Bring Some Home to the Wives.

Well I must admit that my last several posting have ventured more towards a retrospective than prospective. Or the other way around. So I return to Beer.

As I have stated before, my current employment requires that I travel pretty much all over the USA. I have traveled to or through ever state in the lower 48 except South Dakota, Rhode Island, and Delaware. I have attempted to try a beer from every state in the Union. ( I have come close) Some I like, and some I do not. I have also attempted to visit as many "micro brewpubs as I could. I have been to Los Lunas, New Mexico and drank a Farmers Tan Red Ale and to Marquette, Michigan to enjoy a Vierling Blueberry Honey Wheat Beer. Although there are more and more "craft brews" available at the "local market" there are even more available at brewpubs. Some actually bottle their beer (such as the aforementioned Farmers Tan. (GET PLOWED!) and some others do not. If you want a Vierling Blueberry then you will have to go to the southern banks of Lake Superior and drink one there or fill your growler. They actually put real Michigan Blueberry s in the pint glass after the pour. There are literally hundreds and hundred of brew pubs out there. And there are chains too. BJ's Brew house is one. They actually brew good beer. Well actually they rarely brew beer. The restaurants are constructed to appear as a micro brewery. The beer is actually brewed elsewhere. They actually farm out their brews and have local or area micro breweries use their recipes and brew for them. Of all of the BJ's in Texas, St. Arnold's in Houston brews their beer. The food is great although slightly higher than your local Chili's or Applebee's. Then you have Rock Bottom, The Yard House, John Harvard's, Capitol City Brewery, Flying Saucer, Two Rows and Hops. All are restaurants that serve good food and sell tee shirts, bottle openers, pint glasses and caps as well. While working in Connecticut, I had the chance to visit a Hop's. The food was truly outstanding and I recommend them highly....but......stay away from what they call beer. Jeez, it was bad! While working near Allentown, Pa. I had the chance to eat and drink at Bethlehem Brew Works.The food was outstanding and the beer was amazing. If you are near there you got to check it out and also the C.F. Martin Factory located in nearby Nazareth. Oh yea, I play guitar (and mandolin). I have been playing for nearly 45 years. I have gotten G, C ,and D down real good. I have been to the plant twice. The last time I was there I was standing in the lobby and was about to go into the museum. "Excuse me are your Doug?" a fellow asked me. I turned around to see that the person asking me the question was none other than Chris Martin (C.F. Martin IV). He is the current guru at Martin. Standing next to him was someone I recognized. I nodded at him and said hello, he replied the same is a slight "English" accent. I replied to Chris,"no...sorry". They turned and walked away. It hit me later...wow that was Eric Clapton!


With the rapid growth of brew pubs and "thingsBEER", I am finding more and more Beer snobbery. You have your beer fanatics and your beer purists. You find those that live and breath because their particular liking is the one all should appreciate. Some sway towards the Belgium Trappist monk type beers. Others the Irish Stout. Some prefer hopped up hoppified beers, while other prefer fruity whit beers. Some prefer German or Deucth beer while others like ales, pale ales, (English Pale or American Pale), Bock, Double Bocks, Triple Bocks, Porters, Dunkelwiess' Ambers, Reds, Lambics, Mexicans, and so on and so on.....

John Denver once sang a song titled Berkeley Woman. The gist of the tune was about this guy who saw this "hippie girl" in a rocking chair and he fantasized about what it would be like to be with her. Only problem is his wife was standing next to him...


