When we were in college my roommate Jon and I could drink all night long. Beer, shots, vodka, whiskey - it didn’t matter. Sit it in front of us and we’d drink until 6am with you. This weekend Jon and I went to LA to visit our friends Laef and Allison and I realized something had changed. Maybe we’re getting older but we just couldn’t seem to party as long as we used to.
Here’s some action shots from separate nights in LA:
Jon starts fading (night 1)
Jon falls asleep with a beer in his hand (night 2)
Jon in the worlds most uncomfortable position (night 3)
Jon takes a time out at the bar and is oblivious to Allison
Not to be outdone Allison decided to hammer 8 bottles of sake and pass out in the sushi restaurant.
Which reminds me of her last visit to St. Louis (at Lumiere Place)
You’ll notice none of these include pictures of me. There is some rumor of me falling asleep with a full beer in my hand and then spilling it on myself but with no photographic evidence I doubt it happened.
Update: You can read Allison’s account on her blog.
August 21st, 2008
To honor the demise of Beer City, USA I’ve decided to rank the flavors of Anheuser-Busch beers. At least the flavors I’ve tried. The list is quite extensive and most of these I’ll assume are disgusting (Chelada — fucking sick!).
1. Bud Light Ah the old standby. Not too bad, fairly inexpensive, and much more flavorful than Miller Lite. Bud Light is a solid BBQ beer and the go to beer for any sporting event.
2. Shock Top One of the newer (if not the newest) beer in the A-B arsenal. I’ve long had a crush on wheat beers and this one is simply delicious. Perhaps even better than Blue Moon. This is a good beer if you’re out at a semi-classy bar and don’t want to look like an uncultured goof by ordering a Bud.
3. Bud Select Not bad tasting and a good beer if you’re watching your girlish figure as it only has 99 calories yet it doesn’t taste like the piss water that is Michelob Ultra (which won’t appear in these rankings).
4. Budweiser “The Great American Lager” is an ironic title now that the brewery is owned by a Belgian company. If you smoke Marlboro Reds, work in construction, or like to drink on the porch then this is the beer for you.
5. Bud Light Lime A little effeminate but this one goes good with Margaritas and Mexican Food. You can’t drink more than 2 though. Trust me I’ve tried. You’ll get nauseaus.
6. Rolling Rock Not a real fan. The website says it pairs thusly: “Serve Rolling Rock in a tall thin tumbler and pair it with citrus grilled chicken, ceviche with lime, pork tenderloin with mango chutney and pepper jack cheese.” I don’t even know what 40% of those things are. Skip it.
7. Natural Ice Now we’re getting to the good stuff. A little known secret to college kids as they usually default to Natty Light. Don’t get me wrong they both taste like shit but Ice has 5.9% alcohol content to Light’s 4.2%. Translation: Natural Ice will get you drunker, faster, and cheaper.
8. Busch/Busch Light/Busch Ice(?) The Busch line. The only reason to drink this is if you beat your wife. The white trash neighborhood of the 7-11 Cooler.
9. Tequiza Sick, sick, sick. Corona this is not.
10. Bud Extra Do they even make this anymore? It’s like an energy drink with beer in it. Or something. Avoid at all costs.
11. King Cobra Perfect malt beverage for drinking from a paper bag on the street or poring one out for your fallen homies.
I avoided the imports and focused on the American beers but the good ones include Bass and Kirin Ichiban. Stella Artois isn’t bad either but it comes from the InBev bastardization. Avoid Boddington’s, Beck’s, and Grolsch. Hoegaarden is so-so but fairly sweet.
I’m planning a farewell to A-B party where we can celebrate the beers of this once proud American company. Stay tuned.
July 24th, 2008
75 years ago our long national nightmare finally ended. It was now legal again to sip a beer in public. Prohibition in it’s strictest form ended with the passage of the Cullen-Harrison Act and all kinds of Alcohol were legalized on Dec 5, 1933 with the passage of the 21st Amendment. Imagine that - an amendment to the United States Constitution which banned alcohol! We can thank the buzzkills at the Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union for that skidmark on our Nation’s most important document.
To celebrate our nation’s return to sanity I headed over to the Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood for the Repeal of Prohibition Beer Festival 2008 . For $30 you got a tasting glass and all the samples you could handle from five microbreweries - Schlafly, New Albanian Brewing Co., Mad Anthony Brewing Co., Brugge Brasserie/Wabash Valley, and Three Floyds.
Now as a general rule I operate under the assumption that all microbrews taste like a smelly old boot so I came into this event with no expectations. I figured I’d try a few beers and if nothing moved me I’d stick with the old standby - Schlafly Hefeweizen.
Surprisingly this beerfest delivered! For the first time I tried Schlafly’s Coffee Stout which is just as delicious as it sounds. I felt like I should be eating eggs with this beer. It would be perfect with breakfast! The Irish Stout, Oatmeal Stout, Maplewood Ale, and Summer Kolsch were all outstanding. Schlafly really came through on this one. Sadly there was no Pumpkin Ale - my favorite of the Schlafly seasonals. I guess I’ll just have to wait until September. Fall means football and Pumpkin Beer and that always gives me something to look forward to.
The other breweries, however, disappointed as expected. I honestly think NABC’s goal is to give people alcohol poisoning. Their Imperial Pilsner (8%) was just ass. I managed to choke it down but it gave me flashbacks to the night I went round for round with a case of La Fin Du Monde (9%) which I later realized translates to "The End of the World" and from what I remember - which is nothing - the title is well deserved. Not an experience I would want to repeat. Imperial didn’t stand a chance with me. The Thunderfoot (10%) was equally potent and just as gross. I lost feeling in my tongue after trying this one. I think I’ll steer clear of New Albanian the next time I’m in New Albany, IN.
Mad Anthony’s Black Squirrel Stout, Three Floyd’s Rabbid Rabbit, and Brugge’s Tripel de Ripple all disappointed. Maybe next year Schlafly can just showcase it’s own beers - and put some Pumpkin on tap!
April 16th, 2008
