BEER NUMBER 571

Yup, here I am, back from vacation, and I know you couldn't wait to hear about my latest beer finds. Actually had 3 new beers on vacation, but this is the one I'm going to tell you about...

One of the interesting things about this beer, it's actually a malt liquor, having a higher alcohol content than your standard lagers,eg. Budweiser. I don't drink many malt liquors, as they usually tend to come in quart size bottles, and generally aren't that tasty. But, let me tell you about this one. It's brewed by the Naragansett Brewing Co, which is NOT in Narragansett, Rhode Island where it used to be in the 70s when they brewed Narragansett Beer, which I used to drink every time we visited R.I.; we visited quite a few times (saw the Buckinghams once at a Holiday Inn - but that's another story) when we lived in CT during the early years of our married bliss. Anyway, so now Haffenreffer is made in PA, where originally it was brewed in Boston Mass. But the weird thing is really where I found this beer. Now, I've never seen it in any local grocery or liquor stores; not even at a bar. Nope, I found this in the middle of the Webster Flea Market (open Mondays only) in a little beer bar that carried mostly A-B products. But, there, amidst the listing of the 6 or so beers sold, was the Private Stock. Now, you know I had to try it, and it was damn good - though part of it may have been the 90+ heat I'd been walking around in for hours; but it was good enough to have another one after the first. So, if you ever find this anywhere, pick up a sixpack, and after cutting the lawn on a real hot day, sink a few.

Oh, yeah...and have one for me, I don't know when I'll get back to the flea market...

VACATION

Going on vacation for a week, so probably won't hear from me for a while. We are going to St Augustine for a few days; may do a ghost tour. Picture above was taken by my daughter about 8-10 years ago while on a ghost tour there with her friend. They never actually saw anything, but you see the picture as it was developed.

 

Ghosts...yeah, I'm a believer...

DID YOU KNOW?

After 44 years, the ban against the Rolling Stones playing live in Blackpool, England (pop.150,000) has finally been lifted.

I guess they finally decided they didn't have much time left to see them perform live!

(though Keith will probably be doing solo work for another 150 years!!)

RIP: OLIVE RILEY

And who is Olive Riley, you may ask? Well, apparently at the age of 108 she was the world's oldest blogger, but no more. So anyone who was 108 and blogged must have been a cool lady. So now I'm in line for world's oldest blogger, with only 1,755,388 people ahead of me.(maybe)
Oh, BTW, Olive was from Australia; so if she was buried there would that make her downunder Downunder? Just a thought...

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

"Of course there is no need for a death penalty in a civilized society -
but first get your civilized society." Sir Ian Percival

BEER...IT'S BETTER THAN GAS...

A recent study found that the average American walks 900 miles in a year.

Another study found that Americans drink an average of 22 gallons a beer yearly.

Therefore, Americans beerdrinkers average 41 miles per gallon!

Be proud, your mileage is probably better than your car's mileage...

WAITING...

I'm still waiting....I did what you told me..I sent the email to 10 people like you said.I'm still waiting for that miracle to happen...

To all my friends who in the last year sent me best 'wishes',
chain letters, 'angel' letters or other promises
of good luck if I forwarded something,
NONE OF THAT CRAP WORKED!
For 2008, could you please just send money,
Vodka, chocolate , movie tickets or
gasoline vouchers and airline tickets instead?

Thank you!

--

IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW

 It's National French Fry Day today...

It's not too late, go on down and get some - my faves are from McD's

LEMME AT 'EM

 When I grow up, I'm going to wrestle Gators...

No, wait, I'm ready now...bring 'em on...

GATOR COUNTRY LIVE

You may have caught my posting on these guys last year, shortly before Duane roland died. Well, they finally put out a CD of their live show, and it kicks ass almost as much as being there! So check out CDBaby.com or Amazon.com and buy yourself a copy. If you're a fan of Molly Hatchet and/or Southern Rock, you need this CD...

RIP: BOZO

No, not that one, I mean Bozo the Clown. Of course, I grew up watching him, a/k/a Larry Harmon, when I was a kid, and my children saw him now and again. My son, Corey, actually saw him live at the Polk Theater in 1988/89 thereabouts, where he got to sit onstage for Bozo's traveling show. (Which was pretty creepy, since the Polk hadn't been renovated yet, and looked like a great place to film a horror movie!!).

So, here's to you, Larry/Bozo, may you be in heaven with all the other clowns, professional or otherwise...

(disclaimer:not my photo)

TWO BOOKS WITH ICE IN THE TITLE

Icebound by Dean Koontz: Originally published in 1976 as Prison Of Ice, this was re-issued in 1995. After having read about it's original publication under a pen name (David Arton) I realized why I don't remember this book from the 70s, when I first started reading Koontz. Of course, at the time, he was writing straight horror, and this is an adventure-suspense novel in the vein of Alistair MacLean, and quite a good one at that. A group of scientists get trapped on an iceberg that's set to blow up at midnight in the middle of an Arctic storm. Throw in an attempted murder, and you have all the ingredients for a cliff hanger; and even out of his normal genre Koontz does not disappoint. Though I will admit, for the first quarter of the book, I was waiting for something Koontz-like to happen before just sitting back and enjoying the ride...







Fire Ice by Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos: "A Novel From the NUMA Files - A Kurt Austin Adventure": Whew, that's a lot of copy for the cover of a book! Well, when a single author starts writing "with..." you know he's got himself a franchise and is too busy doing something else and has no time to actually write...or he's dead. Don't know what the case is here, but now this novel's protagonist isn't Dirk Pitt, who's most likely retired, and a younger group of operatives now populate the novel(s).
So, what is fire ice? It's apparently a name for methane hydrate, of which there's huge pockets under the ocean, and if it escapes from under the earth's crust, can cause earthquakes,tidal waves and possibly volcanic-like explosions. Sort of like lighting your farts like you did in college, only underwater! And much, much worse! So the self-proclaimes Czar of Russia has figured out how to attac the U.S. with these underwater sea farts; and it's up to our intrepid hero, along with his sidekick & helf from a Russian agent, to save the day. Actually not a bad book, but if I recall, no crusty old salt named Cussler shows up in this one. But a decent enough read if you're a fan of his NUMA books.

BEER INC

So today being July 1, the new beer company formed from 2 beer companies - actually 4 beer companies is officially in business.Yes, MillerCoors is now in business, being a merger of SabMiller & MolsonCoors, themselves resulting from mergers of the name companies. And of course Inbev is chasing after A-B, so at some point they'll end up as InbevBud, later to merge with MillerCoors so as to become CoorsBud? MillerBud?, who knows. And as the quality of mass brewed beer goes down, we introduce to the world...

BEER INC. the only beer company left in the world, except for, hopefully, all the small microbreweries & craft brewers who still brew beer worth drinking...
So raise your glass and drink to the health of beer...real beer...beer with taste...Skol!