I saw a Berkley woman sitting' in her rocking' chair. A dulcimer in her lap A
feather in her hair. Her breasts swayed freely with the rhythm of the rocking'
chair. She was a-sitting' and a-singing' and a-swaying' her cheeks were red I
declare.Twas hard to believe what my eyes showed me then. The color in her
cheeks was just her natural skin she wore no makeup to make her look that
way. She was a natural mama with the red cheeks. What more can I say.
Well I finally realized there was hunger in my stare .In my mind I was
swaying' with the woman in the rocking' chair. But the lady I was living'
with was standing' right by my side. She saw my stare and she saw my
hunger and Lord it made her cry. So with anger on her face yes and the hurt
in her eyes, she scratched me and she clawed me, she screamed and she
cried. "Oh you don't give me near all the loving' that you should, yet you're
ready to go and lay with her. You're just no damn good". Well I guess she's
probably right. Oh I guess I'm probably wrong. I guess she's not too far
away. She hasn't been gone very long. And I guess we could get together
and try it one more time, but I know that wanderlust would come again.
She'd only wind up a-crying' Well now you've heard my story plain as the
light of day. It's hard to feel guilty for loving' the ladies That's all I gotta say
'Cept a woman is the sweetest fruit That God ever put on the vine I'd no more love just one kinda woman Than drink only one kinda wine

As Rudyard Kipling is quoted " A woman is just a woman but a good cigar is a smoke." Well, that is the way I feel about beer. Hell they are all good. Well lets say most of them are good. Nowadays brewers are beginning to get pretty fancy and creative with their brewing arts. You can find beer made from pumpkins and other forms of squash. Beets, all sorts of fruit including raisins, pears, figs and even coffee and chocolate are now flavoring or are added to beer and ales. They add all sorts of spices too. Remember the one I mentioned from Portland Maine? I once drank a chile beer in Arizona. A real chile was inside the bottle. Not bad if you are only going to drink one of them.

I have this friend named Anne. She is from the Florida Parishes. She considers herself a true Cajun cook. She claims, and both of her sons agree, that she makes a very good Neutra chili. I do like chili and I am from Louisiana It is true , a coon ass will eat anything that don't eat him first. But I draw the line when it come to eating Louisiana Neutra Rat. the Maninna boys can have all of their momma's Neutra chili they want. I shall not get in their way. Since I tend to ramble, I do have to admit that when I was a small "boy child" my mother's father (my Pap Paw Boone) used to go squirrel hunting and and kill young squirrels and take their brains and mix with eggs. he would then scramble them and feed to me. I am told I loved it. What I am trying to say is like I have quoted many times before, "...everyone is entitled to his own stupid opinions"

I was in the Detroit, Michigan airport once. Now you really have to go there too. They have this passage way between two terminals and you can ride on the moving floor. On both sides of the tunnel is a really neat light and sound show. The music is some "space age music" lifted from a Disney amusement ride or the sound track of Logan's Run. I bet it would be amazing if one was truly "loaded". Anyway, I sat a bar waiting on my next flight and drank a $ 7.00 beer. (At least it was 20 ounces.) It was a Samuel Adams Lager. Later while enjoying the light show or riding on the airplane to my next destination, I belched and I could taste the aroma from the beer I had recently consumed. That taste was the taste of hops. After nearly 40 years of drinking beer I finally realized what the true taste of beer was supposed to taste as. Now I am not a complete idiot, I realize that beer actually only has a few ingredients. I realized hops was one of them but I truly never appreciated the essence of hops.

Ales, Pilsners, Lagers, Stouts. I.P.A's are term for beer that frankly most have no idea or do not want to know anything about. I can prove it. Find 10 people at random and ask them if Budweiser is a lager, pilsner or ale. You will be very surprised with the results of your survey. Funny thing is that Bud's advertising promotes Bud as the great American Lager.

