Thanksgiving is a great holiday. There is no other purpose than to indulge in the type of gluttony I work to resist and then to sit, nearly immobile, to watch football. This year the plus of getting to spend hours in the kitchen cooking for many more people than I usually have the opportunity to is balanced by: 1) the clusterf*%$ that will be traveling to and from Dallas 2) the lack of a charcoal-grilled bird (the oven will have to suffice) and 3) the general lack of good beer in Dallas.
I know you could give a hoot about #1 and #2. You may have your own travel woes and weren’t brought up by a dad who faithfully braved Iowa winters to cook a 20-pound bird on the Weber grill every Thanksgiving and Christmas. But #3, I’m sure you can feel my pain on that one.
It’s particularly hard, coming from Beervana, to know I’ll be in a virtual wasteland of beer worth drinking. And it doesn’t help that Dallas proper, where I’ll be, is still dry. Yes, dry. So I’ll travel just outside the technical city limits, at which point there will be at least one liquor store every block for…well…a while. However, even when I get there the most appealing options will likely be offerings from larger craft breweries, nothing I haven’t had before.
Every year there is a small seed of hope as I peruse the beer coolers that magically, some small craft brewery will have sprouted and have an offering that looks interesting enough to take a chance on. Then there’s the corresponding small disappointment when that isn’t the case and the subsequent selection of a go-to beer that “will do.”
I’ve actually considered shipping myself some beer (since I trust those companies far more than the airlines to deliver my precious cargo, if I were to actually check a bag). So far I haven’t done it since I’m not usually gone that long and more importantly, why give the family any more of a reason to think I’m a little too obsessed with beer, right?
I hope whatever your Thanksgiving plans are, they are filled with people you enjoy, delicious food and of course, beer befitting your celebration. And if you have ever shipped yourself beer, let me know so I feel like a little less of an alkie for thinking about it.
Guilty-we've done it. Well, considered shipping. Can't tell you how many times I've been at that hopeful moment where I think this year will be different at the liquor store when we're visiting family to find no craft brew and then end up settling for something familiar and disappointing. We still experience that around us in southern Minnesota but you probably know that. Heck, even if we find something crafty, our relatives think we are boozers. Good luck with that and happy turkey time!
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