...And No One Fell Asleep On A Park Bench

The McGs and McDs hit the Stillwater Rotary's Brewers Bazaar yesterday for the 2nd time. And for the 2nd time, we all had a good time. And for the 2nd year in a row, I didn't get a damn brat. Unlike last year, when we didn't know anyone except for some of the brewers and brewery personnel, there were a few familiar faces this year. Plus, as is usually the case at these, Kris and I met a few folks and made a few new friends. Apparently the theme for this year's fest was, "Meeting guys named Chad." I guess that's a good thing given I have a hard enough time with names as it is.

Fitger's wasn't there this year and Mark Stutrud wasn't serving up his own beer, but otherwise there was a good showing of beer. Most of the breweries brought their normal line-ups, but a couple of folks had something different to offer as well. Three stood out, in my mind. First was Lift Bridge's oak-aged Harvestor. Harvestor has been around for a while, but not the oak-aged version (which is mighty tasty and I believe is all gone). Also, Dave Berg brought up from Schell's the "Not Guilty" 1924 Deer Brand or, as he refers to it, Imperial Deer Brand. I tend to avoid lagers, but I really enjoyed this one. I recommend trying it while you can still get it. Finally, Rock Bottom brought four beers, one of which was lager I'd not had before; a steam beer. Rock Bottom's web site says the name is Fiesta Loco Steam Beer, but Scott's notes say it was Northeast Steam (and that's what I recall being written on the board). No matter. This was a second great lager.

Afterwards we had a chance to join the Lift Bridge folks for dinner (thanks again Jim!!!) and have one last, un-needed beer. I have to admit that I was pretty much running out of gas at this point and feeling a bit like I'd been run over. I think it was missing my friggin brat. I'll get you next year!!!

I also had a chance to chat w/ the owner of Still-H20 (C.R.?), a homebrew, hydroponic and organic gardening store, about one of his three tiered home brewing systems. I've been thinking about getting back into brewing and a gift card I got from work is burning a hole in my pocket. As luck would have it, the card is just enough to purchase one of Still's three-headed monsters (here's a photo of something similar). A fool and his money are soon parted! Whee!