A few months ago I had the opportunity to travel to the Portland Or. area ( for a job). My loving wife knew how much I loved the area and she suggested that I arrive a few days earlier and visit a few micro brews. I had been there about two year earlier and took advantage of the Brew Bus. http://www.brewbus.com/ I strongly recommend it. I plotted out about 18 brew pubs for my two day "pub crawl". Sunday, the day of my arrival I would spend in the Pearl District on the West bank of the Willamette and Monday would find me on the East side of the river. I was driving so I planned the trip so that I could park my car and walk to most pubs and I was determined to make sure that I ate plenty and watched myself and not get behind the wheel if I was even close to being intoxicated. My ultimate goal was to finally get inside of the Hair of the Dog Brewery and actually drink some of the brewery's beers and ales. As I may have stated before, I tend to collect tee shirts, caps, bottle openers and pint glasses. I really wanted Hair of the Dog tee. Long story short.....I now own a black "Fred" shirt. It is way too cool. I did have some time to visit with Alan and drink some samples of his beer. The cool thing was that it was just him and me there. I helped him put beer bottles inside of cases. I still have three of the beers I purchased in a six pack "mixer" (Ruth, Adam and of course Fred).
My 2008 beer crawl in the Portland area was one I shall long remember. Thanks Tony. I was not able to visit all of the pubs on my pub crawl list but I feel satisfied I at least made a dent in it. I did get a chance to visit the Rogue Public House, Deschute's new pub in the Pearl, Bridgeport, a new pub called HUB or Hopworks Urban Brewery, The Green Dragon, The HorseBrass Saloon, The Lucky Labrador, Roots, a McMemamins pub, and of course Hair of the Dog. If you ever get a chance, you have got to check out the men's room at the Bridgeport Brewhouse. the urinals are huge. I took a pic of one and sent it to my wife. She deleted it. I guess that is a guy thing.

So I shall finally state that as of today, my favorite beers. are shown below. Things change you know. Also at any given time any one of the top ten could be my number one .

Number Ten

Big Sky Brewery (Montana) - Moose Drool Brown Ale

I have purchased this in the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma area

Number Nine

Bell's Brewery (Michigan) - Two Hearted Ale

I found this in Michigan and Illinois

Number Eight

Hair of the Dog Brewery (Oregon) - Blue Dot Imperial IPA

This is only available in the Portland area

Number Seven

Steven's Point Brewery (Wisconsin) - Special Lager

Only available in Wisconsin and the U.P.

Number Six

New Glarus Brewery (Wisconsin) - Spotted Cow

Only available in Wisconsin

Number Five

Harpoon (Massachusetts) - I.P.A.

I purchased a sixer last week near Gainesville Florida

Number Four

Firestone Walker (California) - Double Barrel Ale

I have only found this in California

Number Three

North Coast Brewery (California) -Red Seal Ale

I have found this in Austin, Texas

Number Two

Deschutes Brewing Company (Oregon) - Black Butte Porter


This has recently gone on tap at my favorite pub in my home town



and

and

and

Number One

Magic Hat Brewing (Vermont) - # 9

the closest I have found it to Texas was in Cleveland Ohio and or the Washington D.C. area


Honorable Mention (any one of these could be in the top ten)

Magic Hat Brewery (Vermont) - Circus Boy
Schafly Brewery (Missouri) - Irish Style Extra Stout
New Glarus Brewery (Wisconsin) - Fat Squirrel
Stone Brewing Company (California) - Pale Ale
Karl Strauss Brewing Company (California) - Red Trolly Ale
New Belgium Brewing Company (Colorado) - 2 Below
Flying Fish Brewing Company (New Jersey) -Extra Pale Ale
Deschutes Brewery (Oregon) - Mirror Pond Ale
Odell's Brewery (Colorado) - 10 Shillings
Smuttynose Brewing Company (New Hampshire) - Old Brown Dog Ale
Boulevard Brewing Company (Missouri) - Bully Porter
Sierra Nevada (California) - Summerfest Lager
Oskar Blues Brewing Co. (Colorado) - Dale's Pale Ale
Goose Island Brewery (Illinois) - 312
Duck Rabbit Craft Brewery (North Carolina) - Amber Ale
Summit Brewing Company (Minnesota) - I.P.A.



I suppose a special category should go to beers that have really "cool" names. Shmaltz Brewing Company (New York) - Messiah Bold come to mind or Polygamy Porter from Watasch Brewery (Utah) is another. Hell why just have one when you can bring some home to the wives.


