Beer Memories

Posted on January 25, 2010 by mike

Throughout life we have the opportunity to see, feel, taste, and experience the world around us. One thing that I seem to find across the board is that everyone can name a song that reminds them of a specific time and place. For instance when I think of “Free Bird” by Lynard Skynard I think of riding the pontoon home off the lake, after dark, to beat a raging storm whose lighting I can see sparking off in the distance.

I’m sure all of you have similar songs that send you to a different place, even if it is just for a moment. So I’ve got a different question for you. Do you have a beer that every time you taste it or hear its name you are instantly whisked away to a memory in your life?

I have a few that I’d love to share over the course of time but one really sticks out to me today, and it could be because of the weather and I’m ready for spring to happen.

Last summer my brother and I went to a local minor league baseball game, the Redhawks. And like usual anytime the Biewer’s are going to do something outside, it was suppose to rain. We decided to go for it anyway and if it rained, who cared. We pulled into the lot, paid our parking and grabbed our tickets from the box office. I immediately saw something was wrong. The ticket didn’t look right. We had completely lucked out and scored a double header for the price of a regular game. Basically they were going to play 14 innings of baseball instead of 9. SCORE!

So we wandered to our seats and we ended up going past a beer stand that was selling Pabst Blue Ribbon pounders for 2 bucks up until the first pitch, limit 2. We grabbed two each and a set of score cards. My brother was going to teach me how to keep score in a game. We sat down and filled out our cards and drank our beers. It was about 5 minutes before the first pitch and we rushed up to get another 2 each for 2 bucks. I was intrigued to ask because I felt like we had been throwing dice all night and scoring big, so I asked the bartender what happened when the game was over. Would the beers be on special again until the opening pitch of the second game? She made my night by saying “Absolutely!”

So we watched the first game, kept score, ate sun seeds and drank PBR’s. Did it rain? Nope. The weather was calm, warm, and clear. It actually turned out to be one of the nicest nights I’ve seen in along time. The first game ended and we basically rinsed and repeated the process. PBR’s, seeds, scoring, and good brother to brother time.

Every time from there on, I taste the funky skunk of a PBR and think of a beautiful night of baseball with my brother. Every thing seeps away and the pleasure of a calm night and a good friend takes over.

So I’m curious, good or bad, do you have a beer memory?

Share and Enjoy:

http://dannisbet.com/ Dan Nisbet

PBR brings some good memories back from one of my recent outings in Milwaukee… good times!

Probably the odd one (and don’t laugh) is actually Miller Lime. I honestly don’t think its a good beer at all, but there was a night I was hanging out with some friends in Indy before the Brickyard and we slammed down quite a few. Was just a good night on the back porch & chilling.
http://m.inforum.com ryan

warm miller light reminds me of stealing beer from my parents and consuming it “on the sly” with my friends back in high school.
mike

One thing I’ve found out is that it is not shameful at all to drink anything like Miller Light or Miller Lime and what have you. In fact, I think these beers have their place. I’ll throw back a Coors Light or a glass of Miller Lite on a hot summer day like its nobodies business. However, I just don’t prefer to make Miller Lite the one and only beer I will ever drink the rest of my life.

I’m glad you brought that up Dan. That is exactly what this post is about. The beer has its time, its place, its moment. I mean, hell, I’ve got a high school memory where I drank a 12 pack of Schiltz and had an awesome time!

Thanks for the post!
mike

LOL. Now that you mention it I did something similar with left over Christmas High Life. I’d sneak them out of the house and drink them out at the hill in West Fargo, before it became so popular.

Good times!
Chelsey

Honey Weiss – A weekend Trip to the twin cities
Stella Artois – Belgium trip (obviously…)
Miller Lite – Milwaukee trips (also pretty obvious)
Mich Golden Light – Every trip back home
Any hard cider – London trip (not beer I know)

All related to travels, didn’t do that on purpose!

Also, Bud Light makes me remember living in Fargo-Moorhead
mike

LOL.

Nice. I’ve always liked Red Stripe as a beer, but ever since going to Jamaica I have a new respect and memory associated with it. I drank so much Red Stripe when we were down there it was coming out of my ears. Did you hear about the strikes in Belgium that was affecting the Stella production?
Jessica Biesiot

90 Shillings by Left Hand Brewery reminds me of a trip I took with Gross, Cakers and Susie for a show at Mishawaka Amphitheater. Sitting next to the Poudre river, with my feet in the cold mountain water, getting sunburned and pleasantly wasted. Accidentally leaving Chris at the venue down the mountain and him having to walk back to camp, talking Gross down from a cliff that he thought he could dive off of into a 6 foot deep river, hitching a ride 15 deep in an old station wagon being driven by some old mountain crack whore sucking on a blowpop, Gross denting the rental car by simply closing the back hatch in a Gross way and loading the car for the ride home with as much beer that we couldn’t get locally as humanly possible. We all basically sat on beer 13 hours back to the Go.
http://snobbyhops.com Aaron Mielke

Michelob heavy reminds me of Tiger Woods 2003. My friends and I would grab two 20 packs (bottles), head back to my apartment, and play Tiger until we were hammered.

Bud Light and the grain smell remind me of going to Wrigley field and Cubs games as well as tailgating at Arrowhead Stadium for Chiefs games.

Old Style reminds me of stealing beer from my dad when I was 16.

Miller High Life and Leinie’s Summer Shandy remind me of a hot day spent mountain biking in the woods. We would come back down to the parking lot and throw back some light and refreshing beer.

Great post man! You just took me down beer-memory lane and that’s always a good time!
mike

Simply amazing lol.

Every time Gross is mentioned in a story it always turns into some kind of memory. What an amazing memory. How was the show?
mike

Right on. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

Now that I think of it, Coors Light reminds me long nights playing Hot Shots Golf on the PS2. We would play that until the cows came up.

Thanks for the story, forty beers in a night playing golf seems pretty intense…How bad, or amazingly good did your scores get? Non beer related every time I drink whiskey and take my shirt off I play Guitar Hero much better…
http://dannisbet.com/ Dan Nisbet

Remind me not to play Guitar Hero with you
mike

I would agree with that.

Not all beer related memories are associated with a specific brand, it could be an event just like you mention. For example, a great beer memory for me is every time we tube down the Ottertail River. There is no specific brand I drink for that occasion, but when I think of summer, I think of drinking beer and tubing down the Ottertail and everything being right in the world. I’m really excited for summer to come.

Thanks again for sharing your memory!

Mike
UDGS

To me a beer memory does not necessarily have to bring to mind a specific brand or type. One fond one I have is being able to finally sit down, a few years ago, with both my nephews (just after the youngest has turned “legal”), on a hot July afternoon, to drink beer, eat sunflower seeds, smoke a cigar and watch a parade. As Ben Franklin said “Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy.”