Mmmm....beer

I think like Homer Simpson when I take a first sip of Hefeweizen. Mmmm...Beer! Here is my favorite aisle in the grocery labeled "Ice Cold Beer". (Notice the product placement.) It's so nice to step through the threshold of my home after a long day of bean counting and grab a nice, dark, microbrew out of the fridge. I try to keep it stocked. On occasion when I am out late and am trying to wind down at night, I'll drink a nice Hefeweizen while watching Letterman & sleep well. Some discussion has been posted on various blogs and other bulletin boards about beer. I find that those who are not in the know are missing out. Man are they ever! I grew up in Montana and when I started drinking beer (at the age of 21, of course...yeah that's it) the only varieties available were Coors Light, Bud, oh, and dont' forget Keystone. Blech!! I hated beer! And now I know why. Any beer you can see through, which is really any macro brew, particularly anything self-labeled "King" of beers, is watered-down and has such little flavor that it tastes like ca-ca. When I first had a "microbrew" when I moved out to the Northwest I tasted, savored, and my eyes widened and I screamed, "Eureka!" I had found out why beer tasted to bad..because it didn't have much flavor at all! Now I drink only beer I cannot see through in a tall pint glass. The darker the better. Ports, stouts, ales, bocks, all of these and more brewed in the Northwest and distributed locally it seems. I took a trip to Pittsburgh not long ago and found that the very few choices of beers in any restaurant included Bud, Coors, MGD, and if I was lucky I could at least order a pint of Guiness. If anyone has not tried a micro brew it is time! Go to your local grocery store and buy a six-pack of flavorful beer and taste the difference. What? Your grocery doesn't carry anything brewed outside of Milwaukie? Talk to the manager and demand that they expand their selection. Be the first to start a flavorful beer revolution!