As you can see they come from all over the United States. Most of the above beer are not available where I live. But depending on which direction I travel, I am probably going to find some of them . I have found the the Southeast part of the United States has the poorest overall selection. Travel into Colorado provides the best selection I have found. There you can find a huge assortment of both Colorado, California, Washington and Oregon beers

Four regions (states) tend to be the best beer producing areas

Oregon/California/Washington

Colorado/New Mexico

Wisconsin/Michigan/Illinois

Vermont/Massachusetts/New Hampshire


My next posting will address beer laws and other odd and strange things that I have encountered in my travels. From there I am not sure what will be penned so stay tuned.....

Sláinte



The Third

"Every Man a King" & Dog and Pony Show

I am departing from my usual rambling and setting forth some ground rules of which I will probably break in future musings. Thus far, I has refrained from mentioning last names of persons I mention here. There is no particular reason. I just don't. Hell, it is my rant , right?. Certain persons shall in the future have their last name affixed here in order to add a little realism or credibility. I suppose I want to avoid a slander or libel suit but I must confess that thus far I have avoided hyperbole and falsities. ( in other words, bullshit). But last names need to be added at times. As far as my friends, family and personal acquaintances, (living or dead) I will attempt to leave the last names off. ( unless I decide later to add them.) Since this blog is essentially for myself only, I suppose (I tend to use that word a lot) I can make and change rules as often as I want.

My wife used to joke that if someone asked me what time it was I would explain how a watch works. Well she is probably right. My blogs have no central theme (perhaps beer) on the surface but in a abstract way each is focused to a concluding point. Like I have eluded to in the past writings, I may at some point assemble all of my blogs and attempt to call it some sort of a "book" or something. The concept of my "blog" was and I think shall remain the subject of beer. But in some bizarre way I will sway to more philosophical blurbs. Essentially what I am stating is, "read on" and have trust that at some point all of it will make sense.


I hate to admit it but I have had far too many jobs in my life. My resume looks like a book or at least a pamphlet. If I were to look at my resume I would think. "Damn this guy can not keep a job". Of course I will argue "look at all of my experience." Some of my work experiences have been nothing less than terrible. My first job as a soda jerk ( at Ye Olde Ice Parlour) was humiliating and when I learned I was fired, I was actually jubilant. But, I have had jobs that I loved as well. To be honest I would have worked for free in a few of them. My favorite job was working for a natural gas pipeline company. After working there for five years and being truly under appreciated and looked over, I finally had the opportunity to work in a "department" that not only appreciated my talents but developed them as well. I interviewed for the position (a promotion) in mid October and was informed I had the job. I was to receive a 60% increase in pay. (that's right sixty percent). My current "boss" would not allow me to leave my current job until my position was filled and it was January 3, before I actually changed jobs. He never did fill my position. He did prevent me from receiving an additional $ 3,500 in salary in the nearly three months. He died of cancer a few months later. I was sorry that he was dead but he really did me wrong. In my new job, I finally got my raise and two months later I received a "wage adjustment" and then the company had an across the board raise for everyone. In October of the same year I received a merit increase. In less than a year I more than tripled my salary. I had my own office (not a cubicle) and I really felt if I was contributing. My immediate supervisor was a man by the name of William Arliegh Tison. Bill became one of my very best friends and a true mentor. He was one of only a few persons I have ever met who have made a lasting impression upon me.

