus (they have a stocked fridge in the lobby). The B&B was great and the host treated us like family. In the evening we would ride bikes into town to eat at local restaurants. It was fantastic and I hope we get the chance to relive these memories at some point.

 

Germany in 1980, still divided and me in HS. Where to start. A different beer everyday for 3 weeks. Alternate rounds of fresh Becks light and dark in a 300 year old basement bar in Bremen. West Berlin, outside cafe, rounds of Beliner Weisse with raspberry syrup. Yup, it was that good. Contrast that with seeing the Berlin wall, armed East German guards boarding the bus, bombed out churches in many towns left standing as a memorial. Quite a trip for a punk in High School.

 

Drinking a Country Boy IPA on the outside back deck of Everybody's Brewing in White Salmon, WA with a breathtaking view of Mt. Hood in front of me, after a morning of horseback riding with my daughter.

 

Sitting in an outdoor cafe in Brussels, drinking an Orval, back in 2003.

What made it special was it was my first time drinking a Belgian beer in Belgium.

 

Sitting in a cafe in downtown Tallinn, Estonia, overseeing a bustling market square trying Saku's Homebrew (also known as Koduolu) while on my honeymoon was pretty remarkable. First experience with Sahti too. When in Estonia...

 

About 20 years old (many, many years ago), sitting at an outdoor cafe in Lake Lucernce, Switzerland on a beautiful summer day...quaffing down several Adambrau's (probably spelled it wrong) taking in the scenery and people watching

Fast forward 15 years later, in my apartment in Germany, with racks of 1/2 liter Bitburgers and a bunch of my buddies playing poker all night, listening to great tunes

 

Drinking a nice barrel aged stout at Long Trail then going down to the stream and throwing rocks with my then 2 yr old grand daughter.

 

In college, getting a shell of leinenkugel and a pickled egg at the B & B. Paying with a $1 bill, and getting change back.

 

My niece's wedding/reception, held in the biergarten of the late lamented Bandersnatch brewpub in Tempe AZ. The bulk of my craft beer education commenced there, along with a fondness for milk/sweet stouts that endures to this day.

 

After a successful climb of Denali, we wait for a plane to loop around the Kahiltna pass, we hear the engines.
The bird lands, and the pilot gets out says "hello did you guys order this? " and from the back of the plane
out comes a 12 pack of Bud cans. He throws them in the snow and says. "Enjoy these" and takes the first of our
group off the mountain.
Cheers all

 

2010, I went to visit my buddy in San Francisco. The entire weekend was all beer...but the major highlight was the day of his birthday, we go to Kezar Pub at 9AM for USA v England in the World Cup. We hesitated because the place was packed and a $10 cover (but you get 3 beers)..we hesitated since we're 33 and tend to avoid crowds like that, but one we got in it was the best time. We drank Pliney all morning/day long, celebrated with a US win over the Lions, and then stopped at Magnolia for some food and another couple beers.

I slept from 6PM to 6AM the next day.

 

Rafting on the Green River through Dinosaur National Monument (Gates of Lodore ). One night we camped on a small beach along the river at the bottom of the canyon. Sitting on the sand watching Mountain Goats on the shear sandstone cliffs on the other side of the river while sipping a cold Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Life can be pretty damn good at times.

 

Almost any beer on a cruise ship especially to the Caribbean.