Beer Memories

Cinci Cream was originally a product of British American (BA) in Windsor. See:
https://thedrivemagazine.com/posts/brewed-in-windsor/
An early brewer at BA was from Cincinnati, hence the brand name. Windsor, of course, was strategically situated across the river from Detroit. During Prohibition, I'd imagine the bulk of the city's production floated north to Detroit. At least some of the breweries were controlled by Detroit interests. After Prohibition the company did export to at least the Detroit area according to the article.
The US-oriented name for a Canadian brew is a turnabout for the Canadian name of a US beer: Canadian Ace, originally from the Capone group's Chicago brewery, The grass is greener . . . .

 

Oh geez . . . Sooooo many!

- First sip of beer at age 5, probably Natty Boh at a family crab feast off the Chesapeake.
- Cruising in the 70's with Miller ponys
- Discovering German imports - Dortmunder Union at a German-American beer hall in Maryland called Blob's Park
- Discovery more imports from beer purchased at the Pottery Factory in Williamsburg, VA, especially Old Peculiar.
- Dinkelacker beer at the Waterfront Hotel in Fell's Point, Baltimore
- Guinness Stout at the Cat's Eye Pub, Fells Point, Baltimore with an Irish band playing
- Weeping Radish German micro-brewery in NC
- Oxford Brewery in Maryland, I believe was the first Micro
- Penn Pilsner from Pittsburgh really made an impression
- Founders Backwoods Baster, a gift from the CEO of my company, blew me away and really opened me up to craft.

 

No great memory starts with ‘we all sat down and had a salad’.

 

Back in the 70's, when I was just out of college (see avatar ) and working my first job, word got out in the office that I was planning a trip out west. I had people coming out of the woodwork, handing me money and asking me to bring back beer for them. Long story short, I came back to Ohio pulling a camping trailer full of Coors which I'd never heard of up until then. Good times...

 

Thinking about it there's quite a few and a lot of them are a combination of maybe not a great beer but great circumstances...lots of Maine vacation memories, random brewery discoveries/visits, etc.

The first I remember was feeling like a cool kid when we could rarely lay our hands on Coors Banquet Beer - kinda felt like we were somehow breaking the law way back then!

A beer dinner featuring Allagash beers paired with foods with the chef and Rob Tod explaining how the beers and dishes were created. It was something my wife got for my birthday and I gave her holy hell because it was $100 a seat. After the event, I apologized profusely and said we could do something like than again in a heartbeat - we "discovered" so much that we like about different beers paired expertly with fantastic dishes. It was also our first time having Allagash Curieux which is still our favorite beer.

Meeting Father Isaac at a tasting for the unfortunately closed Spencer Abbey brewery. There are very few people you meet who are instantly memorable and he certainly was that kind of person. Humble, down to earth, obviously spiritual but very much connected to the world at large. And boundless enthusiam not only towards beer and brewing, but life in general. An amazing man.

The missus and I sitting at the bar chatting with near some random guy in the Mystic taproom and finding out after an hour and half it was Bryan Greenhagen who owned the place. Deja vu all over again having the same thing happen at Lake St. George and fining out we were talking to Danny McGovern.

 

Sunshine wheat got me into craft beer. I saw this in a customers truck today and it took me back...

 

Oh man.... so many to choose from!

Gathering of the Vibes - 1998 I believe. I'd gone a bit heavy on the fungus, emerged from my tent at 5am to get some fresh air, when two patchwork patchouli girls walked by selling "breakfast beer" - Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout. Spent $10 on two bottles and had a great moment drinking my breakfast before a full day of music.

A couple of years ago stayed with a buddy who lived in Bruges at that time. He brought me many places, ended up going to Cannstatter Volksfest in Stuttgart, but the best beer and memory by far was going to De Garre, up the narrow stairs to the top level of that old bar and having a couple of glasses of the Tripel. Top 10 beer for me and what a sense of history in that old town.

 

My most cherished is our honeymoon. Spent 5 days in Belgium as part of a Euro trip. We landed in Brussels and went to Cantillon before we even checked into our hotel.

 

I don't think my wife cherishes our honeymoon (1976). Car trip to Dubuque. Dubuque Star with lunch. Pickett's with dinner. Saw Sly Stallone (filming FIST) at the hotel. . . .

 

But... you're still married?

FWIW -- I was still in high school in '76, but I had friends who moved to Dubuque in 1988 and I spent a lot of time out there enjoying Rhomberg beer from the resurrected Star Brewery -- with and without my first wife.

Gosh I miss Rhomberg Beer.

 

Inertia accounts for a lot. . . .

 

Sitting in a basement apartment in The Fan in Richmond drinking stubbies of Ringnes from Norway. It was pretty cheap and very good. We were listening to King Crimson and went back and bought 12 just more because......

 

I'll have to add several occasions with my now deceased best friend Brad. Brad was from Wilmington, Delaware, attended Guilford College and stayed in Greensboro until his death in 1999. He owned a beautiful house at Rehobeth Beach and often brought DFH back after visiting his beach house It was always 60 Minute, very good and still a nostalgic favorite. He kept cases in his very cool cellar. We hiked all over the area and found many things, particularly spear points from across over 10.000 years. And he was a master gardener and bird expert and a political firebrand. I miss him. He died when I was in Australia and I was devastated.

 

Early Fall, 1976. Me and a buddy, I think his kids came too, we drove down from Glens Falls, N.Y. to Albany (?) well, some bigger city. We went shopping, and I bought a pair of Frye boots (remember them?). We stopped off at a LUMS (remember them?) and had one of their famous 'steamed in beer' hotdogs. We had a bottle of Miller High Life with them. As he said: "that hits the spot" (ok, he was a Southern boy). Actually, it did. I've prolly had a million beers since then, and haven't had a Miller's in eons, but I recall that day as if it was yesterday.

 

I remember Ringnes -- weren't they green bottles (maybe later on)?

Probably the first skunked beer I remember, but pretty good if you got it fresh.

 

Green bottles in closed packs. But they were fairly cheap and very tasty. They were a touch culty in Richmond and we got them at two places and they were in good shape. I drank about 6 before seeing Jethro Tull at The Mosque. It was a great Ian Anderson performance that was perfect. 1970.

 

Mid 80s, drinking Molson Bradors in Montreal. Made a few trips up to see Bruins v Habs. Many good memories

 

Yeah, I drank that, Carlsberg and Tuborg Gold in quantity back in the 70s. Good times for Scandinavian beers.

 

Carlsberg was imported. Tuborg (sometimes sold as Tuborg Gold) was brewed and sold by Carling US starting in the early 70s (https://www.nytimes.com/1973/08/27/...t-from-new-tuborg-beer-old-world-origins.html).
No argument from me, though, about the quality of Carling's Tuborg beer(s). I thought it was one of the best US lagers. At least one version was claimed to be based on Danish Tuborg Green, which was milder than Danish Gold, similar to a very good AAL (better than Ringnes!). Earlier, Jesskidden detailed some of the labeling and advertising variations on the US Tuborg.

 

I visited Carlsberg and Tuborg breweries in Copenhagen on the same day in 1970. Great breweries and people all the way round....I still buy The Elephant!