Most large corporate structures are, or at least were, a lot like the German army in the pre WW II days. The high ranking officers were mostly from old established pedigree families. In the twentieth century names like Kennedy and now Bush I guess, tend to establish automatic credentials regardless of actual abilities. It is just perceived by the American public (cows) that pedigree rules. In Louisiana no name resounds stronger than that of the Long family. Old Huey P. "The Kingfish" (Uncle Earl's brother) tops the list. Before he gained national fame he took money from his older brother (a dentist) (who thought the money was being used to pay for tuition) and used it to purchase an inventory items to sell such as of vacuum cleaners. He quickly became a very successful salesman. He did go to law school (OU and Tulane) for one year but tired of it's rigors so he "crashed" the Louisiana Bar exam and passed. He practiced law for a while in Shreveport and won a huge lawsuit against one of the largest banks in the State, Commercial National Bank. He moved from his house on Laurel and moved to a better part of town and built a new house. To this day, the initials HPL in wrought iron are embedded on the balcony of the house. When the house was first built it had a fence around it and had a gate for the walkway to the front door. The Kingfish had CNB place in wrought iron on the gate. (Since the proceeds, $ 40,000.00, from his lawsuit paid for the house). His older brother George Shannon (Shan) the dentist built a house on Henderson Ave. in Shreveport and it was the house my oldest daughter's mother lived in when I first met her.

The only difference I ever found between the Democratic leadership and the
Republican leadership is that one of them is skinning you from the ankle up and the
other, from the ear down."

Huey Pierce Long.


I could go on forever about the Kingfish and the "Long legacy in Louisiana but for the time being I shall defer and return to the general direction I was heading. It turns out that Huey's, Shan's and Earl K's mother was a Tison and her brother was the aforementioned Bill Tison's grandfather. This made Bill kin to the most powerful family in the history of the State of Louisiana.(Well then again there were the Le Moyne brothers but we shall visit them another day.). This along with his being first in his class at LSU law, a former roomate of Senator Russell B. Long, Bill's cousin and good friend and classmate of future Vice President Hubert H. Humphry, made him a shoe in to be a big shot at the "gas" company. And he was. Poor Bill was too much like his crazy kin and in addition, he drank a bit. Ok, he drank more than a bit. One of his many wives was the daughter of Claude Poulan and according to him (Bill) they drank up the chainsaw fortune. At some point in his brilliant career, old Bill messed up big time. Had he been anyone other than a member of the Long family, and not held several deep secrets of the key executives of the company, he would have been shown the door. Instead he was demoted to eventually be my boss and mentor.

My job and Bill's was, to a large degree, to compose and review of legal documents regarding land rights etc. (Rights of Way) We were entrusted to make sure that the documents were both legal and "engineeringly" correct. I was neither an attorney or an engineer so I had to coordinate with both the engineering department and legal department in order to insure that each document was "proper" and could be signed by an executive of "the company". Bill ,even in his demoted position, was authorized by the company to "initial" (for signature) contracts. Technically he still was "Senior Attorney" so his W.A.T. was good as gold. I was fortunate to have such a gifted teacher and I actually for once, learned a little. Bill was very impatient and was not afraid to chastise me or speak pretty frankly with me. In addition old Bill was a stutterer. So you had to really listen to him to understand what he was saying. When he read a document or anything, for that matter, out loud, he spoke perfectly. It was only when he was simply talking that he stuttered. He used to tell me stuttering was a Long family curse and that his cousin Louisiana U.S. Senator Russel B. Long stuttered as well. We were truly great friends. He once told me I was the only person he ever met that he truly trusted and actually liked. He and I used to ride to work together and would go duck hunting together. Once ,while setting inside my camper, the night before opening day, I was drinking beer and blowing on my duck call. In other words I was acting like a complete idiot. We were listening to a live radio broadcast from Otto's sporting good store in Shreveport, Louisiana. We were in Winnie, Texas (over 200 hundred miles away). I was wearing a camo cap with Pin Tail feathers on each side of it. Old Bill looked at me and said "Ta Ta Ta Tommy....ya ya you look like a fa fifty seven Cra Cra ah Chrysler.....Old Bill was a surly bastard and was full of contempt and rage at the powers that be within the company. I never learned for sure what he had done to be demoted. I have my suspicions but it really makes no difference now anyway. He insisted that I still coordinate with the legal Department. The attorney assigned to review our contracts was usually the low end on the food chain in the legal department. For about a year that attorney was none other than the future (now current) U. S. Representative from the 18th Congressional District of Texas, Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee. She hated seeing me. I do not think she had a problem with me (in fact we actually became pretty good friends.) but my presence reminded her she was assigned the "shit" detail. Plus I used to tell her I thought her office was trashier than a whore's bedroom. Now here is a funny....The first time I met Sheila and had her review a document for me, I took it back to Bill and told him I met the "new attorney". I informed him that she had graduated from Yale but her Law degree was from the University of Virginia. His comment upon hearing her name was that she must have been named after two Son's of the Confederacy, Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. Somehow I did not think so. I never mentioned the comment to Sheila.

