The Happy Holiday Beer Story

It was just before Christmas in 1983. My good friend and I had just finished our quarterly chiropractic school final exams and were getting ready to head back to our respective home states for the holidays. After a grueling four days of tests, we were ready to blow off some steam at our favorite watering hole. Mind you, our watering hole was one of the biggest dive bars and redneck hangouts in Marietta, Georgia. Terry's was the name and stumbling out alive was the game. On this particular night, we had drank our share of bad beer, and were ready to head out on the town to impress the ladies of Atlanta with our ability to slurr the English language. Since we were both in the holiday spirit, we noticed that there were two meager pine saplings in the parking lot which struck an uncanny resemblance to Christmas trees. After a five minute battle with the trees ( my friend says it was more like 30, and the trees almost won), we stuck them in the front bumper of my 1972 International Scout, rolled down the truck windows, turned up the Oak Ridge Boys Christmas cassette and sang Christmas songs all the way down Route 41. When we got out of the truck, we noticed our "Christmas Trees" had magically disappeared from the truck's bumper and by the end of the night, none of the ladies would even let us approach them let alone show off our slurring skills (go figure). Thankfully, we did not have to show them to the police either.

25 years later, it is safe to say I won't be pulling any pine trees out of the ground and decorating my truck. And thankfully I have matured enough to not drive intoxicated, especially while singing Christmas carols at the top of my lungs with the windows open. It is also safe to say (my wife told me so), that I won't have to impress any strange women with my slurring ability. But one thing is for sure, it is nice to know the memory is still there.

Happy Holidays and Safe Holidays!


A Side Note: It has been one year since I started Dr. J's Beer Blog. This site has went from zero hits per month to over one thousand. I thank you for reading my ramblings and hope to continue providing you (I hope) with entertaining beer stories.


And Now The Beers:

Weyerbacher’s Imperial Pumpkin Ale: I went out on a limb and bought some more pumpkin ale. Not a big fan of the style, but have been warming up to it recently. I brought a few bottles of Imperial Pumpkin Ale to Thanksgiving dinner. It was a hit. I served the beer with desert, apple pie and of course pumpkin pie. The ale really tasted like pumpkin. It was delicious with the apple pie, a bit of overkill with the pumpkin pie though. This beer should be on everyones holiday desert list.

Smithwick’s Irish Red Ale: A favorite of the non-Guinness crowd in Ireland. Smithwicks, pronounced Smit icks (believe me, I’ve been laughed at for my Americanization of the name) is a tasty, robust ale. It is very light in alcohol. It is about 3.4% which makes for a great session beer. It would be Ireland’s answer to light beer, only with body and taste. Carbonated more like a lager than an ale.

Hoegaarden Grand Cru: Not a wheat beer, more a Belgium Tripel, this Ale is an ever changing symphony of tastes. I purchased 6 bottles of Grand Cru when I was in Belgium and have been aging them and drinking them at the same time. This years sample is three years old. Grand Cru pours an almost dark peachy color and gives a very complex taste. You can pick up fruit, maybe some melon in the taste. The beer has a very warm finish and posts an 8% alcohol content. Very tough to find, but if you see it grab it, it is worth it.