It's Not Your Grandfathers Micro Brew Anymore

           October 14th 1978, President Jimmy Carter signs H.R. 1337 essentially legalizing homebrew. Not long after that, New Albion Brewing opens. The first new brewery in forever. And if you were of drinking age then, please don't forget to get a Medicare Part C plan to save you money on your health care. Or maybe you came of age during the mid 90's brewpub boom. Don't worry your AARP card is in the mail as we speak. I hate to say it out loud, but there are people BORN in this century that can now legally drink. Let that sink in for a few moments. Okay. I definitely need a beer after that last statement. Time sure does fly when you're having fun or complaining about pastry stouts or schmoojees or ultra hazy IPA's doesn't it? So it starts to get easy to understand some of the many problems in the craft beer business. The business model says chase the 21-50 crowd, but all these old folks keep showing up scaring all the youngsters away. I mean lets face it, when you were young, did you want to hang out where your dad or grandfather did? If they were buying, maybe for a bit, but not for long. It's just way things work. That will never change. How do you make all these generations happy at once? How do you make beer that everybody wants? It's the million dollar question that every bar and brewery owner has to figure out. Almost daily it seems like sometimes. So we will begin to look at some of the problems and hopefully a few of the answers in the coming weeks. So crack open a cold one, you're going to need it.

May The Schwartz Be With You

      No folks, it's not this great movie. Instead it's all the delicious versions of Schwartz bier that has been showing up at all the local breweries lately. From East Branch and Troubles End to Bier Hall and Von C,  one of my favorites styles for fall and winter, has been in great abundance lately. So, this past Saturday the 3rd, we took a ride out to the wonderful town of Skippack to pay a visit to Brothers Kershner. We were there for some leftover beer from the Dark Days event which was held on the 31st of January.  And we were not disappointed. Our server Miss Lexy brought out a mug of their Schwartz for me and a mild for my partner in crime. We were quite happy with our choices. That is until I saw a tray of sample glasses filled with nothing but darkness. How could I refuse to have one of them for myself?  So after twisting my own arm, I preceded to enjoy them one by one. The Imperial was one that kept trying to fool my taste buds and after talking to one of the fine people working that day, they also agreed with me. It had quite a anise taste in the beginning, but that slowly disappeared over time. And he confirmed that no anise was in the brewing process. He also filled my heart with joy by giving two small samples of the firkins. Moon-the mild and the imperial stout. But I think I felt even better when he said that the event was crazy busy that night. Proving once again that good beer and good service never goes out of style.

The Updates Are Slowly Beginning

                    When you don't update places to go in 6 plus years, you may be in for a rude awaking. The amount I had to remove was the toughest. Lots of good times in a bunch of them. But soldier on we must... Much more to come as hard as it is to believe.

The Beginning Of The End

                  Well that's a mighty fine fine way of starting off your first blog post in 6 and a half years. Sorry folks, but the TLBL swimsuit issue just wasn't ready yet. One of the reasons I've been thinking about this for quite some time in the old noggin was two things in particular. One- the constant stories of the problems in the craft beer business that I've been reading about and seeing first hand for awhile now and second- what seems like the never ending early demise of people who are, for the most part, much younger than me. To say it gives me pause would be an understatement. I mean let's face it, Father time is undefeated. And I don't see that streak coming to an end anytime soon, despite Mick and Keith's best effort. Let's put it another way, in 25 years I'll be turning 90. 25 years ago I would have turned 40. The odds of either one of them happening are the proverbial slim and none. Hence the title of this post. Now, to the best of my knowledge I'm not going anywhere soon, but what do say we cause a little commotion on way out?