After a few years had past, Bill took advantage of early retirement and moved to Leadville Colorado ( the two mile high city). I was to go visit him in October 1988 but I learned he drove his truck off the side of a mountain and was killed. I still miss Bill a lot. He was a good man. I had been promoted to Bill position and inherited his private office and all of it trappings. I was even made officer of the company (Assistant Corporate Secretary) I got a company car. I no longer had to camp out on the 73rd floor waiting for rookie attorneys. I had "people" to do that for me. I was even authorized to initial document just as Bill did. I was a big shot. Or at least I was in my own mind. One day I was called into a meeting with several executives of the company and including the aforementioned Mrs. Lee. I learned a lot that day. As I look back at it, I realize I witnessed the beginning of the end of a proud company that day.....

A lot of natural gas pipelines are located in the marsh land of South Louisiana. If you dig a 4'X4' hole in the ground in many parts of Louisiana, it will fill full of water faster than you can excavate the hole. As the thousands of miles of pipelines were built in the late 1940's-1960's ditches were trenched to place the pipeline in and then barges carrying the pipe actually floated on the new "canal". Multiple pipeline companies, thousands of miles of pipelines and thousands of new water ways allowing the saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico to invade into a fragile ecosystem. Now you can enter "Saltwater intrusion" on your favorite search engine and you will see that the potential or the 1960's is now a grim reality of the new century. Now in the State of Louisiana they have certain laws that state if you own land you are entitled to the mineral and other resource contain over and under it. That is unless your land is determined that it is a saltwater march and in such case, the State takes possession of you property and all of the mineral rights attached to it. This was BIG BIG BIG. Our company was very much at liability to God only knows what type of lawsuits would follow. At one time in history, UGPL was the largest pipeline company in America. Years later I too was "laid off" and now the company is literally a shadow of a shell it once was.. But back on the subject, There was a conference to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana and the future Representative Lee and I were chosen to fly over and attend. As we sat next to each other flying over to the meeting I recall Sheila continually referring to the meeting as a Dog and Pony Show. I had never heard that comment before and quickly assumed that it was one made up by Sheila herself. And maybe it was. Now I have been writing for a while now and I finally got to the subject title. Whew! I am tired. I bet you are as well , that is if you got this far.

As I peruse the internet I have found many many many sites that seem to be far more enlightening than mine regarding the subject of beer

Actually I am in so much awe. I do not think that I could ever be as good as they are . But then again my reading audience is me and I do happen to like me. So as far as I am concerned my reader (s?) find that my site is worth the read. The multitude of sites seem to grow exponentially but I suppose as I quoted dear old Larry Ryan earlier. "Everyone is entitled to their own stupid opinion".

So, in summation (well sort of at least) My blog is just one of many Dog and Pony shows.

http://tinysong.com/2Mo9

{Open above link in a new window}


Every Man a King (Bill's favorite song)

Why weep or slumber America?
Land of brave and true.
With castles and clothing and food for all,
All belongs to you.
Every man a King, every man a King
For you can be a millionaire.
If there's something belonging to others
There is enough for all people to share.
When it's sunny June and December too,
Or in the Winter time or Spring.
There will be peace without end.
Every neighbor a friend,
And every man a King.

Written by Huey P. Long and Castro Carazo

Geaux Tigers



The Third